Devlin

James Devlin, more commonly known by his stage moniker ‘Devlin’, was born on May 7th, 1989 in Dagenham, England in the county of Essex.   He began rapping at the age of 13 on numerous pirate radio stations around Essex county and London.  Growing up, Devlin listened to artist such as Bruce Springsteen and Bob Marley. It wasn’t until he bought Nas album It Was Written that he fell in love with rap.

Linking up with fellow grime artist Dogzilla, he joined the O.T. Crew in 2006 and released a group collaboration called Tempo Specialists and soon after his first solo mixtape, Songs from the Crypt.  The tape caught the attention of mainstream radio stations such as Kiss FM and BBC Radio 1Xtra.  Two years later his career was given a boost with the help of Kanye West who released a clip of Devlin free-styling on the DVD Practice Hours.

Devlin then appeared on BBC Sound of 2010 shortlist of rappers to watch. This lead to him signing with Island Records and releasing his debut album Bud, Swear and Beers in 2010.  His follow up album, A Moving Picture, released in 2013 with a notable feature from Ed Sheeran. 2017 saw the release of his third studio album, Devil In.