Octavian crowned winner of BBC Sound Of 2019: "Mum, I made it!"

The annual competition has previously been won by the likes of Adele, Sam Smith and Sigrid.

Octavian is the winner of BBC's Sound Of 2019 competition.

The French-born London rapper takes the crown previously won by the likes of HAIM, Sigrid, Adele, Mika, Sam Smith and Ellie Goulding.

The genre-defying rapper is the first rap act to claim the award since the very first recipient, 50 Cent, in 2003.

After being thrown out of his mother's house at the age of 14, the now 23-year-old was homeless for a number of years, crashing on his friends' couches to keep his dream of being a recording artist alive.

"My mum, the last thing she told me before I left was, 'You're either going to be in prison or you're going to be big,'" Octavian explained to the BBC. "She was bare angry at me, so it was weird that she said that. But I always kept that in my mind."

With his Mum's words in the back of his mind as motivation, Octavian set out to get noticed, eventually earning a BRITs School scholarship. The tutelage wasn't for him, and he dropped out: "I don't believe you can teach someone to be creative."

After producing his first mixtapes 22 and Essie World, he broke through with 2017's Party Here, which was shared on social media by Drake. Now he's moved into his first flat and has signed to Black Butter Records.

The rest of the BBC Sound Of 2019 Top 5 in ascending order are King Princess, Grace Carter, Slowthai and Rosalia. Dermot Kennedy, Ella Mai, FLOHIO, Mahalia and Sea Girls completed the shortlist.

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