BLADE

On our latest episode we catch up with UK Hip Hop legend Blade.

Hailing from Iran, Blade moved to New Cross, London at the tender age of 7. During his formative years in the capital he would discover Hip Hop and become one with the definition of the word hustler. Boasting the innate hypothetical ability to hustle from one end of one high road to the other while simultaneously ignoring back to back naked females...until all wax was shifted.

Blade has been prolific since his first release in 1988. A year later he dropped his standout banger "Lyrical Maniac". Which fused together timeless raw lyricism and dope production becoming a benchmark of UK Hip Hop at that time. After setting the bar, Blade would go on to drop singles in the early 90s like “Mind of an Ordinary Citizen” and “Rough it Up”. Along with three LPs, the most notably “The Lion Goes from Strength to Strength”. 

Then came “The Unknown” with the late great Mark B. The album is an absolute classic marrying old school and new succinctly into one body of work while Blade tirelessly fights the music industry in order to come out on top. Utilising such legends as Rodney P, Skinnyman and Chester P to pepper Mark Bs production with the flavour of what was to come in UK Hip Hop.

Nowadays, Blade has put the mic on the back burner (but not necessarily the pen) to champion his media channel @0521official. The ethos of the channel is to work together and build a scene through positive relationships in order to showcase good music without ego (in our humble opinion).

05:21 is going from strength to strength, interviewing legends such as Chester P, Mercury from Gunshot, Jonzi D, with live performances from Prospects, Joker Starr, Gee Bag and many more to come.

UK Hip Hop needs people like Blade, UK Hip Hop needs MORE people like Blade. For knowledge, humour and most importantly, unity.

Subscribe to 05:21: https://youtube.com/c/0521Official

Follow Blade on Instagram: @blade691_uk
Follow 05:21 on Instagram:  @0521official