“I WANT to be the voice for young people.” These are the worlds of Basingstoke Live’s first ever female headline act Paigey Cakey.

The Hackey MC will close proceedings of the first day of the two-day music extravaganza on July 8, with her unique brand of hip-hop.

Having performed music under her alter ego of Paigey Cakey since 2011, the 24-year-old has now found a sound which she is comfortable with and has made 2017 her own.

She told The Gazette: “I have just found myself in the last year or so, before I was just experimenting with things but now I really feel like I have found my own sound and a direction that I am going in.

“I think I have been more influenced by what I am listening to and it took me a while to find a producer I liked working with.”

And it is this niche into the UK hip-hop and grim scene which has propelled Cakey on to many music lovers radars.

It is this attention which has led her to be named the first woman to close the show of Basingstoke Live, something the MC wasn’t even aware of at first.

“When I was offered to play the festival it just sounded like a good show with a good vibe to it, but it was only recently that I found out that I would be the first female headliner,” she added.

“Now that I know that it is a pretty big honour to be the first woman to headline one of the days.”

Being a woman in a male dominated genre is a task which Cakey has taken on head first and believes that because the position she has now established for herself, she hopes to inspire the next generation.

Cakey said: “Being a female in the genre it is easier to be recognised, because there aren’t as many of us in the rap and grim scene, and as a female I am always thinking that I need to prove myself more than a guy would have to do to get into the position he is in.

“I see myself as the voice of the young people. I think it is good to talk to young people and give them the inspiration and motivation of the people they need.”