Blade (musician)

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Blade is a British rapper who started his hip-hop career during the early 1980s.^[1]

Early life[edit]

Blade was born in Tehran, Iran and is of Armenian descent. At the age of four, he was sent to Calcutta, India, to attend a boarding school, where he stayed from 1973 to 1976.^[2] At the age of seven, he relocated to London^[3] and continued his education as a boarding student at Christ's College in Blackheath from 1976 to 1985.^[4]

During the Iran/Iraq War, unable to return to his birth city, Blade remained at his boarding school all year round for almost ten years, doing a variety of jobs there to maintain his residency. After leaving Christ’s College as a student, he earned a job working in the kitchen as a dishwasher and kitchen assistant. He had first been offered the job as a student as a means to contribute toward his school fees because his parents were unable to send money out of Iran due to an embargo.^[5] Blade was also an avid sportsperson, excelling in tennis, football and athletics, but a back injury forced him to pursue other avenues, most notably music.

During this time, he crafted his skills as a beatboxer^[6] and MC and was soon performing at school discos and anywhere the opportunity presented itself. His name is an acronym for "Beneficial Living Always Develops through Experience".^[7] He also regularly frequented Covent Garden which was considered by many as the central hub for UK hip hop during this era (1983 – 1986).^[8]

Early career[edit]

In early 1986, Blade partnered up with fellow South London native Merlin MC. The pair went on to build their reputation through performances at local house parties and talent competitions over a two-year period before disbanding.^[9] During this time, Blade was also member of SAS (Starlite Assault Squad) - hip hop group from the Woolwich and Plumstead area.^[10] Merlin went on to achieve chart success as a solo MC.^[11]

Blade truly began his own in career in 1986 after meeting producers Mastermix and 2000 Adee.^[12][13] Both Mastermix and 2000 Adee would work with Blade on his early releases, the first of which was his debut single, 'Lyrical Maniac' (1989).^[14] The single was recorded during sessions at Cold Storage Studios in Brixton's Acre Lane. The sessions were donated to Blade by Pete Tong, a club and radio DJ who was, at the time, an A&R officer at London Records.^[15] The sessions were engineered by "No Sleep" Nigel (Nigel Laybourne), a producer and engineer who worked extensively with British rap artists in the 1980s and 1990s.^[16] Nigel would play a part in every Blade release for the next 10 years.^[17] Scratches were provided by DJ Renegade, who would remain Blade's live and studio DJ until 1993.^[18][19]

Initially, 300 self-funded white label copies of 'Lyrical Maniac' were pressed. However, only 10 copies survived after Blade pretended that they had a manufacturing fault due to financial difficulty and in order to request a refund.^[20][21] Discouraged, depressed and suicidal, Blade was standing on a railway platform and considering jumping when he was approached by a friend who shared the news that Capital Radio hip hop DJ Tim Westwood had played his record. Blade has always referred to this as a life-saving moment. ^[22]

One record store he approached was Cavern Records, in Lewisham Centre. After a few reorders, they offered him a record deal. This saw the birth of Raw Bass Records^[23], but the partnership proved short-lived as they were not interested in releasing his second single, 'Mind Of An Ordinary Citizen' (691 Influential, 1990).^[24] Blade went on to self-fund this project, which saw the inauguration of his own label named after the local telephone dialing code in the New Cross area.^[25]

A third single, 'Rough It Up' (691 Influential, 1991)^[26], was released and sold in the same manner, followed by the 'Survival Of The Hardest Workin'' EP (691 Influential, 1992)^[27] which saw him begin to sell his records by mail order.^[28] Blade is widely recognized as the first artist to sell records on the streets direct to fans, and paved the way for many to follow in his footsteps.^[29] He is considered the first musician to use the crowdfunding before the term existed.^[30]

A few months before the release of his debut album in 1993, his father died following a triple heart bypass operation. Around the same time, Blade found out that he was due to become a father himself. Although he did not know his dad well due to their enforced 15-year estrangement, this had an effect on him.^[31]

"Lion Goes From Strength To Strength" (1993)[edit]

Released on Blade’s own 691 Influential record label,^[32] this was Blade’s debut full length album. With the help of his then press agent Angus Batey, word spread that Blade needed the funds in order to complete the recording and manufacture of the album and so was born the idea to raise the money through crowdfunding. The idea was for people to send the purchase value to Blade via his already existent PO Box mail order facility and in return all advance orders would receive a free 7” limited edition vinyl of a track that would not be on the album. The idea was a much bigger success than Blade had expected and the 7” turned into a 12” release with two tracks that have never been released except as the free vinyl giveaway.^[33] The album was a double vinyl release which also boasts an 11.5” square lyric booklet with photos, credits and also the names of all the advance buyers and supporters.^[34] This album is widely regarded as the first time the Kickstarter method was used to sell music, almost seventeen years before Kickstarter was even founded.^[35][36] There are also only twenty copies of the album on limited white vinyl.^[37] The album was reissued in 2010 on CD.^[38]

Blade continued touring but soon brought everything to a standstill while dealing with the loss of his father and the birth of his baby son, and aside from a couple of minor releases for survival purposes between 1993 - 1997, he maintained a relatively low profile. A few more releases - including 'Rhyme Bomb' (1997), the only record he released through an American label (Bomb Records).^[39][40]

Mark B & Blade[edit]

Mark B and Blade met when producer and DJ Mark booked Blade for a show in Kingston-upon-Thames in 1991. Mark had wanted to work with Blade for many years after that initial meeting, but Blade didn’t feel Mark’s production suited him so rejected the idea.^[41] They maintained a good friendship and, over the years, Blade would guide Mark with production techniques more suited to rappers.^[42] In 1998 they recorded together for the first time. Blade gave full production duties on the 'Hitmen For Hire' EP (Jazz Fudge, 1998) to Mark^[43] but was never really satisfied with the end result, often labelling the sound as “too clinical”.^[44] It was agreed that if a second collaborative release was to take place, it would be on the basis of Blade finding the loops and Mark programming the drums.^[45] The second collaborative single, 'Nobody Relates' (Jazz Fudge, 1999),^[46] was made in this way, which continued to be the process for the majority of the records they made together.^[47]

"The Unknown" (2000)[edit]

Their 2000 album, "The Unknown,"^[48] was instrumental in elevating the profile of UK hip-hop artists. It was well-received and achieved chart success.^{[49] [50]} The duo toured extensively and received heavy media coverage, including daytime playlisting by BBC Radio One.^[51] The song "Ya Don't See The Signs" (2001) reached No. 23 in the UK singles chart, leading to the pair performing on Top Of The Pops.^[52] They also undertook a tour supporting Eminem.^[53]

Despite the duo's considerable success, Blade's partnership with Mark B was halted.^[54] The record deal belonged to Mark B, with Blade being considered a featured artist; something Blade felt in hindsight was a disrespectful position considering his level of contribution.^[55] During this time, Blade also faced personal difficulties, including a violent street attack and temporary homelessness.^[56]

"Storms Are Brewing" (2004)[edit]

Blade remortgaged his house to fund his next LP, 'Storms Are Brewing' (691 Influential, 2004)^[57] yet a week before the record was released, the distributor he had signed with, 3MV, declared bankruptcy.^[58] Five singles were released from the album, including a limited-edition orange vinyl of 'A&Rsehole',^[59] which breaks down his feelings at the time regarding the relationship between himself and the record label.

"Guerrilla Tactics" (2006) and Music Retirement[edit]

Following his experiences with 3MV, Blade was again considering walking away from music, but a chance meeting with Derby based producer Baby J at the UK Takeover event in Nottingham in 2004, led to another album.^[60] This was again financed fully independently. Four singles were released from the 'Guerilla Tactics' LP (691 Influential, 2006),^[61] followed by a long list of shows before Blade finally announced his retirement.^[62] His final show would be in Winchester on 6^th October 2006. It would be a full ten years before Blade would be seen again, and only after Mark B’s untimely passing in 2016,^[63] to perform a tribute show at the Boom Bap Festival.^[64]

In 2006, Blade accidentally stumbled on a new business venture manufacturing CDs, which he kept active until 2020.^[65]

TV Appearances[edit]

Blade has also appeared on TV shows Soccer AM,^[66] Never Mind The Buzzcocks,^[67] Top Of The Pops^[68] and Trevor Nelson's Urban Choice.^[69] In 2021 he was also a guest on high profile comedian Romesh Ranganathan's podcast "Hip Hop Saved My Life".^[70] Soccer AM also uses the Mark B & Blade track "You Don't See The Signs" as their theme song and has done since 2001.^[71]

2020 – present[edit]

Blade currently runs a YouTube channel called 05:21 Official conducting interviews with artists and filming live performances in a studio environment.^[72]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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