Linking up with Big Zuu after his day on the water with END. & adidas, we caught up with the comedian and cook to dive into his love of food, passion for streetwear, and maintaining a positive outlook.
A larger-than-life character, Big Zuu has taken the world by storm throughout the last four years. Charismatic and heartfelt, the London based chef, rapper and presenter has channelled his myriad talents into his BAFTA Award winning show Big Zuu’s Big Eats; a cooking comedy show where Zuu would delve into his celebrity guest’s world of food, before cooking a four-course menu designed bespoke for them, all served up from his trusty food truck.
The first thing that inspired me to be creative would have been my love for music, I’ve always loved music from a young age. I never started making music until my late-teens and through wanting to promote my music I started cooking online and becoming a presenter, which then led to Big Eats. It all stems from music. Music is the core.
My Mum was always very musical, being a woman from West Africa, we always had music playing in the house. It was just through boredom that I started writing music, being bored in the block with the mandem, we would freestyle over old school youtube beats just as something to do. Eventually that turned into studio sessions, which turned into a BlackBox Freestyle when I was 18, started going radio at 19 and the rest is history.
Being a young fat boy, I always loved food - people say “big-boned” I say “fat-bellied”. I’ve always loved food, food has always been a passion of mine - I love cooking. I did catering as a GCSE and I used to always cook for my friends when growing up, so naturally I used my love for food and cooking to promote my music. Then I created the “Joints” show which led to me being a presenter. So food was always intertwined into my presenting and music. Eventually, we got Big Eats which is a BLESSING!
"When you add comedy to food it makes it easily accessible to people, and we never knew we was doing that."
I guess food and comedy is something that I’ve always been involved in. Big Eats is literally a marriage of the two, but we never intended it to be like that. We just took a real different approach to food when it came to doing it on television, normally the stuff you would see would be very serious about the ingredients and the root of the dishes, whereas we were just having jokes and bantering about how good the food was - when you add comedy to food it makes it easily accessible to people, and we never knew we was doing that. Shoutout to Whatwillycook as well, such a hilarious guy who makes great food content.
Yeah man, I’m from the hood. Streetwear is the only clothes I’ve ever known. Wearing a trackie and having your creps fresh - even when I was broke, man still had fresh creps. That is just being adopted into streetwear - not mixing brands is a big thing, if i’m wearing my shell-toes I got to make sure I got a 3 stripes trackie on as well. I don’t know anything else, it’s something we adopted from young.
My first introduction was most likely my Mum, she bought me a basketball jersey and took me to clothing stores that sold tracksuits and fresh trainers. She just always kept me fresh. Then you start going school seeing what your friends and family are wearing and take inspiration from that.
"Sometimes getting into things like this when you’re from my world can be really difficult. But I felt like I had my armour on and was ready to go catch some salmon."
I think when I first ever watched the Run DMC video with Aerosmith, that was my first recollection as a child seeing adidas represented in that way on MTV. But with myself, when I first got Superstars I remember I was super excited and what they did with football, the Predators were big.
Fly fishing is incredible, I had an incredible teacher. It’s something I’d like to do more in my spare time when I get the chance. I think the collab really embraces how cool of a sport and pastime it is. Hopefully, it gives people a bit more access to it, sometimes when you look the part it makes you want to be the part, and that’s how I felt - I was given all the gear… and I had the idea, sometimes getting into things like this when you’re from my world can be really difficult. But I felt like I had my armour on and was ready to go catch some salmon.
Marina is amazing, her name is Marina and she works with water - that’s like the sickest punchline of all time. I’ve always enjoyed fishing. I think that fishing is really cool but fly fishing is something I have never done before so it was really easy to enjoy because it’s such a different thing to do. I literally dived into the deep end, waist deep, throwing my hook around trying to get my line correct. Definitely planning another fly fishing excursion, so I’ll definitely be in my END. x adidas fly fishing collab outfit again soon.
More music, more TV, more vibes. I got my own water brand called DRIP, I’ve got a lot of things coming with DRIP. Hopefully looking to do more stuff in the fashion world, hopefully some more beautiful things to come between myself , END., and adidas. I’ll definitely be out there fly fishing for some trout next in a river in London. Just good vibes overall and staying healthy, that’s all that is on the agenda.
THE END. X ADIDAS "FLYFISHING" FOOTWEAR COLLECTION WILL LAUNCH ON 31ST MAY 2024.