Steel City hip-hop artist and emcee Kid Acne is back with his latest record, Totemic Template (Edna & Friends Vol. 1) – a transatlantic collaboration packed with guests and produced by Spectacular Diagnostics. Featuring artists like Bez (Revival Season), Cappo, Cise Greeny, Dap Zini, Fatboi Sharif, Jehst, Juice Aleem, Junior Disprol, King Kashmere, Mike Ladd, New Kingdom, Sonnyjim and Vandal Savage, the album is another outing for an artist who’s been pretty prolific since breaking a 12-year LP hiatus with 2019’s Have A Word.
What began as a collection of collaborations quickly evolved into a fully realised album, he explains to Exposed over a brew in an S8 cafe. Acne initially saw the project as something separate from his core solo work, but as more tracks came together, things took on a life of their own.
“Because there’s a guest on every track, I wanted to sort of make a distinction between that and the official canon of solo albums,” he says. “But it actually came out sounding more like a full record than we initially intended.”
Some of the tracks had been sitting in the vault for a while, originally intended as B-sides. However, when discussing the project with others, it became clear that much of the material was strong enough for its own release.
Totemic Template features both familiar voices and first-time collaborators, bringing together artists from both sides of the pond. UK rappers like King Kashmere and Sonnyjim sit alongside US underground legends such as Mike Ladd and New Kingdom. For Acne, securing certain guests felt like a full-circle moment, particularly with artists he grew up listening to.
“Getting Mike Ladd was a big deal for me, because Ladd and Juice [Aleem] – that’s who I was listening to as a teenager,” he says. “And New Kingdom as a group, their last album was in ‘96. They don’t really come as a pair anymore [Nosaj and Sebastian Laws], so it’s a significant thing getting them together on this record.”
Across the album’s 12 groove-heavy, delightfully old-school offerings, Jehst’s contribution on ‘I’m Right Here’ stands out as one of Acne’s favourites, particularly because it forced him to approach writing in a different way. “I let him pick the beat, then he put down a long verse. I was like, shit, how am I gonna follow this? He started getting into topics I wouldn’t normally choose to rhyme about, so I kind of took his verse and flipped it and made it more internal.”
With so many guest appearances, the challenge was ensuring it felt like a unified album rather than a disjointed compilation. Acne was mindful of how hip-hop records could sometimes lose cohesion due to excessive features.
“There was an era when you bought albums by groups or individual artists and that’s what you got. Then features started appearing, and albums would sometimes sound more like compilations,” he explains. “So I thought that if I was going to host a compilation album, it’s got to work from start to finish.”
Production played a key role in maintaining that consistency. Having worked with Spectacular Diagnostics since 2017, the pair have developed a strong working relationship, balancing spontaneity with a clear creative direction. Some of the beats date back years, waiting for a fitting moment or collaborator.
“Even a couple of these songs date back to 2017 in terms of production. They lay dormant for a long time until I either found the right guest or the right verse myself.”
The next step is taking the new material for a spin in a live setting, including a headline show at Sidney & Matilda on 21 March. Performing a guest-heavy record poses obvious logistical difficulties, but he has crafted a setlist that pulls from his other albums with Spectacular Diagnostics – Have A Word [2019], Null and Void [2021] and Hauntology Codes [2023] – giving him plenty of flexibility while keeping the energy high.
“We played in Manchester recently and got a good, tight half-hour set. So now I can start switching it up and adding new things,” he explains.
Reuniting with long-time collaborator and former Mongrels member Benjamin has been another highlight, as well as his former hype man Clev Cleverley also rejoining the party. The trio have a history of performing together across the UK and Europe, and getting back on stage with old pals has made the return to live shows even more enjoyable.
“It’s so good working with them again,” he says. “You’ve got a lot of history and trust there. I was adamant that I didn’t want to be doing stuff from 15-20 years ago, so it’s all from the more recent body of work.”
Now that the fourth record in six years is dusted off, he is considering his next move. “We’ve cleared the decks now. It’s not entirely from scratch, but there’s less in the archive to draw from, which is actually quite liberating. I’m now trying to lean into the mid-90s tempo a bit more – just pick things up a bit. Now that we’ve played live a few times, I’m realising that certain tempos work better in terms of energy. I want to get more of that recorded.”
Ultimately, though, the goal is simple – to keep making music in a way that feels natural and authentic to him. “It’s been about getting out of my own way. I spent years second-guessing what other people might think or the outcome rather than just enjoying the process. It’s a bit like a return to form of my youthful enthusiasm for hip-hop, but with some wisdom and life experience backed into it. I know what my lane is now, and that’s a good place to be.”
Totemic Template (Edna & Friends Vol. 1) is currently streaming on all platforms and available on limited edition vinyl. Kid Acne plays Sidney & Matilda on 21 March alongside Homeboy Sandman, Mr Thing, Dee Rock and Agent J Tickets (£10.50+bf) are available here.
