Proud dad Professor Green has revealed he plans to take his one-year-old son with him on tour later this year.
The 38-year-old rapper and mental health activist – real name Stephen Manderson – welcomed Slimane in March 2021 with actress fiancée Karima McAdams.
He’s hitting the road to mark the tenth anniversary of second album At Your Inconvenience, including a date at London O2 Shepherds Bush Empire on September 14.
In an interview with the Standard, he told how he plans to make his son front and centre of the celebrations, which were previously delayed due to the Covid pandemic.
“I’m really excited,” he enthused. “It’s a relatively short tour and will be my first since becoming a father. I’m looking forward to getting Slimane some ear defenders and bringing him out on stage. I feel really comfortable in my skin and where I’m at in my career and things feel better than they ever have.”
Manderson has spoken openly in the past about being raised by his grandmother on a notorious estate in Hackney with money tight. A constant worry for her he says was paying energy bills, which is a familiar story today with four in ten households currently struggling.
“It’s one of the first things I remember, the stress in the household,” he explained. “My Nan was working three jobs a day to try and provide, having to split money down the middle with some on gas, some on electric.
“People are not just having to make a choice between energy or gas, it’s electricity or food in some instances, it’s really dire.”
He has now teamed up with British Gas and charitable organisation The British Gas Energy Trust for a powerful new campaign to help end the stigmas around the subject and empower those needing it to seek help.
It’s timely with industry regulator Ofgem revealing a new proposal today that could see the energy price cap, the mechanism that determines gas and electricity bills for 22 million households, reviewed every three months in place of the present twice-yearly adjustment arrangement.
“Everything changes when you have a kid,” Manderson said. “I’ve always respected my Nan, but I have a different, new-found respect for her because the stress of that is no joke.
“I worry constantly, I want to be secure enough to support my family. I don’t want my son going through a lot of what I encountered as a kid.”