Any jail I go to, I get a phone, I'll get drugs,
I can get a knife, anything you want.
So when I had a phone, people just say,
"Oh, make bare funny videos,
make funny videos." I will do funny videos.
Next minute, I don't know how famous I was
when I was in jail, you know what I mean?
But people are saying, "Likkleman, you are viral out there."
I'm thinking, 'How?'
They're like, "You're just you.
You're a gangster midget in prison," you know what I mean?
Giving it 10 stacks, you know what I'm saying?
[MARYANA] What was your relationship with your parents like?
My dad was an importer, a drug importer.
He done 10 years in Panama,
then that's why I never had that father figure,
so that's why I was on the rocky path,
you know what I mean?
It was just me and my mum and my two sisters.
[MARYANA] Can you tell me about your childhood? What was it like?
It was alright.
I used to go to primary school in Rugby.
I was there 'til, like, what is it?
I can't remember. What is it, year six?
And I got kicked out
'cause I brought cannabis into the school.
Tried selling cannabis, got kicked out of there.
Then I started going to them naughty schools
you used to go to and whatnot.
This is bulls**t, this is.
Can I start again?
Start again.
[MARYANA] Let's start again, yeah.
[MARYANA] Yeah.
I went to a primary school,
and after that, I went to boarding school,
my mum sent me to boarding school in Scotland.
So yeah, it was a bit of a mad rough patch.
[MARYANA] Why did you get sent to boarding school?
Naughty little s**t.
Don't know what to say, innit.
It was a bit mad, 'cause obviously,
I was the only black person there, you see,
'cause it was Scotland, Cumbria.
I remember my mum, we used to drive there,
we said we're going to look at a school.
I remember I was in this cab for, like, four hours,
and I was like, "Hey, where are we going?"
And obviously, when I got there,
it was some big, massive mansion just full of white people,
no one else, there was no coloured people there.
It was just me, I got dropped off,
mum drove off, left me there.
I was an aggy person from a young age,
'cause I never had that father figure, you know what I mean?
So I just wanted to do what I want, and it was just me.
Obviously I was young and that, I was about 10 years old.
It was just mad.
[MARYANA] How were others treating you?
The way it is, 'cause I was small and I was different,
it was a bit... they liked me, but they were...
I dunno, man, it's hard to explain.
I dunno what they were thinking in their head,
you know what I mean?
[MARYANA] And how much did you know about dwarfism while you were growing up?
Nothing, really,
'cause I've never been around small people,
I've never been associated around small people,
you know what I mean?
No one in my family's a midget, a dwarf,
has got achondroplasia, no one in my family.
Obviously, people who've got achondroplasia
have got big bums, big heads and small limbs, innit,
so obviously I know I'm different.
[MARYANA] When and how did you get into crime from there?
It was just the people I was with, innit.
When I went to boarding school, I was there 'til I was 13.
I'd done a robbery up there,
'cause when we used to come back,
we used to go on home leaves.
We used to go home, I used to get tobacco, cannabis,
whatever I can and bring it back.
Then when all the lads get back from their families,
back to the boarding school, we used to just run away
and just try escape and whatnot.
And obviously, one time we ran off, there's about 10 of us,
we must have broke into one house,
one of the lads killed a chicken,
and bare other madness and got bare drunk,
and one of us had to get his stomach pumped.
It was crazy.
And obviously they kicked me out of school for that.
I went to court up there and everything.
And obviously ever since then,
I started going in and out of prison from a young age.
[MARYANA] How old were you when you first got to prison?
13, 14.
[MARYANA] How many times were you in prison in general?
14 times.
Altogether, in and out, in and out,
in and out, you know what I mean?
I was high profile to the police.
My door was coming off every day.
It was crazy, man.
[MARYANA] What you think about all of that time in prison, what was life there like?
When I first went to jail, it was a bit... it was alright,
'cause everyone used to love me, innit.
All the big gangsters, how you say it,
the gangsters, they loved me, innit,
'cause I was small and I was gangster
and it was different to them, you know what I mean?
So 'cause I was small and I was on it,
I didn't take no s**t from nobody.
They were like, "Yo, you're with me, you're with us,
you know what I mean? No one can touch you."
But because obviously,
I was getting too comfortable like that,
all the big boys say, "Yo, little man,
just calm down a little bit,
you're getting too cocky," you know what I'm saying?
'Cause I'm getting too comfortable
and I'm thinking no one could touch me.
You know what I'm saying?
But I've had a couple of issues in jail.
I've been stabbed in jail, you know what I mean?
It's just life, innit, it's what you go through,
but I'm just a small man that just don't take no s**t
from nobody, you know what I mean?
[MARYANA] Did you ever feel that you were taken advantage of?
Yeah, a lot of times.
People used to make me do things I never wanted to do,
used to make me rob things and take the things off me.
Just loads of stuff, man, you know what I mean?
Back then, I was young, I was vulnerable,
I had nothing, you know what I mean?
I would say I was scared of them,
'cause if I wasn't scared, it wouldn't happen,
you know what I mean? So I would say yeah,
I was scared of them.
'Cause I'm obviously Likkleman, gangster in jail,
obviously, I'm well known innit,
so any jail I go to, I get a phone,
I'll get drugs, I can get a knife, anything you want.
So it was just me, so when I had a phone,
people just say, "Oh, make bare funny videos,
make a funny video." I will do funny videos.
Next minute, I don't know how famous I was
when I was in jail, you know what I mean?
But people are saying, "Likkleman, you are viral out there."
I'm thinking, 'How?'
They're like, "You're just you.
You're a gangster midget in prison," you know what I mean?
Giving it 10 stacks, you know what I'm saying?
[MARYANA] What kind of funny videos would you make?
I'd run across the floor like a dog,
I'll slap people with flour, just bare mad stuff,
jump in water.
It was just mad s**t, it was reckless stuff, man,
it was crazy.
[MARYANA] So when you got out of prison in 2019, what were you doing? What was life like?
It was crazy, it was just something different.
I've never, you know what I mean?
It was so different, 'cause I've come
from a poor background, you know what I mean?
I come from poverty, you know what I'm saying?
I come from a council estate when I have nothing.
I have to usually rob to put food in my mouth,
you know what I'm saying?
It was just mad, you know what I mean?
I come out of jail in 2019, I got famous.
Yeah, thank you everyone, but yeah,
you know what I mean? You changed my life.
If it wasn't for them, I'll be still in jail,
in and out of jail now, I reckon.
But when I come out of prison, it was just like Lamborghini,
Ferrari, Porsche outside.
I was bare confused,
'cause obviously I don't know that life,
you know what I mean?
All I know, go rob this and feed yourself
or go rob this and put clothes on your back,
you know what I'm saying?
It was just crazy, man.
[MARYANA] Would you say, basically, social media is what helped you to get out of that life?
Yeah, the fans have helped me,
'cause if it wasn't for them liking me and etc,
I wouldn't be where I am now, you know what I mean?
But yeah, the fame did help me, it has stopped me,
'cause obviously, I've got something to lose now.
Before, I never had nothing to lose,
you know what I'm saying?
I got a beautiful daughter now, you know what I mean?
I can't just do that, I can't follow my dad's footsteps.
[MARYANA] How did it happen that you got into boxing?
'Cause I've got a heart of a lion, yeah, I don't care,
I'll challenge anything.
My boy Shaq come to us, said, "Yo, put him into boxing,
'cause he can fight, he's active," you know what I mean?
'Cause obviously Shaq knows me, 'cause he's my good friend.
As we started getting into the boxing thing,
Bouncer was like, "Are you sure?
Are you comfortable boxing?"
I said, "Of course I am, are you mad?"
Anything, it's a challenge.
[MARYANA] What was your very first fight?
Salim, he's a French lad.
I reckon that was the best fight I ever, ever had,
'cause it was just me, it was mad, it was crazy.
I loved every minute of it.
[MARYANA] How did you feel after it?
I was upset, man, 'cause I was thinking,
'Wow, I actually won,' you know what I mean?
'Cause everyone used to doubt me from a young age.
They was like, 'You can't do that, you can't do this,
you can't ride this, you can't shoot this.'
You know what I mean? It was just mad.
But when I won, I thought, 'Yeah man,
I'm a king of this, I can do it.'
[MARYANA] Do you see yourself, like, as an advocate, as a representative for the people with dwarfism?
What does that mean?
[MARYANA] Well, basically, the fact that you've made a great career as a boxer, you broke out of a life of crime.
Do you think you're an example for people with dwarfism?
Yeah, of course.
I'm a role model to them, you know what I mean?
They look up to me, everyone looks up to me.
'Cause what it is as well,
'cause I'm so small and I've got confidence.
I went through the craziest life, you know what I mean?
So that makes me the man I am
and that's why I'm just me, innit.
[MARYANA] About the crimes you've committed and things you've been through.
How do you feel about it, looking back now?
Obviously I regret everything I've done,
but obviously, everything I did was for a reason.
It's not just 'cause I wanted to do it,
it's not just because I thought I was a bad boy
and I wanted to break into this person's house
or take this person's tin
or pull a knife out on this person.
It was not because of that reason.
It was because I had to do it to feed myself,
feed my family or protect myself,
or someone made me do it, you know what I mean?
It was never 'cause I wanted to do it,
'cause I thought I was bad or anything like that.
It was just the lifestyle I got brought up around
and the gangsters I was around.
I never had no... like, my parents and that,
they never taught me nothing, you know what I mean?
It was just eat, sleep and s**t, you know what I'm saying?
'Get up, go to school.'
But I never went to school 'cause I would get kicked out,
and that's why I got sent to boarding school.
Then I got kicked out of boarding school,
then I started going to prison,
so my life was in prison.
I'm 24, mate, I can't go back to jail.
I'm famous now, I've got a good career,
you know what I mean?
[MARYANA] What would you tell someone young growing up with dwarfism now? What would you tell them? What advice would you give them?
I'll tell the younger person what's got achondroplasia.
I don't know, man, it's crazy, man.
It's easy to say don't listen to them,
just get on with your day and just focus,
and just think about... I don't know, man, it's mad.
'Cause certain people take things different, man,
they take things to heart, you know what I mean?
They will hold it in, and next minute,
they'll just blow it all out in one.
It's different, man, I don't know, man, I dunno what to say.
But what I'm saying is just... if I can do it,
you can do it, you know what I mean?
Everyone's human, innit.
No one's no different.
No one should be treated no different.
Everyone should be treated the same.
Black, white, small, big, fat, you know what I mean?
All of that.
[MARYANA] What would you say to your fans out there?
Thank you very much for changing my life for me,
'cause if it wasn't for them following me,
showing me love and respecting me as me,
I wouldn't be in the situation where I am now.
I'll probably be still in and out
of jail like a f**king idiot.
But thank you very much, and stay blessed, people.