Headz

Raised on the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham, Irving Adjei aka Headie One was a keen footballer in his youth and picked up the nickname Headie from his cousins. He first began rapping and making diss tracks at 13 under the name Headz, but he started getting into trouble when he left school, and ended up serving sentences for drug dealing offences. He was also a crewmember of Star Gang and OFB, who made mixtapes and posted YouTube videos in 2010, but it was when he was released from prison for the third time that he began taking music more seriously. As Stormzy was busy taking grime into the mainstream, Headie One and his long-time friend Young RV offered more eerie, nihilistic tales of their lives on mixtapes 'Sticks & Stones' in 2016 and 'Drillers and Trappers' in 2017. Their style changed from rapping over up-tempo beats inspired by Young Jeezy and Future, to the gritty, sparse drill sound that was pioneered in Chicago by Chief Keef and Fredo Santana, their aggression and bravado causing a media storm of controversy. With knife crime and gang culture on the rise in London, politicians, police officials and tabloid newspapers blamed drill music for inspiring the wave of violence. YouTube began removing videos, shows were shut down and record companies steered clear of the scene. Footage of Headie being attacked by a gang also added to his notorious reputation, but he responded with mixtape 'The One', and his underground anthem 'Know Better' offered a disdainful, unflustered brush-off of the incident. His follow-up 'The One Two' featured collaborations with Abra Cadabra and was quickly recognised as classic of the genre, but it was the single '18HUNNA' that cemented his reputation as a major British rap star when it shot to number six in the UK charts in 2019. Headie teamed up with RV again on the icy, football-themed verbal duel 'Match of the Day', before his album 'Drillers X Trappers II' featured guest appearances from DigDat, Unknown T and Kojo Funds. © ©Copyright Music Story 2020