Meet Femi Oyeniran & Nicky Walker: Directors Of Against All Odds Resurrecting British Music TV Station Channel U

In the last 5 years, the share of grime and rap sales and streams in the U.K. featuring artists based in the U.K. has gone from 15.5% to 42.2% with artists such as Stormzy and Dave regularly topping the charts. Whilst this rise has attracted mainstream attention in recent years the foundations of UK grime and rap and what it is today were set decades ago with artists finding creative ways to market themselves and build a community despite their sound not being played on mainstream radio and television. Two film directors showcasing the early beginnings of the U.K. grime and rap scene in their new movie Against All Odds are Femi Oyeniran and Nicky ‘Slimting’ Walker. 

Oyeniran grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, and moved to the U.K. when he was 10 years old. Being catapulted into a completely new environment he focused on his academics, something which was emphasized during his upbringing in Nigeria, making the most of opportunities at school. He excelled academically getting top grades, developed entrepreneurial skills by selling sweets to friends, and developed a strong interest in music initially wanting to be a musician. Whilst this never took off an opportunity came up during a drama lesson where a teacher mentioned that they were conducting auditions for a film and the director, Noel Clarke, who went to the college a decade ago would be coming to the school. Oyeniran signed up on the off chance, did well, and was awarded a role in the movie Kidulthood. 

The movie, which showcased many of the things teenagers go through in inner-city London was shot in 2004 just before Oyeniran was about to attend London School Of Economics to study Law. He shot the movie and started his degree “I felt blessed being able to pursue my creative passions whilst also being able to focus and pursue my academics” he says. The film went on to receive critical acclaim and defined an era in the U.K. Towards the end of his degree Oyeniran was cast for the sequel Adulthood which also did well. The success of the two films prompted him to go into acting full time but “it turned out to be the hardest year of my life” he recalls. This led him to go back to law school to finish off his qualifications but fortune came when he featured in Adam Dacon’s ‘Anuvahood’ movie. These experiences led him to realize that if he wanted to make it in the industry he had to leverage his entrepreneurial skills and carve a path for himself turning his hand to directing. 

Walker grew up in Leyton, England. In his younger years his Mum sent him to Sylvia Young Theatre School on the weekends where he did a variety of creative arts such as drama, dance and speech, and soon after his talent shone through as he won roles in several national adverts before being on hit TV show Grange Hill. As he grew older his attention began to turn from acting to music. He discovered genres such as Jungle, Garage, and Drum and Bass music which formed the early beginnings of U.K. grime and rap. He wanted to get involved in the burgeoning scene and started DJing. He began with his friends from his local area and soon after gained some notoriety gaining bookings at several house parties and events before going on to put his own events on as a teenager hosting over 2,000 in venues across London. This period coincided with the rise of pirate radio stations such as Rinse FM and Deja Vu which Nicky was a feature on continuing to build his network of musicians creating a new community. 

He further honed his entrepreneurial skills pressing vinyls and selling them alongside other artists who were coming up at the time. “It initially started as us working with record shops on a sale and return basis then eventually as the record stores saw our mixtapes sell out they started buying upfront” he recalls. An opportunity arose when Walker got a job working at Jet Star records, a prominent distributor of Reggae music where he would help many artists who are well known today press and distribute their music. This would be where Nicky met Femi through a mutual friend. 

Femi had already decided he was going to carve out a career in the film industry and whilst Walker was working in the record industry he realized he never lost his passion for film when he saw Kidulthood “I thought this is exactly what I want to do, make films that represent the culture” he says. The duo struck up a relationship and their first film ‘It’s A lot’ went on to achieve success as did their second and third films ‘Intent’ and ‘Intent 2’. 

Against All Odds is the fourth film the duo have worked on and it chronicles the rise of the UK grime and rap industry showcasing the early days when the scene was very much underground and not in the limelight. The duo believe “it is very important that these stories get told and we showcase the people who put in a lot of work in the early days to make the industry what it is today”. The film has an accompanying soundtrack featuring many well-known artists such as D Double E, Jammer and Maxwell D and is produced in collaboration with Motown Records UK. The film will air on Channel U, a channel where many U.K. artists got their first break alongside many shows highlighting the history of the music genre.

Against All Odds will all air on Friday 20th November between 7pm and 1am on Sky channel 373, Virgin 345 as well as the Link Up TV Youtube channel. 

This article is part of a series featuring underrepresented people making a difference. You can find more articles (click here) and if you have a story to tell or want to be updated as soon as new features are released get in touch via Twitter @TommyASC91