GEORGE Osborne is about to experience a living nightmare.

From Glasgow to London's Forest Gate the Chancellor will be spying the phrase "Plan B" on hundreds of buses and advertising hoardings.

It is not that Labour is stepping up demands for the Coalition Government to turn away from austerity measures. Rather, singer-songwriter Plan B, aka Ben Drew, pictured, is about to release his first film, Ill Manors.

The Brit-award winning Drew, 28, made his name with the albums Who Needs Actions When You Got Words and The Defamation of Strickland Banks. He has acted in Harry Brown, with Sir Michael Caine, Adulthood, and other British films.

Now it is his turn to train the focus on others – to some extent. Given the film's trailers introduce Ill Manors as being "from visionary artist Plan B", isn't entirely taking a back seat. As might be said if he came from a Glasgow housing estate rather than a London one, the power and the glory of Drew is that he is not backwards in coming forwards. Described by Drew as "quite a harrowing film", Ill Manors brings together several characters on an east London estate. Through flashbacks and music, the film sets out how each became what they are today.

"Parts of the film are narrated by hip-hop songs," he explains. "It's kind of what makes the film unique and also allows me to tell back stories and condense information into a small amount of time."

Central to the film is rising British star Riz Ahmed, seen recently in Four Lions, Black Gold and Trishna. The part was originally set to go to Adam Deacon, but he was busy with his own directorial debut, Anuvahood, when Drew was given the green light for Ill Manors.

As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. "We all know Riz is a great actor, but he's great for other actors. He's engrossed in acting and he's so intelligent in the way he reads a script, in the way he explains the script to the cast he's working with."

This was particularly important because Drew had cast several newcomers besides more established talents such as Ahmed and Red Road's Natalie Press.

Ed Skrein, who is starring in just his second film, was one such newcomer.

"Having Riz there as support, and to explain to him how he should be understanding and performing the script, it unearthed this movie star in him," says Drew. "I think I could have done that on my own, but I don't think I would have got such a great performance from him as we did."

Having seen Ahmed in action, he hopes it won't be long before he has his name above the titles too.

"Riz needs to get into directing himself because he possesses that power where he can get a performance out of someone."

Ill Manors cannot avoid being seen against the background of last summer's riots in England –disturbances condemned by Drew then, and since. In a statement on his website to coincide with the release of the Ill Manors single ("There's no such thing as Broken Britain; we're just bloody broke in Britain") he says: "What happened in Tottenham in some ways I can understand but what happened everywhere else in the country was opportunism. I won't justify it because I don't agree with it."

Because of his willingness to take a stand, Drew, whether he wants it or not, is acquiring a name as the voice of a generation. There aren't many rappers who find themselves on Radio 4's Today programme, as happened last month. He was on Channel 4 News this week, explaining what the monarchy meant to him (they're a brand, he said, same as Nike or Adidas).

For now, though, the movie's the thing. The first film he wrote was about a night that started with someone mucking around with a BB gun in the street and ended with a raid by armed police. He found a film company keen to make it, but the plan foundered when Drew disclosed his choice of director.

"They asked me who I wanted to direct it, I said myself. I realise that I can't expect people to trust me with that kind of money until I can prove that I can direct. It was the same in music... I used to tell people that I wrote songs and people would just dismiss me until I went out, bought a guitar and learned how to use it and started performing live."

He took the last £2000 he had from his recording advance, added it to £2000 left to him by his grandfather, and made a short film. But by this point the credit crunch had kicked in. No-one would back him until he went to Microwave, a BBC Films-led project.

Trying to raise money from the bigger companies was frustrating, he says. "I would rather they'd have said, 'You know what? We don't want to do it'. But film companies don't do that. They say, 'Yeah, yeah, we really want to do it and we'll give you an answer after Cannes, or after Toronto..."

Film appeals because, like hip-hop, it allows him to tell stories. "I was a soul singer first and I'd write love songs. I find with soul music it's really hard to write about anything else. But I was 15 at the time when I was doing that and, to be honest, I'd never experienced love, so the words were kind of meaningless to me.

"With hip-hop music, it allowed me to talk about political and social things but also to tell stories. When I was trying to get a message across it was more powerful when I told a story, rather than if I used a metaphor or if I preached about an issue."

So strong were the images in his mind he started to think of his songs as mini films. "All you had to do was put some headphones on and close your eyes and listen to my voice and you'd be able to visualise the images that I'm putting into your brain."

Besides making his own film, Drew will be seen next in one of the other big British releases of the summer, The Sweeney, in which he plays George Carter, riding shotgun to Ray Winstone's Jack Regan. Music, video, films – it's all part of the mix now for Drew.

"If I do a song for The Sweeney, for instance, there's every chance that the song will be charted and go Top 10. The promotion of the film will feed the single and vice versa. All that stuff is a bonus. It's kind of when the stars align for you and give you the best possible chance for your work to be as successful as possible."

And success is what he is after. "I'd rather if I'm going to be working as hard as I've been working for the last two years – non-stop, solid, no personal life, no break – then I want what I've been working on to be as successful as possible. And I will take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way."

Ill Manors is in cinemas now.