Chart-topping rapper Plan B - aka Ben Drew - has taken time out from behind the mic to make his directorial film debut with iLL Manors. With the accompanying album of the same name to follow next month, Shereen Low asked the London-based musician about directing, disillusioned youths and dropping out of school.

Ben Drew is looking forward to some time off.

Lighting a cigarette, he says: “I’ve been working every day in the last few years, so it doesn’t leave much time for life. I think I’m starting to burn out now. So after this, I’m just going to have a break.”

With an upcoming film role in The Sweeney opposite Ray Winstone, and a list of summer festival appearances, including a Kent gig on his ‘forest tour’, the 28-year-old – better known as his rap alter ego Plan B – is aware that free time is a luxury.

“I’m dreading these shows, because of the amount of preparation that goes into making sure I perform at the level that I always have” he says of his upcoming gig at Bedgebury Pinetum.

“I hate not having time to get things right, because you have to put things out that you’re not 100 per cent happy with. That kills me. I’ve been working so hard and so long to do what I’m doing now, and it really upsets me when I can’t do it to the level of which I know I’m capable.

“But,” he adds, “I will get there, and I’ll put on a good show - it just means I’m not going to have a life for a little bit longer.”

Plan B fans will be aware that the rapper has gradually been moving away from music into film, with roles in Adulthood, 4.3.2.1 and Harry Brown, in between releasing his critically-acclaimed soul album, The Defamation Of Strickland Banks.

He’s now taken the next step by making his directorial debut with iLL Manors, which is accompanied by an album soundtrack and single of the same name.

“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he admits. “That was because I didn’t have the financial support I needed, and people doubt you, so you have to deal with that. It’s pretty tough.”

Based on “a collection of stories which me or friends have experienced” in east London, the hard-hitting gritty thriller is not an easy watch, although its provocative nature has won Ben the label of “the mouthpiece of a generation”. It has been praised by fellow musicians Ed Sheeran, Professor Green and Tinie Tempah.

“The majority of the white population in this country don’t even believe this environment or these people actually exist - they think it’s just an exaggeration but it’s not. There’s no way I can fictionalise that,” he insists.

“I’m not sitting there, dreaming this stuff up to make a film I can make money from.”

Citing Quentin Tarantino and Nicolas Winding Refn as his inspiration, Ben’s film has been criticised for glorifying violence, but he insists: “I know some of the scenes will shock some people. But nothing is included just for shock value - every event portrayed is crucial to the story.”

Ben grew up in and around Forest Gate in London and attended Tunmarsh Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) in Plaistow after being kicked out of school at the age of 16, so he is in a position to confront society with these stories, but he also wants to touch today’s troubled youth.

“I want teens and young adults to learn that messing with guns and being in gangs ain’t cool - I know it’s hard because it’s easy to get sucked in. I want my movie and music to help kids like me, who have been forgotten about and laughed at,” he says.

Yet Ben, whose musician father walked out when he was just five months old, readily admits he could have been one of those kids.

“I could have gone down that route, yeah. But I was lucky - I had a talent,” he says.

Film 'is not all about me'

Ben gives himself a cameo in iLL Manors, but didn’t want a starring role in the film. “I didn’t want it to be a vanity project,” he says.

Starring Four Lions’ Riz Ahmed alongside up-and-coming actors like Anouska Mond and Ed Skrein, the film is clearly a passion project for Ben, who has always wanted to make this film to encourage social change.

“This film is a chance for me to show where these problems start and the domino effect they have within people’s lives.

“This is about the negative things and crimes you read about in the newspapers that don’t explain why they happen, which I feel adds more pressure to the whole misconception of the underclasses,” he explains.

Plan B performs at Bedgebury Pinetum and Forest, Goudhurst, near Tunbridge Wells, on Friday, June 22. iLL Manors is in cinemas now, while the accompanying album of the same name is released on Monday, July 16. Details atwww.time4planb.co.uk.