What led to the song being banned from clubs isn’t entirely clear – but Bizzle believes a fight broke out when Pow! was played in a hall and word spread. It happened again and again.

DJs started sending him photos of signs in booths warning them not to play the track.

Then some of his shows even started to get cancelled, including one in Leicester after police warned the club could lose its live license if it was allowed to go ahead, Bizzle recalls.

“Then I thought this is really, really serious, this is getting out of control.”

At the time, London clubs had to fill out a form when hosting events with DJs and MCs. It included the question “Is there a particular ethnic group present?” » – which was dogged by accusations of racism.

Police said they had reduced gun crime at clubs and played a role in reducing serious violence – but even though the ethnicity clause was removed in 2008, the form targeted a disproportionate number of events organized by black and Asian artists and was eventually removed.

Bizzle recalls how efforts to remove his music began to fail after music magazine NME compared Pow! to God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols.

“Once in a generation, a record comes along that makes people sit up straight, a rallying cry to the masses, a barometer of social discontent that turns places into mad riots,” the magazine reads.

Festivals then started booking Bizzle and he played sold out shows in Reading & Leeds.

rapped on the Pow! instrumental. There have even been discussions about the American superstar being featured on an official remix of the song.

Memphis Bleek, a rapper close to Jay-Z, confirmed in a podcast this year that a version had been recorded but never released.

In 2010, the song was once again making waves on the streets of London.

Tens of thousands of students were protesting against an increase in the tuition cap. On December 10, a stone’s throw from Big Ben, a sound system was installed and the demonstrators began to play Pow! The crowd went wild.