“The phone cuts off every 15 minutes in here, so I’ll just ring you back when it does.” 

It’s one of the UK’s hottest days of the year when I get on the phone with CB, aka Cracky Blackz, who is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence on firearm charges. Now in the fourth year of his bid, of which he’ll likely serve half for good behaviour, the drill rapper sounds upbeat during our call. “Everything’s gucci,” he says. “I’m comfy right now.” Good to hear, but serving a sentence like that—and you’re barely 23 yourself—must be tough. I ask if he regrets the actions that led him here: “I regret bare things that’s happened in my life, but at the same time, I’m a big enough man to know what the consequences of my actions were going to be, so now I have to ride it out like a man.”