From Corey Taylor to Eminem: The icons who inspired Kid Bookie

Kid Bookie reveals the musicians who’ve made him the artist he is today – including his “big brother” Corey Taylor, his admiration of the “no-fucks-given” attitude of Eminem, and, uh, the band who inspire him to “swing my dick like a helicopter propeller as fast as I can”. Yep, really.

Take it away, Tyronne…

“Corey is always someone I have to shout-out. When I heard Wait And Bleed, I was like, ‘What is this?!’ I’d never heard of Corey or Slipknot, but hearing that song was such a key moment in me understanding the prominent role rock was going to have in my life. Corey is now a very good friend of mine, and we’re similar in many ways. We’re both very eclectic, emotional people. It’s the same with our music – we can’t be pinned down. People don’t know what to expect from us, and sometimes they don’t like it, but we don’t give a single fuck. Corey is my big brother; he’s someone I adore and who I’ll fight for. He’s changed my life.”

“He was one of the first artists to really embody that chaotic, transgressive, no-fucks-given attitude. Even if he didn’t stand for the things he was saying, he had this brave, compelling persona where he’d just piss off the whole world. I resonate with that, especially being an artist making rock music, where things aren’t meant to be safe, and you practise rebellion. From Ozzy Osbourne, Thin Lizzy and Metallica to Green Day, Bring Me The Horizon and Sleep Token, rock has always been about challenging the times, and that’s something Eminem does with his poetic lyrics and his style of rapping. I really gravitate towards that. People might not like him, but it takes someone brave to know people don’t like you and not give a single fuck.”

“The Young And The Hopeless changed my life because it was some of the first music that I properly pursued on my own. Good Charlotte were a gateway to me putting on Kerrang! TV and being exposed to all this great music. Joel and Benji [Madden] are so cool – the Girls & Boys video, for example, is stylistically amazing – and then Billy [Martin] is this gothic weirdo punk, which I love! Their harmonies are so infectious, and I’m very lucky to count them as friends today. They’re a key part of our scene.”

“As someone who raps, sings and makes heavy metal, I’m constantly put under the microscope of, ‘What type of artist am I?’ and I see Limp Bizkit as such a prominent representation of refusing to be boxed in like that. From Behind Blue Eyes to Rollin’, Break Stuff and My Way, they’re so eclectic – they can be anything they want to be. As an artist, I feel a lot of the time like people don’t really know what I am, but I’m still out there swinging my dick like a helicopter propeller as fast as I can because… fuck it, why not? I’m gonna rap my arse off as hard as I can and go for the biggest notes you can imagine. I’m lucky I’ve got people like Fred Durst as my influence. Limp Bizkit are iconic, and no-one can take that away from them.”

“I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves for being such a pioneer. I hate doing this shit where you separate someone because of their skin colour, but as a Black man in rock music, he does not get the recognition he should for flying the flag. Even now, when I’m getting nominated for MOBO Awards and all that, I’m thinking, ‘Why the fuck am I here but there’s no mention of Lenny Kravitz?!’ We can’t just keep giving things to Skindred for being 25 years in the game! Give the recognition to Lenny Kravitz, because he’s the reason there’s even a Skindred or Kid Bookie in the first place.

“As well as everyone I’ve mentioned, I also need to shout-out Travie McCoy, Billie Joe Armstrong and Liam Gallagher – without them, there’s no Kid Bookie.”

This article originally appeared in the winter 2024 issue of the magazine.

Read this next:

• Kid Bookie: The 10 songs that changed my life
• “It’s unprecedented madness, and that’s what a show should be”: Kid Bookie on purging the spirit and changing the world
• Kid Bookie: “I’m challenging the status quo by prodding and making people think. This is the place to practise rebellion and influence change”