This year Notting Hill Carnival turned sixty. Six decades of London’s Caribbean Christmas. On Monday 31 August all roads led to Southern Row, W10, where Steeze Factory and Footpatrol linked with King SSP. Deep roots, heavy riddims, and the kind of sound system pressure that moves a whole street at once.

SSP and Steeze Factory go way back, originally partnering up in 2012. This was their first time back on the road together since 2019, powered by Footpatrol, with a back-to-back line-up of Steeze friends and family passing through the afternoon.

“What I love about them [King SSP] is they’re the right people to be at carnival,” Toddla T says. “They are the culture.” It’s a word that gets thrown around at Carnival, so he spells out what it actually costs. “People don’t understand. You’ve got to make the sound system. You’ve got to transport it. You’ve got to set it up. You’ve got to deal with the police, the council, the committee. And you’ve got to sleep next to it.”

Tanisha from Steeze Factory ran the stage and points to where the speakers were aimed. “The whole right side of the crowd were gone,” she laughs. “When I got home, I still felt like I was right next to that sound system. My body was vibrating.” One stack, Toddla adds, never even got used.

By late afternoon, people had packed the length of Southern Row with Footpatrol sweat towels, fans and tees decorating the crowd. Ask who passed through and you get the only sensible answer. “Who didn’t? We’re not going to go there… how long would that take?” Scorcher, Shola Ama, DJ Target and Nadia Rose, for a start.

But the ones Toddla keeps returning to are the next generation: Nubia, Vee, Mello, Hussle, Shelbee Tee, Big Dreco, all graced the mic. “At Carnival you like familiarity, so loads of hit tunes got played”, he says. “But it’s really important we make new hit tunes for the future. Giving youngers a space, for me, was really important.”

Sixty years on the road, and it still works the same way… the ones who built carnival and who have kept it alive hand it to the ones who’ll carry it forward.

Find more over at Footpatrol.