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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

Instantly recognizable by his signature Deadpool balaclava, London driller V9 rose to prominence in 2018 with the aggressive single "Charged Up." Applying a blunter approach than close Homerton collaborators KO and Unknown T, V9 established himself in 2019 with freestyles for Kenny Allstar and Tim Westwood along with the release of his debut mixtape, Homerton Sensei.

Growing up in Hackney's Homerton district, rapper V9 got his start in music in January 2018, releasing debut single "Glide" on popular U.K. rap hot spot Mixtape Madness. Using a Deadpool-inspired balaclava to deliver cold threats and violence-driven bars, the drill rapper quickly established himself as one to watch, garnering hundreds of thousands of views on late-summer singles "Tiger Woods," "DMC," and "Japan." However, it was not until September that V9 truly broke out: the single "Charged Up," opens with the brutal verses, "Violence and swervings, lean out the ride and burst him/Of course I'm rolling, don't ask me twice if I'll burn him." The song became the rapper's first major hit, racking up millions of views and coining his renowned "V9 too devilish" sequence of bars.

Working locally alongside Unknown T and KO under the #Homerton banner, V9 became the blunt force of the trio, eschewing KO's technical lyricism and Unknown T's eccentric flows for brutal, evocative imagery. After ending 2018 with KO collaboration "Andy & Dwight," early 2019 saw him produce a number of singles: January's "Devilish" embraced his now-iconic catch phrase, while February saw him join Soze for "Get Man Gone." V9's debut mixtape, Homerton Sensei, soon followed. Released in May, the project continued the rapper's intense approach to the genre, featuring "2.0" versions of both "Japan" and "DMC," as well as collaborations with Unknown T, KO, RV, ST, and Jimmy. Through the rest of the year, the Homerton rapper landed freestyle spots on U.K. platforms like Mad About Bars and Tim Westwood TV, further increasing his exposure as well as that of his Homerton associates. His sophomore tape, Yudokuna, arrived in early 2020: with appearances from Homerton's KO, Jimmy, & Unknown T, the rapper's second project saw him embrace more experimental drill production. ~ David Crone