With his mum a Beatles fan, his dad in love Mohammed Rafi and a brother into Clash, you can't accuse Nikesh Shukla of not having a wide range of influences. A part-time music journalist for UK Hip Hop website, a poet and a musician, the rapper released his debut EP last week.

Gujerati Yam Boy, 24 year old Nikesh says is an introduction to his "staccato, unhinged rapping over textured self-produced beats." His tracks explore food, love, politics and dual cultural roots, hinting at a range of influences from hip-hop and reggae to punk, electronica and classical Indian raags.

But why an EP and not an album or a single? "I didn't feel I had the confidence to do a whole album," he tells AiM. "But I didn't want to just do one single and then end up being pigeonholed. I wanted to showcase a wide variety of things I do. So, there's the spoken word element, the live instruments, the weird drum patterns and the eclectic sampling of African and Indian folk instruments."

"If I'd put all that into one track, it would sound really cluttered. But spread out on to six tracks, I feel that there's enough on there to showcase some faint glimmer of potential. This is far from the finished product, it's far from mixed and polished as I would want it," he adds frankly.

Shukla is one third of his local group, the Intrepid Crew, and says he has supported acts such as Clotaire K, The Planets, Buttercuts, EZ Rollerz, State of Bengal and Modeste Hugues. Taking advantage of the local thriving poetry scene, he also regularly appears at the Bug Bar and V.O.I.C.E. in South London.

"I've created something I would want to hear and something I would buy. I suppose that's the main thing. You are your first customer. I only hope that there's others out there who also like what I like and can get on board the Yam Express."

The EP was released last week and is available from Move Musics/ OneTen Records
He can be contacted by email on YamBoy@gmail.com, or through his website.