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The premier engineering talent for much of the U.K. drill scene, West London-based Fumez the Engineer provides behind-the-boards expertise to many of the scene's rising rappers. After founding the dominant freestyle show Plugged In in early 2020, Fumez came into his own as the show's host, offering drill legends and fiery up-and-comers a high-caliber showcase for their talents.

Though known to most as the host of the much-anticipated Plugged In, Fumez's roots in the U.K. rap scene trace back to 2012, when he helped in the early stages of the distribution platform PressPlay. Through the mid-2010s, he worked in engineering and production capacities for a variety of U.K. talents, most notably producing for M Huncho's viral appearance on freestyle show Mad About Bars. During this time, he compiled two mixtapes of his own: 2016's The Mix-Tape tackled hardcore U.K. trap with appearances including Ard Adz, M Darrg, and Big Tobz, while its 2018 sequel (The Mix-Tape 2) offered ventures into faster-paced trap and drill, alongside the likes of Headie One, 410, and M Huncho. Fumez's technical proficiency and early adoption of U.K. drill ensured he was the engineer for many of the genre's classics, among them CB's "Take That Risk" and V9 and KO's "Andy and Dwight."

Drill has always been a genre shaped by its freestyle platforms -- and in 2020, Fumez founded his own. Returning to his PressPlay roots, the engineer created his own drill freestyle series, Plugged In, aiming at a self-described return to "quality control" for the genre. Debuting with an appearance from drill icons Zone 2, Plugged In was quick to gain traction. The series' first season was a prolific run of freestyles across 2020: among the season's guests were drill heavyweights 410, CGM, and CB, and up-and-comers including Fizzler and TPL. Season one's biggest appearance, however, was from Irish drill collective A92, whose high-energy back-to-back landed their "Plugged In" at number 39 on the U.K. charts.

In November, Fumez kicked off season two with East London's 98s; the season featured a wider range of styles, including melodic trap (Baby Mane) and hardcore rap (Mitch) alongside a stacked roster of drill stars including Russ Millions, PS Hitsquad, NitoNB, Active Gxng, and OFB. The season finale pulled together three of the show’s most popular performers -- TPL, 410, and CGM -- for an all-star finish. It wasn't long before Plugged In's third season landed online: early guests included wavy trapper Mastermind, granddad drillers Pete & Bas, and OFB legend RV. Among the season's highlights were appearances from viral successes Arrdee and A1 x J1, U.K. veterans like 67 and Sneakbo, and drill talents Horrid1, Sav'O, 3x3, and Dezzie. For the season three finale, Fumez put together his biggest roster to date, compiling a blistering set of verses from Suspect, PR Sad, DoRoad, R6, A92, Pete & Bas, Kwengface, and PS Hitsquad. ~ David Crone

Building buzz as a young member of iconic Brixton collective 150, rapper M24 brought his saucy brand of drill to the U.K. mainstream in the late 2010s and early 2020s.

Coming up under the 150 banner, Brixton-based rapper M24 found his first major success alongside 410's Skengdo and AM, joining the Myatt's Field duo for 2017's "Do It & Crash." A plethora of freestyle placements soon garnered the rapper a sizeable audience: after appearing on PressPlay's "Lightwork" in late 2018, M24 continued into early 2019 with fiery appearances on Krown Media's Heatseeker, PacManTV's The Hotspot, and Mixtape Madness' Mad About Bars. With his name in the public eye, the rapper delivered an impressive run of singles through 2019, highlighted by his biggest hit to date, the Stickz collaboration "We Don't Dance." Yet this paled in comparison to the success of the rapper's next single; in 2020, M24 dropped viral Tion Wayne collaboration "London," which soon reached in excess of 40 million streams across online platforms. After lending his talents to a number of notable features (iLL BLU's "Dumpa," GRM Daily's "Peter Crouch"), the rapper released his debut mixtape, Drip N Drill, in August 2020. Self-described as a reflection of "a new M24," the project pushed the rapper's sound across the U.K. rap spectrum, dipping into Afrobashment and trap alongside more drill-centric material. ~ David Crone