ArrDee has explained how his much-talked about collaboration with Aitch came about – watch below.

In a new interview with NME, the rapper talked through each song on his new mixtape ‘Pier Pressure’, also discussing working with Aitch and Lola Young on the release.

Speaking of recently released single ‘War’, ArrDee said: “Me and Aitch decided to link up and work on ‘War’. Not sparing a moment but a couple days before we ended up in the booth, he had obviously been in LA and Toronto and whatnot and come back.

“We’d always spoken and got along from the get go, from the jump. And separately in interviews, without even talking to each other, it was always a question that was asked, like ‘When are you going to link up with ArrDee? Are you going to be in the studio?’.

“And my answer was always ‘Yeah, I know it will definitely happen at some point’, and that was his as well. So it just happened organically and we’ve been cool for a long time.”

He continued: “We linked up and went to the studio and I had made quite a few songs. That beat got played, caught my ear, made me walk into the room. And I kind of wanted to write and spin the narrative that the media had done about us beefing each other. The beat made me think of war and I was like, ‘let’s use that as a concept’ and it worked.”

In a four-star review of ‘Pier Pressure’, NME wrote: “ArrDee plasters the record with radio-friendly drill beats, quality rhymes and nightclub belters befitting of his character, ensuring that ‘Pier Pressure’ provides a clear snapshot of a rapper very much on the rise.”

Elsewhere, Aitch recently shared the video for his first solo single of the year, ‘Baby’. The track, produced by Fred Again…, is the latest preview of the Manchester rapper’s forthcoming debut album.

Aitch, who presented the award for Best Solo Act In The World with Big Zuu to Burna Boy at the BandLab NME Awards 2022 spoke to NME on the red carpet about the single.

“I think everyone’s gonna love it,” he said of the track. “It’s a little meaningful one, a little love song for all the people who need that right now.”

Aitch was also announced as one of the first acts for this year’s Radio 1’s Big Weekend.

He’ll be joining Ed Sheeran, Calvin Harris, AJ Tracey, Anne Marie, Central Cee, Joel Corry and Yungblud, who are all set to perform on the main stage on Saturday, May 28 in Coventry.