REVIEW: Digga D blesses Bristol
UK hip-hop superstar Digga D visits Rough Trade Bristol on his pop-up tour to promote new mixtape Back to Square One, giving fans the chance to grab a copy and meet the man himself following his rawest record.
Words and images: Mitchell Williams, @mitchellsvisuals
Hailing from Ladbroke Grove, London, Digga D is a 23-year-old hip-hop and drill artist. If you forget where he’s from, you can’t miss the giant pendant branded “Powis Square W11.”
Back To Square One features singles such as DTF, Facade (ft. Potter Payper) and the viral hit Energy. Digga undergoes a reanimation with this record: whilst it still packs your heavy hitter drill tracks, there are plenty more melodies to ride along with. It feels like only recently that Digga compiled his songs into the Noughty by Nature mixtape which was released in 2021, so to receive another package of bars so soon, accompanied by a pop-up tour, is exciting to say the least.
Fresh upon arrival, fans queued at length down towards the town centre, anxious to meet him. In amongst the mostly teenage crowd, I was surprised to see families also in attendance, some even bringing their young children; it became abundantly clear that drill music appeals to a much wider audience than is represented in mainstream media. (But do the babies listen to Digga?)
The artist pulled no punches and was eager to ensure every fan had the best experience possible, from personalised autographs to selfies and voice notes. He even helped some fans create TikToks using his music and cameoed in others. It’s always engaging to see artists interacting with their fans on ground-level, rather than just turning up to sign some merchandise.
A few fans asked for our support in hyping them up; they were nervous to meet the man himself. Luckily Groundworks, the management team behind Digga, was on standby to ease the pressure and brought plenty of additional merchandise for die-harders including clothing, CDs and album slips. They even left behind a stack of signed copies for fans who couldn’t make it.
It was great to see so many fans pull up for this session. Beginning at 11 a.m. on a Sunday can be tricky, as some of the crowd will still be asleep from the night before! I was kept busy up until the moment the team left.
