The world’s fastest rapper has dropped a fresh speedy freestyle ahead of a new release out today (January 24). Harry Shotta, the viral sensation from Kent and Guinness World Record holder, spoke about his career while promoting his new song ‘History of the Internet in 60 Seconds’.
The song is out on SoundCloud now and is a joint project with London broadband provider Community Fibre. Harry began his career at a young age when he fell in love with the hip-hop scene after listening to his sister’s tapes featuring rappers like Nas and the Wu-Tang Clan in her room
He said: “I was just like, wow, this is something I wanted to do. So I used to go in there all the time, get her playing or bands or old hip-hop stuff, or rapping with it. And after a while I realized me that I could actually pick up these raps and learn them, so I started rapping in the playground. I’d charge the kids about 20p to spit a rap for them. Things like that.”
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Ever the entrepreneur, Harry pushed his talent further as he grew up doing school concerts and eventually working with producers in London. After university he threw himself into the drum and bass scene where there is a heavy emphasis on MCing over very fast paced electronic dance music – right up Harry’s alley.
He said: “I met some of the big MCs like Skibadee and Funsta and those guys really got me into the scene. They got me onto the stage and Notting Hill Carnival one year and I never looked back from there. It was a rollercoaster coaster all of a sudden I was on the road doing all these gigs. You know, it’s like winning awards for best newcomer and I was lucky enough to go around the world.”
He added: “It’s been a crazy journey but a real big blessing man from doing it in the bedroom to the big stage, man.”
Harry Shotta’s 2015 song Animals earned him his Guinness World Record for the most words in a song ever, beating Eminem – the previous holder of the title with his song Rap God. It has since received over 3 million views on YouTube.
He talked about what it was like to release his record-breaking song. He said: “Within a week it had gone viral man, it was crazy. Around the world people were talking about big rappers in America that I rate and look up to were messaging me and stuff.”
Asked why the speed of his rapping was important to him, Harry said: “We can fit in more information but I think it’s exciting to the ear. I have a young son and when he hears faster music he starts dancing faster, and that is the same with adults.”
The writing process is very important at high speeds, Harry said: “You’re writing something and you’re really getting the syllables in there and you’re making sure they’re going to work off each other and they’re going to bounce off each other because some words just won It doesn’t work in that the speed. So it’s knowing which words flow into each other and really like to go with each other and combine”.
In 2017, Harry took London by storm once again when he held the London Underground’s first ever illegal rave which ended when it was broken up by the police. Harry said the idea came from a member of the Trollstation YouTube channel who happened to go to his gym.
He recounted their conversation: “They had all the equipment. They quickly put out the windows. And then people started stepping on and I was just literally MCing. It where a drum and bass rave. The first girls we got started dancing right away, which is great. It was a great atmosphere and everyone on the tube really loved it.”
Even the police were “very cool” with it after the rave closed, Harry said.
Harry talked about the new track with Community Fibre. He said: “Working with these guys was great. Community Fiber – it makes perfect sense for them to work with me being known as the fastest rapper out there on the fastest internet. It works out well, in that sense.”
He talked about the challenge of getting the vast history of the internet in just 60 seconds using his fast-paced rapping. He said: “There’s so much that’s come and how far it’s come from the days of floppies and dial-up and Bebo and MySpace right up to where we are now with companies like Community Fiber and their speed and TikTok and how we use WhatsApp and all these things. It’s such a huge amount of information to get through.”
“History of the Internet in 60 seconds”, launched in collaboration with London’s top broadband provider Community Fibre, is presented TODAY on Soundcloud. To listen to the track and find out more about Community Fiber in your area, visit the Community Fiber website.
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