Interview: A100 - 'Impatient Perfectionist'

If the hardest rapper in Leeds is debated, A100 has to be mentioned. Since 2021 he has consistently released singles, mostly through his own independent channels - attaining close to a million streams across all platforms, growing in notoriety worldwide.

A week before the release of his official debut EP - ‘Impatient Perfectionist’ which dropped August 6th, A100 agreed to be interviewed for the first time, revealing insight into his life and musical growth.

Since the age of 14, A100 started writing rhymes after being inspired by his friend Mulla, who was dropping music beforehand. "If it weren't for Mulla, I wouldn't have dropped nothing,” stated A100. “But yeah, I was about 14 when I first put something down.” Mulla is local to A100, coming from the same area up north, in Leeds - where inspiration surrounded him.

“Obviously, he was dropping tracks back then probably about 7-8 years ago,” continued A100. “Probably even longer… Out of the mandem, everyone always had a little 16 put down, but no man ever released it.”

These times, A100 was known as A1, but he felt the name was too generic. “Everyone was called A1,” laughed A100. “I always keep it 100 - I always just say it how it is. So A100 just came from there.”

The first video A100 released was in 2021, when he dropped the Public Enemy Freestyle - at the time, he was masked up.  “I properly dropped a music video in June 2021, and then from there it just kinda... Blew up, you get me,” said A100. “Obviously I wasn't really taking it seriously back then, I didn't really have an end goal -  but that was the one that I dropped where I was like, fuck it, I'm gonna start doing music videos.”

In the Public Enemy video, an artist known as Cole LC showed face supporting A100 ; citing him as another local inspiration. “I've known Cole since we was kids,” explained A100. “Like through parents and stuff. So naturally, Cole's been doing music since he was a puppy.”

Upon the time of this interview, A100 had already amassed close to a million streams from his Youtube videos, as well as from Spotify and Soundcloud. A track which caught a lot of attention earlier this year was a collaboration with renowned Huddersfield rapper Recky Rondo, for a single called Shottas. The track was produced by Rxbin.flip and Crmzo - both being from Ireland. “I big them up every time I come through,” stated A100. “The sample is mad.”

Recky Rondo represents Huddersfield whereas A100 is known in Leeds, so the collaboration caught peoples attention. Despite not knowing each other for so long, A100 claims Rondo is “Mandem naturally,” recalling how they made the single. “Recky had the beat, and then man just laid down our verses and then back-to-back on the hook, on the chorus, you get me?” 

The music itself is inspirational, the melody motivates whilst the rhymes coincide nicely and precisely for a back-to-back collaboration. This was the impact A100 hoped to have, understanding that the frequencies of his music can cause a big influence on listeners. “Especially in this generation,” continued A100. “Music has a big impact on peoples emotions and feelings - I noticed that I used to listen to a lot of drill, but then I realised that it caused anger all the time, I just wanted to do mad shit all the time.” It was then that A100 realised that showing growth through his music would lead to further success; in his own words, “I can show people visually I am changing by the day.”

“People interact with the body of work as a whole, but they don't actually take in the songs individually,” continued A100. “So I was kind of putting the ‘Impatient Perfectionist’ on the backburner, I don't want to waste songs, I don't want to put songs out if people are not taking them in properly. I've done enough singles now, man can see that I can do singles and drop music videos, so I thought fuck it, it's that time.”

Every single on the ‘Impatient Perfectionist’ EP is exclusive - releasing it independently, as opposed to pushing it through a label, there are zero collaborations so it is straight A100 throughout. All of the singles are snappy, all are around a couple minutes long, which leaves the listeners craving for more. “That's the thing, I don't wanna bore people too much,” said A100. “I like to keep people engaged - everyone on their phones has got a shorter attention span these days.”

The title of the EP stuck after A100 had it written in his notes for a long time, before deciding to settle with it. “I just feel like them two words, ‘Impatient Perfectionist’ are kind of like an oxymoron,” explained A100. “But it just describes me a lot as a person, I want everything perfect but I can't wait for shit.”

Although staying resolutely independent, A100 credits the people who have assisted his music releases, such as “Rap Aware, Surge Creative,” continued A100. “Them man always come through, I put these man together to work on this project as well so that was good, I've been working with them since the start - both of them. Yeah man, shout out Notes, shout out Slim.”

The creation of the ‘Impatient Perfectionist’ started after A100 was released from a lengthy time in jail before being released in 2024, which he learned a lot from. Since coming home, he became more consistent with releasing music. “It makes or breaks you,” stated A100. “But you can learn a lot, it is just how you go about things in jail and how you handle yourself. I used to speak to my baby mum, my mum, my dad, and that was it, literally. I called some of the mandem here and there, but not all the time - I was just trying to get on with my shit.”

Although A100’s lyrical content may be interpreted as controversial, in actuality he describes life with vivid imagery which shows genuine growth and change along the way. Coming from Leeds, it can be harder to get heard than it is further down England’s south, however A100 feels this EP will “set the pace,” whilst also promoting himself with more exclusive content for Black Box & Street Cartel freestyles due to drop soon. “Look them up,” said A100. “They will be coming out soon. My music is gonna come up the same way, A100 everywhere.”

Currently considering putting an event in motion so people can see A100 perform the ‘Impatient Perfectionist’ EP live, in the meantime he shouts out the people who have assisted him on his music journey, providing visuals and top-tier production. “Luca Ray,” said A100. “Beckred, J3 Beats for the production, Rap Aware, Surge, yeah man. That's it.” 

“I feel like people should just take it in as a whole and they can decide for themselves,” said A100, when asked how he hoped the ‘Impatient Perfectionist’ EP would be received. ”The songs keep people engaged, so they are not long, it's easy to listen to.”

A100, thank you for your time. Any final shout outs?

“Yeah, shout out my Daughter. C Roy, all the mandem.”

Words by Evo
Photography by Surge Creative