CHIP, Dappy, DJ Target, Lady Leshurr, Professor Green, Tinchy Stryder, Wiley, YUNGEN, Griminal, Kenny Allstar, Kyla, Nolay, Roll Deep, y WSTRN

Storming out of Camden in the mid-2000's, N-Dubz became one of the most popular R&B acts in the UK with the release of their debut album “Uncle B” in 2007. After three studio albums, two of which were certified platinum and one that was certified Gold, the band went on hiatus in 2011 after the trio, made up of Dappy (Costadinos Contostavlos), his cousin Tulisa (Tula Contostavlos) and their childhood friend Fazer (Richard Rawson), cited the need for some time away from each other. Mere months after the announcement was made, Dappy signed a solo record deal with Takeover Entertainment, and joined up with Tinchy Stryder to guest on his single “Spaceship.

By September 2011, Dappy had picked an unreleased N-Dubz track called “No Regrets” to be his debut solo single. After reworking and re-recording it, the single was released to huge commercial success, hurtling into the charts at number one and ever since then, Dappy has continued to have huge commercial success with everything he releases. His second single “Rockstar” was a number 2 hit on the charts and the accompanying album “Bad Intentions”, was a top ten hit on the album charts. With a second studio album, “Miracles”, in the pipeline, the sky's the limit for the young rapper, and for that, he comes highly recommended.

Raised by his grandmother in Hackney, North East London, Manderson’s rap excursions began more by chance than choice. At a friend’s house party where everybody was freestyling he was put on the spot and something clicked. After seeing an advert for a freestyle event call LyricPad, Manderson decided to attend and ended up winning the freestyle contest seven times consecutively. As a result a scout from JumpOff spotted the rapper through which Mike Skinner of The Streets came across Manderson and signed him to his label The Beats.

After getting stabbed in the neck by a broken bottle in 2009, the rapper released his debut single “I Need You Tonight” in April 2010. The single peaked at No. 3 on the UK’s Singles Chart and was followed by the No. 5 hit single featuring Lily Allen “Just Be Good to Green”. The singles supported his debut album “Alive Till I’m Dead” (2010) which peaked at No. 2 in the albums chart, released through Virgin Records after The Beats label dissolved.

2010 saw the rapper win MTV Europe Music Awards’ ‘Best Push Act’ award, a MOBO award for Best Hip Hop/Grime Act and BT Digital Music Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year. Manderson also received a string of nominations including MOBO’s Best Newcomer and Best Song and three at the Urban Music Awards for Best Newcomer, Best Hip-Hop Act and Best Song (I Need You Tonight).

Manderson’s second album “At Your Inconvenience” released in October 2011 was led by the single of the same name, first premiered on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1 show. The subsequent single “Read All About It” with guest vocals from Emeli Sandé, reached the No. 1 spot in the UK Singles Chart and brought Manderson’s signature hip-hop/grime mix to the popular mainstream.

On September 22, 2013 Professor Green released his long-awaited third studio album “Growing Up in Public” again through Virgin Records. The album features collaborations with artists Tori Kelly, Example, Mr Probz and Rizzle Kicks and the singles “Lullaby” and “Little Secrets”.

Richard Kylea Cowie, born January 19th 1979, is widely known by his pseudonym, Wiley, but in his earlier career, “Wiley Kat. Hailing from Bow, Easy Landon he is a songwriter and record producer, who wears is Caribbean and Trinidad and Antiguan roots on his sleeve. He has surprisingly been on the scene for longer than you would assume having been a member of the UK Garage group Pay As U Go, who achieved a top 40 hit for the song Champagne Dance in 2001. A fantastic forward thinking artist is Wiley, always thinking about all of his endeavours at once, focussing on many projects, including his own.

It was when he released the single “Wot Do U Call It?” in 2004, which is from his album “Treddin’ on Thin Ice” that he created quite a stir in the charts, and it only got better from there over the years. His next big hit was a song called “Wearing My Rolex” in 2008, which made it to number 2 in the charts. Of course, his calling was the song “Heatwave” featuring Ms D, which made it to number 1 in the UK Singles Chart. Wiley continues to write, record release albums and tour and then repeat to this day.

While the most commercially successful rappers in the U.S have also been pop stars since the late 80’s and early 90’s, it’s only relatively recently that the U.K has been producing home grown rappers of the same size and ubiquity. Sure, rappers could have hits, just look at So Solid Crew getting “21 Seconds” to number 1 in August 2001. However it wasn’t until Dizzee Rascal collaborated with Calvin Harris and gave the world “Dance Wiv Me” in 2008 that UK hip-hop got its first legitimate, arena playing sensation who could take anything into the top ten at least. So it went for a couple of years that Dizzee was the undisputed top dog of U.K Hip Hop, and then this guy showed up. And Dizzee suddenly had competition.

From a young age, Tinie Tempah was nothing if not driven and amazingly talented. The kind of artist that could do anything he wanted with his life and music’s gain is everything else’s loss. Conceiving his stage name at the age of 12 after seeing the music video for the aforementioned “21 Seconds”, he was writing, recording, producing and releasing his own mixtapes by 17. In 2005 he joined the label Aftershock Hooligans, where he cut his teeth writing, recording and performing on hundreds of different songs with various other members of the label. In the same year he was ready to step out on his own, “Chapter 1: Verse 22” was his debut mixtape and the following year he had an underground hit with his single “Tears”.

Inspired by the likes of Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella, he left Aftershock in 2007 and along with his manager and cousin Dumi Oburota, created his own label Disturbing London. The idea was that it would also sign and nurture young artists as well as put out Tinie’s own records, but it was 2009 when everything changed. A talent scout called Jade Richardson called Miles Leonard, the head of Parlophone Records, personally and implored him to check out Tinie’s set at that year’s Wireless Festival in Hyde Park. The reception that the young rapper got from just his live show and one independently released album that was already two years old was enough to knock them both for six, and by October Tinie had been signed.

It was February 2010 when Tinie became a star in his own right, with the deathless single “Pass Out” levelling the playing field of UK Hip-Hop and since then he’s been untouchable. Doing what so many British artists have failed to do and breaking America with his single “Written In The Stars”, selling out arena tours and doing so entirely on his own terms. He’s a truly modern pop star, making music that’s as accessible as it is edgy, with a hand in everything about his career, from his music to his videos to his album cover art. He’s something of a national treasure only two albums into his career, and the only way to go is up. Highly recommended.