Croydon rap duo Krept and Konan have had a mammoth couple of years that started with a record breaking mixtape in 2013 and led to a star-studded sell-out show at Brixton Academy earlier this year.

In between the two, 26-year-olds Casyo ‘Krept’ Johnson and Karl ‘Konan’ Wilson released number two charting album The Long Way Home last summer and have won a hatful of awards.

And they’re not the only south London locals to be lighting up the airwaves.

Among their contemporaries making moves are Stormzy, Section Boyz, Loyle Carner, Raye and even more established acts such as Lianne La Havas and Tinie Tempah.

Refreshingly, the artists are helping each other by supporting them in public and appearing on their tracks and at their shows.

Konan told us: “We’re all here because we all love music, we all have this goal to be artists so I feel like we’ve got to celebrate it and keep each other going.

“When I first started doing music, my mother told me it’s luck – not everybody makes it.

“The fact that we’re here and I’m seeing my friends come up and people from my area and people from another area and we are all actually here, we have all made it, we have to support each other. Because we’re here and not everybody is.”

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That spirit of collaboration is something which is clear throughout Krept and Konan’s album, which featured songs with Skepta, Ed Sheeran, Emeli Sande and Wiz Khalifa among others.

But the For Konan, though, the most jaw-dropping was US rap giant Rick Ross on the track Certified.

He said: “When I was making my second ever mixtape, his album Teflon Don was the only thing I was listening to in the car at that time. I had it on repeat.

“For him to come and do a song like that and kind of take the sound from my mixtape and his album and fuse it and to actually have him there telling me ‘you’re the hardest stuff I’ve heard in the UK’ was a crazy experience, definitely.”

As well as working with big names, Krept and Konan are also helping young people get ahead. Earlier this year they launched their Positive Direction Foundation with backing from Croydon Council to nurture young talent.

Konan said: “We’re trying to help them now and give them more knowledge about how the industry works and help them craft their talent and perfect it quicker than we did, and learn more.

“I feel like the earlier you know it, the earlier you can master your field.”

It is an understandable goal for the pair for whom success did not come overnight – not that they would have it any other way now.

Konan said: “We have covered every ground so no matter what happens we know how to start it again.

“When you’re doing it the hard way you don’t really want to do it the hard way. But you learn and you see.”

Their breakthrough came in 2013 with the release of the mixtape Young Kingz, which shot into the top 20 and broke the world record for the highest charting record for an unsigned act.

Konan said: “That was one of the most surreal moments of doing music.

“To this day, I feel like that was so unexpected. Our backs were against the wall and we thought ‘if this doesn’t work, we don’t know what the hell we’re going to do’.

“Forget everything – we’re just going to put this thing out and what happens, happens.”

From that release, things have moved more swiftly. The pair signed a deal with Virgin EMI, won a load of awards, released their full debut album The Long Way Home last summer and went on a tour which culminated in a sell-out south London homecoming at Brixton Academy in April where guests on stage included Craig David and Emeli Sande.

Konan said: “To go from (the smaller) Shepherd’s Bush (Empire) to Brixton in the short space of time that we did without really putting out anything was sick.

“It was an accomplishment for us to do that to be a part of grime and UK hip hop acts that have sold out Brixton Academy.

“We brought out Craig David and he said ‘I haven’t done Brixton Academy yet’.”

Things continue apace this summer, with a string of festival gigs including Reading in August.

Konan told us: “We’ve done it two years in a row so I know it’s going to be crazy.

“When you do your own show, it’s people that have come to see you but a festival is a mixture of everything so you get other people’s fans coming to see you and getting to experience what you bring to the table as an artist and a performer.

“I feel like it’s an occasion where you can win over some new people and get some new fans.”

He added: “It’s better than performing in the cold. I feel like everyone’s happier when the sun’s out. I’m looking forward to every performance and every show that we’ve got coming up, especially the ones where we get to wear shorts.”

Krept and Konan play Reading Festival on Saturday, August 27. Go to readingfestival.com

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