Five minutes with Glizz — North London’s gritty truth-teller

“Inconsistent” – the new track from Glizz and AntsLive – arrived with a jolt. The Red Noon-directed video blends GTA fantasy with raw street energy, finding what Glizz calls “the perfect middle ground where our two worlds could collide.” Born from a studio conversation about balancing music with life, the collaboration feels natural despite their different lanes. Ants brings his signature bold visuals and what Glizz describes as that “young, lit and free” energy, while Glizz maintains his grittier, more grounded approach. “What I like about the track is it doesn’t feel like a compromise of either of our sounds,” he explains. The North London connection binds them, but it’s their contrasts that make the collaboration work – they’re “reading the same book, but from different pages.” Here, we sit down with Glizz to chat music videos, North London connections, and balancing the rapper life with reality.

How are you? How’s life treating you at the moment?

Life’s good. Working hard always but I like to keep busy so I can’t complain.

Tell me a bit about how “Inconsistent” came together. Glizz, you’ve said it was totally organic — what actually sparked between you and AntsLive in the studio?

It was a conversation we had in the studio about consistency. I was telling Ants about how I’m trying to be more consistent and the struggles of juggling music with life. Naturally that sparked the idea for the song

The video feels like this mad GTA-meets-street-reality trip. How much of a hand did you have in dreaming up those visuals with Red Moon?

Ants is known for his extravagant crazy videos, whereas my videos tend to be a lot more gritty and down to earth. We wanted to find the perfect middle ground where our two worlds could collide on screen — Red Noon ran with that brief.

There’s something interesting about two North London artists getting together like this. How do you feel your individual styles play off each other on the track?

We’re very different artists but also aligned in many ways — probably because of that North London link. What I like about the track is it doesn’t feel like a compromise of either of our sounds. It’s more about complimenting each other but having enough room to be ourselves.

You’ve talked about how this is all about pushing each other to new heights — what does that actually look like in real terms?

I know Ants holds me in high regard as a lyricist and I definitely think that pushed him to pen something crazy. As for me, I knew I had to step my game up and match Ants’ energy and on-screen charisma. 

Ants talked about music videos being a dying art form. How does this collaboration with you and Red Moon breathe some life back into that?

I’ve probably been part of that problem. In the past I’ve never focused too much energy on videos as my thinking has always been to let the music do the talking. But this song was definitely a wake up call for me in terms of what a music video can do to elevate a song.

You mentioned loving music videos that go properly leftfield — like Skepta’s “All Over The House” or Slowthai’s “Ladies”. How does “Inconsistent” fit into that tradition of messing with visual boundaries?

Visuals are all about expression and I think the “Inconsistent” video definitely embodies that. We took a pretty simple concept of two different people from two different walks of life, and used the elements of the earth to reflect the contrasts of the song.

Both you and Ants have talked about representing different worlds. What are those worlds, and how do they come together on this track?

From my perspective, Ants represents being young, lit and free. He embodies the rapper lifestyle we all want to live as kids. I come from a different world and my music tells that story. It’s dark, gritty and for the most part undesirable. This song was us reading the same book, but from different pages

The track’s called “Inconsistent” — what’s the real story behind the title?

It really is what it says on the tin. I’ve struggled balancing music with other endeavours that used to put food on my plate, and Ants has struggled balancing the life of an artist with his commitments to everyday life

And now what? What are you still itching to explore or push in your music?

I’m dropping an EP later this year and it’s definitely more experimental than my music to date. There’s a lot of new sounds on there that people might not expect from me, but it’s still the same Glizz.