Bermuda-born rapper and songwriter Matthew Bento has been selected as the featured artist of the week for the UK BBC’s cutting edge radio slot 1Xtra.

During an interview with the host, BentoBDA, as he is known on stage, gave the Island some welcomed kudos.

The award-winning singer, who has supported the likes of Chris Brown, Joss Stone and more recently The Game, believes he is the first Bermudian to be named “BBC Introduced Artist of the Week” on the show. He has just released his new track Personal taken from his MOBO-premiered debut EP The Deep, featuring a song about his Island home.

The 1Xtra show has helped launch the music careers of many up-and-coming artists. Just before introducing BentoBDA to the mic, the host explained that lot of the artists featured in the slot now have legions of fans and play at the major music festivals while their social media ratings have shot up.

The artist was asked how Bermuda’s music scene compared to the UK’s.

“Bermuda”, he said, “is literally into all this cool house music now like Disclosure. They have been getting into those drops the past year or two but when I was coming up it was all that hip hop and reggae, R&B and soca — soca is a big part of Bermuda.”

Just before his track was broadcast, BentoBDA said: “This is Personal from ya boy from Bermuda way up in London town representing all my people back in Bermuda shout out to the family and all that there ... let’s get in.”

BentoBDA has been writing, producing and appearing with a number of UK artists, including London singer-songwriter Bluey Robinson. He’s featured on his track Good Times. He most recently co-wrote the debut album for Raheem Bakare, Portrait of Love, which is the number one hit on MTV Base.

This led into Bento’s debut radio release Slow Jam, featuring Bluey Robinson, which reached number 18 in the Music Week urban chart. As a result it was play-listed on numerous radio stations including Unity Radio and Kemet FM, as well as gaining the support of 1Xtra’s Target and Capital Xtra’s Ras Kwame.

Since the single’s release, BentoBDA has enjoyed support from the likes of MOBO, Earmilk and RWD and 1xtra’s Sian Anderson and DJ Target.

BentoBDA was born in Bermuda but moved to London at the age of 19 and he has travelled back and forth for the past six years. At the age of 16, he won the UG Awards’ Song of the Year for Working on You in 2005.

The Deep is out now on iTunes, distributed by Empire, distributors for the likes of TDE, Kurrupt and Sean Paul.