Stefflon Don’s shyness cured by rapping when she was only eight

She counts Drake as a friend and gained star status after working with French Montana — but Stefflon Don started out as a songwriter and performer by impressing her peers aged eight.

The 26-year-old London-based rapper, real name Stephanie Victoria Allen, would record herself singing along to Destiny’s Child, Eve, Lil’ Kim and Busta Rhymes before taking the plunge and performing her own tracks to friends.

“I remember writing a song when I was seven or eight,” she told ES Magazine. “I used to sing it to my best friend. One day I met up with her and her cousins and they were all singing this song — my friend’s like: ‘Steff! I taught them your song!’ From that moment on I was like: that feeling is a-maz-ing.”

Allen created a buzz with her tracks on YouTube, including Lock Arff, which became her most viewed. She then lent her voice to Hurtin’ Me with Montana and collaborated on Ding-A-Ling with Skepta.

She was a “shy” child who found her “comfort zone” when she started rapping. She said: “It felt way better than singing. It was me. I was never shy rapping. I’d rap everywhere. You have to project a lot of attitude. And you have to rhyme. And you have to say something. That was the challenge.”

Allen, who is dating a “fellow artist”, said some fans find her intimidating, in particular men.

“Even before I was a household name or whatever, when I went to clubs, people were scared to come to me ’cause of the way I looked. On the street, they just look at me and go, ‘Ahh, I’m not even bothering with her.’”