On 27th September I was invited to attend a unique talk in West London. Gathered in a non-disclosable location in White City, along with a selection of other reporters, I had heard only that there would be a surprise celebrity guest speaker.

With notepad and pen ready and in writing position, in walked Naughty Boy, a MOBO award-winning UK artist who has collaborated with the likes of Beyoncé, Emile Sande and Sam Smith (for 2013’s ‘La La La’ – which hit number one in the singles charts in 26 countries).

But it wasn’t Naughty Boy we heard from. With his guard fully down, we met the very grounded and humble man-behind-the-brand, Shahid Khan. A frank and honest discussion about the life and music of this British Super-producer followed.

From rising to fame alongside contemporaries like Chipmunk and Tinie Tempah to how hard it has been for him to let go of his friends when business has demanded it, Khan let us into his story with full immersion. He reflected especially on his frustrations with friends, trying and often failing to help them succeed and pull them up with him as he grew to fame through 10 years of hard graft… “You want to take everyone with you [but] you can’t make someone’s heart as determined as your’s”.

We later heard exclusive previews of brand new music, featuring the likes of Popcaan and Kyla (the latter of whom recently featured on Drake’s One Dance).

After the talk had wrapped up, and questions from reporters for were over, I approached Khan.

After introducing myself and describing my UK music show on Wandsworth Radio, I posed a special request. With no hesitation Khan happily agreed to record a custom jingle for my show. What’s more, he took it a step further and together we recorded an exclusive intro for his brand new dancehall single Should’ve Been Me (which later proved to be a big commercial success).

Using these pieces to tease the release of his new music, my radio show benefitted from featuring an exclusive introduction on the day the track was released worldwide. Listener numbers saw new peaks and I decided to make it a thing, with later celebrity jingles on my show from Hannah V and Guvna B.

Check out the clips below including Naughty Boy introducing Should’ve Been Me on Deadbeat Joe’s Radio Show on the day it was released…

Audio 18 Nov 2016

Naughty Boy records exclusive jingle for Deadbeat Joe (Joseph Aspinall)