After your last album, you were described by reviewers as "hip hop's chief miserabilist" - is your new record as melancholy?

"Chief miserabilist." I like that. The humour in the last record just totally went over everybody's head. Everybody just saw the serious side. That old melancholia is part of me; it's not a navel-gazing "woe is me", it's more of a rant for ranting's sake, a tantrum. That's what I'm doing in the studio, I'm trying to get away with the most ridiculous, outlandish thoughts and rhyme schemes that I possibly can. I'm trying to force different themes and topics over untraditional musical landscapes.

Who are you confronting?

The world. This is the sixth record and I'm shouting at the world. I'm shouting at you all, "Come on, join in, throw some pebbles at the establishment, throw eggs, throw flour, poke your tongue at the prime minister."

You were very open and vulnerable in the last album, is this one the same?

There is vulnerability in everything I do. But I ain't just a soppy mummy's boy. I like love, I like tenderness, but I can get down to a good bit of argy-bargy too.

Estelle said recently that she felt forced to go to the US in order to be taken seriously. Do you think that is true for most black British artists?

I don't think you're forced to go to the US but, if doors open out there, you would be daft not to. In America, a standard new black act can come out and sell a million within a couple of months. That's not really going to happen over here - the demographics are so different. Sometimes we get lost in looking at the success of the Americans. They've got a whole different system, a whole different culture. We don't seem to appreciate how young British black music is, and how much harder we've got to work to establish ourselves. We need to stop making excuses and just work, work, work - make music, release music, regardless of whether you're selling 1,000 or 100,000.

You've performed at Glastonbury in the past. Why do you think there has been such a fuss about Jay-Z headlining the festival this year?

It's just small-mindedness. It's jealousy, but it's ill-founded. I think it was just a shock. Glastonbury is trying to move forward with its thinking, and it was just too much for our musical figureheads to handle: "Hip hop, on the main tent? No way!" I wonder if they would have said the same thing if it was Eminem? I don't know, I think maybe not. Festival land is a funny place. Was it Reading or Leeds that threw bottles at 50 Cent? A crazy bunch of people. Don't mess with those Guardian readers.

Is there a crisis in the black community? Is there a lack of black role models?

It's not just black kids, all kids need decent role models. Kids have got different expectations now - they don't expect to be driving a bus, they want Porsches and yachts by the time they're 21. I don't think it's just the black community, it's all communities.

Is that why you deliberately don't do the 'bling' thing in your music?

No man, I do bling. I'm about bling from within, bling from your heart and soul. But I've got a few diamond rings in my jewellery box. I don't mind wearing big chains and stuff. I'm definitely not anti-bling, but I'm about celebrating the good fortune that music has provided me with, and being an example of someone who has done it in a legal and a righteous way.

· Buff Nuff, the new single by Roots Manvua, is out June 30. The album Slime & Reason is out on September 1.

· Listen to Hannah Pool talk to Roots Manuva at theguardian.com/audio