Blade Brown

Jonathon Wrate (born 12 February 1985), known professionally as Blade Brown [1] is a British rapper and songwriter from Battersea, London. He released the mixtape series Bags and Boxes, and the Financial Times mixtapes.[2][3][4][5][6] XXL has compared his style to that of early Young Jeezy and Gucci Mane.[7]

Blade Brown
Birth nameJonathon Wrate
Born (1985-02-12) 12 February 1985
Streatham, London, England
OriginBattersea, London, England
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Rapper
  • songwriter
Years active2003–present
Associated acts
Websitebxbldn.com

Biography

Early life and career beginnings (1985–2006)

Wrate was born on 12 February 1985 in Streatham, later moving to Battersea. He was first exposed to hip hop through his father who would listen to 80s and 90s hip hop as well as reggae at home, all of which influenced Wrate to take an interest in music and start rapping more seriously around the age of 17. He released his debut mixtape entitled Nothing Long Volume 1 under Defenders Entertainment in 2004, but he took a break from music following a spell of both underground and commercial success through the mixtape which was played on mainstream radio stations such as Choice FM, BBC Radio 1Xtra and Kiss FM, as well as street DVDs in circulation at the time such as Streetz Incarcerated, Streetz Is Raw and Welcome to the City.[8] Between 2005 and 2006 he recorded material for a second mixtape, which was initially entitled Nothing Long Volume 2, but it was never released due to the legal troubles Wrate was experiencing at the time, as well as a change in his own preferences as he has stated that he did not want to release many of the songs he had recorded.

Hollow Meets Blade with Giggs (2007)

Wrate released his second mixtape entitled Hollow Meetz Blade which was a collaboration with fellow South London rapper Giggs. The mixtape received general acclaim from both underground and mainstream rap fans in the United Kingdom. However, Wrate failed to capitalise on the hype from the mixtape and took a break from music shortly after its release.

Discography

Mixtapes
Title Details Peak chart positions
UK
[9]		 UK R&B
Nothing Long Volume 1
  • Released: 2004
  • Label: Defenders Entertainment
  • Formats: CD
 ——
Hollowman Meets Blade (with Giggs)
  • Released: 2007
  • Host: Robeworld.com
  • Formats: CD, digital download
 ——
Best of Blade
  • Released: 2009
  • Label: Ruthless Records
  • Formats: CD, digital download
 ——
Bags and Boxes
  • Released: 31 March 2010
  • Host: Mykal Million
  • Formats: CD, digital download
 ——
Financial Times
  • Released: 31 March 2011
  • Label: Hill Productions
  • Formats: CD, digital download
 ——
Best of Blade 2
  • Released: 9 February 2012
  • Host: Charlie Sloth
  • Formats: CD, digital download
 ——
Bags and Boxes 2
  • Released: 30 November 2012
  • Formats: CD, digital download
 ——
Best of Blade 3
  • Released: 14 October 2014
  • Host: Big Bad Blue
  • Formats: CD, digital download
 ——
Bags and Boxes 3
  • Released: 31 November 2014
  • Label: Self-released
  • Formats: CD, digital download
 42[10]—
Bags and Boxes 4
  • Released: 16 August 2019
  • Label: Catalyst Records
  • Formats: Digital download, streaming
 12—
"—" denotes an album that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Other charted songs
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
UK
[9]
"Joints"
(featuring K Trap)		 2019 70 Bags and Boxes 4

Awards and nominations
Year Event Prize Nominated work Result Ref
2010 Official Mixtape Awards Best Hip Hop Mixtape Bags and Boxes Nominated
2012 Official Mixtape Awards Mixtape of the Year Financial Times Won
Best Hip Hop Mixtape Financial Times Won
Best Male Artist Nominated [11]
2013 Official Mixtape Awards Best Overall Mixtape Bags and Boxes 2 Nominated [12]
2015 Rated Awards Best Video Drug Dealer (featuring Tiggs Da Author) Nominated [13]
gollark: Haskell is very useful if you need to comonadize a zygohistomorphic prepromorphism.
gollark: Something about "explore-exploit tradeoffs".
gollark: I have a book called "Algorithms to Live By" which I think mentions something like that.
gollark: Yes (I can apparently claim it), though weirdly they don't seem to have any actual pictures of it.
gollark: Codex and GPT-3, yes.

References
  1. One To Watch... Blade Brown
  2. ""My Music Is Wrapped Around Real Life Experiences": An Interview With South London's Trap-Rap Ringleader, Blade Brown". Archived from the original on 7 April 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  3. “I hear other rappers but I’m better than them”- Blade Brown
  4. Blade Brown: the interview!
  5. Krept & Konan Crowned MTV's Best Of The Best UK MCs Of 2013!
  6. G4 Boyz – Alexander Wang (Remix) Feat. Blade Brown
  7. 15 New European Rappers
  8. Oke, Tobi (25 May 2011). "Blade Brown: the interview!". MTV UK. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  9. "Blade Brown | full Official Chart history". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  10. UK Official Album Charts: Bags and Boxes 3
  11. The Official Mixtape Awards (OMA’s) Nominations Are In
  12. OMS Awards Nominations 2013 Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  13. RATED AWARDS ANNOUNCE CATEGORIES & NOMINEES
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