The 42-year-old went mainstream after dropping dancehall hit Turn Red in November 2023 – the music video for which has had more than 9 million views on his YouTube channel.
The viral sensation has also accumulated almost 12 million views on that channel, has 455k Instagram followers and 867.6k followers on TikTok.
Thanks to his success, the dad of one has been trotting across the globe, where he has performed in front of crowds in the US, the Caribbean and Europe.
He also recently flew out to Miami to feature in the American comedian Druski’s YouTube reality show, Could Have Been House.
The second series aired its first episode on Friday, July 18 and has already been watched 5.6 million times.
But this level of celebrity has not always been Moses’ reality.
The former West Minster Primary School and Minster College pupil remembers the poverty around him growing up in Queensway, a road in the south-west of Sheerness – one of England’s poorest towns.
Kent County Council’s 2020 deprivation report ranked Sheerness town centre as the most deprived area in Kent, and 48th out of 32,844 locations in the country.
Moses says growing up in the town was a “rough upbringing”.
“There was poverty, surrounded by a lot of drugs, crime and just instability,” he added.
“There was no real, like, structure. Some families, they’ve got like their parents who have got a good job and cars, and when you get to 18, they put you through for your [driving] test.
“But I didn’t even pass my driving test until I was like 37 because I had to put myself through these things.”
Despite this deprivation, Moses believed he would become famous and started rapping at the age of 10.
By the time he was 14, he was performing on pirate radio stations and in nightclubs in the town, such as Woody’s and Chimes.
The budding musician briefly moved to London with his older sister, who was dating a man from the Caribbean. It was this man who Moses picked up his love for Reggae culture from, as well as his controversial Jamaican accent – called Patois – that he uses when he performs.
His sister would later marry a different man from St Vincent, which meant Moses got the chance to travel out to the country to spend around two months there for her wedding.
When he moved back to Sheerness, but this time in Richmond Street, he spoke to KentOnline in 2011 about his ambitions of making it big after performing at a New Year’s Eve party at the now-closed Ivy Leaf club in Sheerness.
Then, aged 26, he said: “I want to show that you don’t have to be a bad boy from London to be famous.”
In October 2017, in his most recent appearance on KentOnline, he appealed for 100 girls to feature in a music video for his tune 100 Gyal.
While he had built a following before Turn Red, the song – which has been listened to more than 18 million times on Spotify – triggered rapid momentum in his career.
He said: “We went to Gothenburg in Sweden, not for a show but to shoot some content for Turn Red with some of the big YouTubers over there, and it was crazy.
“I posted on my story about doing a meet and greet outside Burger King. I didn’t know how many people would show up, as I didn’t know how big the song would get.
“I was walking to it, and when I saw the crowd [at a distance] I said to my road manager, ‘That can’t be for me’. He was like, ‘Bro, either something’s going on or that’s for you.’
“There were 200-plus people just waiting there to meet me, and they all started cheering.
“That was when I really knew like things were changing.”
Thanks to the success of the hit, he signed a contract with Sony Music, which he says “changed” his life and went on tour.
He performed in Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Jamaica, Ayia Napa and Michigan, and New York in the US. This added to his schedule list of appearances in nightclubs across the UK as well.
“It’s been amazing, man,” Moses said, “In that period I only had about six weekends off, but it has been the best time of my life.
“I did have half-hearted doubts [about becoming famous], but deep down, I was always like, ‘I’m going to make it’.”
Fast forward to when he sat down with KentOnline in the Arizona Lounge in Sheerness High Street, he explained why, despite his fame, the self-proclaimed B-lister still lives in Richmond Street with his mum.
“It’s mainly for my mum and my family, he said. “I don’t even like saying it, but mumsy’s not always going to be here.
“So I’d prefer to spend as much time [with her] as possible.
“I do love living on the Island as well.
“As I’ve got older and I’ve travelled the world, I still love it and I might not ever leave it.
“Like, if I do ever buy a property in Miami or wherever, I’ll definitely have my little house in Minster still.
“It’s a beautiful little place, if you go and sit up at Barton’s Point, or go to Shellness Beach or Leysdown.
“When I get to come away from work, I drive to Sheerness or Leysdown beaches and there’s like nobody. It’s really nice and quiet.”
The touring, Moses says, does take its toll on him, and he enjoys getting back to normality in his home town.
“By the time I got back from touring for a whole year, I was depressed because nothing was normal anymore.
“Everything was just music, work, and being a celebrity.
“You’ve got to have a balance in life away from the touring and the shows and spend time with family and being normal, like sitting on the beach with your friends and cooking dinner for your friends.
“It is so important, man.”
While Moses says he will “never say a bad word about Sheerness”, he rarely goes into the town centre unless it is a trip to Tesco supermarket or his barber.
Part of the reason for this is that he is swarmed by children asking for selfies and pictures.
During the interview, two different groups of people looked in and sang lyrics at him. He even refused to meet KentOnline at his home, as children swarm him if he walks through the town.
He said: “I do love Sheerness because they don’t overdo it and care [that I’m famous].
“They will come up to me and say, ‘Can we get a picture because of my kid?’
“But the novelty of it is not here that much anymore. I think they think, ‘We see him all the time. He’s from here.’ And I love that.”
