Blade

Blade poses with Steve Hodge holding a Maradona jersey on Soccer AM. Blade is a British rapper who started his hip-hop career during the early 1980s. He is widely recognized as being the first British rapper to have released a double album on a fully independent label, being the first hip-hop artist selling records on the streets direct to fans,

Early life 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. At the age of seven, he relocated to London and continued his education as a boarding student at Christ's College in Blackheath from 1976 to 1985.

During this time, he crafted his skills as a beatboxer and MC and was soon performing at school discos and anywhere the opportunity presented itself. He also regularly frequented Covent Garden which was considered by many as the central hub for UK hip hop during this era (1983–1986).

Early career Early in his career, Blade had partnered with fellow South London native Merlin MC who would go on to achieve chart success alongside Beatmasters and Bomb the Bass. Both Mastermix and 2000 Adee would work with Blade on his early releases, the first of which was his debut single, 'Lyrical Maniac' (1989). 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, A&R officer at London Records. Scratches were provided by DJ Renegade, who would remain Blade's live and studio DJ until 1993 before joining Son of Noise. 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. but the partnership proved short-lived as they were not interested in releasing his second single, 'Mind of an Ordinary Citizen' (691 Influential, 1990).

Blade continued touring but soon brought everything to a standstill while dealing with the loss of his father and the birth of his first son, and aside from a couple of minor releases for survival purposes between 1993 and 1997, he maintained a relatively low profile.

Mark B and Blade 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. They maintained a good friendship and, over the years, Blade would guide Mark with production techniques more suited to rappers. becoming the first UK Hip-Hop to sell over 50'000 copies. The duo toured extensively and received heavy media coverage, including daytime playlisting by BBC Radio One. 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. They also undertook a tour supporting Eminem.

Storms Are Brewing (2004) Blade remortgaged his house to fund his next LP, 'Storms Are Brewing' (691 Influential, 2004) yet a week before the record was released, the distributor he had signed with, 3MV, declared bankruptcy. His final show would be in Winchester on 6 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, to perform a tribute show at the Boom Bap Festival.

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

2020–present Blade currently runs a YouTube channel called "05:21 Official", conducting interviews with artists and filming live performances in a studio environment.