Tricky: '9/11 is why I didn't release an album for four years'

Tricky, whose new album 'Knowle West Boy' is released this Monday (July 7), has blamed 9/11 for the long interval between this release and his last album, 2004's 'Vulnerable'.

The star said the 2001 terror attacks in New York affected him profoundly.

"I put on TV and saw the plane crashing into the building. I built up a spliff, smoked it, and went back to bed," he told The Sun's Something For The Weekend. "I knew things were going to change then. 9/11 is probably the main reason I didn’t release an album for five years."

The Bristol-born rapper also gave his opinion on the current state of pop music, declaring: "Madonna working with Justin Timberlake is supposed be cool but I don't think there's anything cool about it." .

The trip-hopper did reserve praise Kylie Minogue, though. Tricky covers her 2003 hit 'Slow' on his new album.

"I think Kylie's underrated… Cool is knowing yourself and I think Kylie Minogue really knows who she is and doesn't try to be anything else," explained Tricky.