A grime artist who has headlined the Reading and Leeds festivals told a jury he liked to “terrorise” and choke women during sex but insisted the activities were always consensual.
Andy Anokye, who uses the stage name Solo 45, is accused of imprisoning and repeatedly raping four women over a two-year period. The prosecution has claimed he held the woman against their will, physically and sexually abusing them while filming much of what happened.
Giving evidence at Bristol crown court, Anokye described how he rose from tough beginnings on an estate in north London to performing in front of tens of thousands of fans as part of the grime collective Boy Better Know and being signed to a major record label.
Anokye, 32, said he liked to slap, choke, bite and grab women by the hair. He said he would sometimes throw partners around and tie them up with rope or handcuff them and verbally abuse them during sex. He would routinely film what was happening and keep the footage.
The defendant, who has pleaded not guilty to 31 charges, said the women would sometimes be left with bruises, “raised skin”, sore throats or carpet burns. He told the jury he also liked to interrogate the women about previous partners.
Anokye said: “I don’t think women I was involved in would look at me and think: ‘He’s going to make slow sensual candle-lit love to me.’ They knew the sex I was into. I would tell them it would sometimes involve terrorising. We would do a lot of things where I would push the boundaries … I have my own quirks and kinks.”
He insisted that the women fully consented and if they had objected he would have stopped. He said the women had always been free to leave. “I am not a rapist,” he said.
Anokye accepted that the videos, some of which have been shown to the jury, may not have been “palatable” to some people but he said he would not have risked his freedom and his career by assaulting partners.
“At that time in my life things were going so smoothly,” he said. “Everything was working so well. I would never do anything to put my freedom on the line … Life was too sweet.”
Anokye told the jury he was brought up on the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham, north London. He said it was a dangerous place where gangs, guns and police chases were common.
He got into music when he was in his mid-teens, started to perform at small venues and becoming involved in the pirate music scene. He met the other members of Boy Better Know as a teenager.
The jury was shown a video of Anokye performing with Boy Better Know in front of thousands at Earls Court in west London in 2014, a show which he said changed his life.
Footage of Anokye signing a contract with Island Records was shown in court.
Anokye told the jury it had been an emotional moment, having gone from a life among gangs and drugs to being able to afford a villa in the Mediterranean and a riverside flat in Bristol. In 2016 Boy Better Know went on to star at Reading and Leeds and the Wireless festival in London.
In April 2017 a woman made an allegation against Anokye and police arrived at his flat. He told the jury he immediately gave detectives the passwords to his devices.
The prosecution alleges Anokye is a violent and controlling narcissist who derives satisfaction and sexual pleasure from inflicting pain and suffering on women.
The trial continues.
