Meet the new Eminem

MICHAEL STAFFORD has been through the grinder.

Born in the sketchy London borough of Hackney, he moved to Wexford with his family at age five. At school he would be regularly taunted for his English accent. But when he went back to Britain, people laughed and called him Paddy. Growing up the awkward offspring of two cultures, he wasn’t sure who he was or what he wanted to be. Then he discovered music. It helped save his life.

“As a kid I always saw myself as 50-50, a mix of two different backgrounds,” he says. “I’m half and half, London Irish aren’t I? Over in England, they said I sounded Irish. In Wexford they said I sounded English. You always got that, the banter. I suppose it’s made me who I am today. Everything you go through shapes who you are.”