Popscene: Maverick Sabre

Multi-genre singer, rapper, and guitarist Maverick Sabre was born Matthew Stafford in the London borough of Hackney. He moved to Ireland during his childhood but returned to England for the sake of pursuing music. A modest start came with compelling, everyman-type appearances on albums by Terawrizt and Nu-Centz (Sense the Terror, 2008) and Jermiside & Danny Diggs (Middle Classic, 2009). In 2010, he was prolific: more collaborations with Terawrizt and Nu-Centz, features on Professor Green’s “Jungle,” and Chase & Status’ “Fire in Your Eyes,” and The Travelling Man, the first Maverick Sabre mixtape. In March of the following year, having signed to Mercury, Stafford released his debut EP, The Lost Words, with its remorseful and sobering “Look What I’ve Done” — a fusion of hip-hop, R&B, reggae, and folk — issued as a single. Four months later, the single “Let Me Go” was released and reached the U.K. Top 20.