70-year-old drill rappers go viral for being surprisingly good

Plenty of people take up new hobbies post-retirement. Bridge, knitting, golf, to name but three popular options.

But two grandads, in their 70s, from south London have made their name thanks to a less… predictable elderly pursuit.

The pair, known as Pete and Bas, are masters of drill rap.

The duo – celebrated on the UK grime scene for top hits including Dents in a Peugeot and Old Estate (which have racked up more than 4 million YouTube views between them) – but they are now starting to make waves across the pond.

On Saturday, American Twitter user @VirgilAbroke, shared a clip of one of their videos, commenting: “Bro, 70 year drill rappers from the UK. S*** is crazy.”

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His tweet garnered more than 300,000 likes and 80,000 retweets in less than two days, with viewers stunned at the pensioners’ skills.

Here’s how fans reacted:

Pete and Bas, both diehard Millwall FC fans, released their first track Shut Ya Mouth in 2018. The same year, they held their first gig in front of just 10 people at the Graduate pub in Greenwich, the South London Press reports.

Since then, they’ve blown up venues across the UK, as well as Ayua Napa in Cyprus.

Pete, a 70-year-old grandad-of-six from the Peckham Rye Estate, told the paper during an interview last year: “Who said you’re too old to break the scene?

“I’ve been in the BBC studios chatting to radio people, I’ve been in some of the biggest clubs in the country.”

Although, he also admitted: “All I want to do at the end of the day is stick my feet up and watch telly with the wife.”

The former Royal Mail sorting office manager said he and Bas had been surprised by their success.

“I was amazed by the number of plays,” he said. “We love being recognised wherever we go – we get stopped by all sorts of people of all races. And they are always very respectful.”

The two friends write all the songs themselves, with their grandsons and a couple of their friends providing beats and sorting the production.

They had a tour scheduled for Autumn 2020 – titled Lads on Tour – but it has been postponed to October this year owing to the Covid lockdown.

Who knows, given their Twitter success, the OAP lads could soon be conquering the world...