Given his image as a rapid-firing rapper with pithy one-liners about some celebrity or other always on the tip of his tongue, and a troublesome past, you might think the things bothering Professor Green might be less than wholesome.

Recently, however, it’s been his dogs and his new lawn driving him up the wall.

“I paid £980 for that turf, including the laying of it,” he says, exasperated. “I have to water it for an hour a day and no one is allowed to walk on it. And we’ve just got the dogs back from the kennel, so they’re all over the place. And Millie’s away this week, so I’m doing it all on my own...” he trails off.

Born and raised in Hackney, he has now settled in south London and is nearing the end of a renovation, which has gone on longer than expected and cost more than he and wife Millie Mackintosh, the former Made In Chelsea star, wanted it to.

He has even taken some advice from Channel 4 Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud, who he has struck up an unlikely friendship with since meeting at the BAFTAs a couple of years ago.

But maybe Green, born Stephen Manderson, should hire an assistant?

“I don’t think I could afford it after the amount we’ve spent on the house,” he says.

“And in any case, I like doing all this stuff, the laundry and walking the dogs and all of that.

When he released Alive Till I’m Dead, his 2010 debut, it was highly unlikely Green ever thought he’d be having these conversations.

A few years previously, he’d become one of the best battle rappers in London, and was the champion at a night called Lyric Pad, winning an unprecedented and still-unbeaten seven contests in a row. He was later signed to Mike Skinner’s label, The Beats, and started releasing mixtapes.

This period was overshadowed by the frightening incident outside east London nightclub Cargo in 2009 when Green was attacked with a bottle and was stabbed in the neck.

Now, five years later, his life is very different, although trouble does still find him.

In 2013, he injured his leg when he was crushed between two cars as he crossed the road.

Then in March last year, he was fined and banned from driving for 12 months after pleading guilty to drink-driving. The court was told the star got behind the wheel of his Mercedes after being robbed of his £40,000 Rolex watch on the doorstep of his home. He says he got into his car because he feared Millie was being chased by the attacker.

He’s still angry about the way he was treated – he was threatened with a charge of perverting the course of justice by officials who did not believe he had been robbed, or that he feared Millie might be attacked.

“They basically wanted to hear that I’d faked the robbery, to cover up the drink driving. But the police were never there, so if I’d wanted to cover that up, I just wouldn’t have told them, I’d have put the car back on the drive and gone into my house. No one would’ve been any the wiser. The point was I didn’t have anything to cover up. It’s a farce and I’m glad to see the back of it, but the trial by media and being called a liar were the hardest to take.”

These incidents meant Green’s recent tour was delayed twice and he admits having too much free time made him lose his focus and get distracted. But now his tour is done he says he’s going straight back into the studio to start work on his fourth album.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves as he says he is proud of his third album, too.

“There might be songs on the other two albums that people prefer, but Growing Up In Public is the most complete, from start to finish, with a theme running right through it. It was good getting a lot of things off my chest as well. I’ve always done that, but it’s kind of self-indulgent, isn’t it?

“It would be nice to write a happy album for once. I’m not sure what people would think but it would be good for my mental state. It would give me a chance to write without having to draw on bad things that have happened, so I could just explore ideas.

“I’m a bit sick of all the ups and downs. I’m getting to a point in my life where I just want to chill out. I want to work, I don’t want to be lazy, but I want to just work, and just be married and just live and just walk the dogs, without all the stuff and drama that seems to go with it.”

Profesor Green will be performing live at The Forum Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield on Friday, January 30, 10pm. Details: forumhertfordshire.co.uk