26-year-old Manchester born wordsmith Bugzy Malone is fast developing a reputation as one of the UK’s brightest independent talents. Dubbed ‘The evil genius’, Bugzy has amassed a loyal fan base through his heartfelt lyrics and knock out delivery displayed in his music.
The last 24 months have been outstanding for Bugzy gaining plenty of attention and racking up over 80 million views on YouTube for his freestyles and raw music videos. Last year he won ‘Best Newcomer’ at the GRM Daily Rated Awards and was nominated for two Mobo Awards for ‘Best Newcomer’ and ‘Best Grime Act’. This year the success continues as Bugzy was nominated for ‘Best Album’ and ‘Artist of the Year’ at the GRM Daily Rated Awards and nominated for ‘Best Video’ at the 2016 Mobo Awards.
In July 2015 Bugzy released his first E.P ‘Walk with Me’, which peaked at number 2 on the I Tunes album chart and number 8 on the official UK album chart. This was then followed up a year later with his second E.P, ‘Facing Time’, which went straight to number 1 on I Tunes and number 6 on the official UK album chart, which knocked Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’ off the top spot.
The E.P ‘Facing Time’ was released on Bugzy’s own independent label ‘ill gotten records’, which Bugzy runs himself. To complete the visuals for the E.P, Bugzy self-produced and acted in a 3 part mini movie called ‘Section 8(1)’, which can be found on Bugzy’s own YouTube Channel.
In December 2015 Bugzy embarked on his first ‘sold out’ UK headline tour, with dates in London, Birmingham, Brighton, Sheffield and Manchester.
Then in January he performed alongside Ratboy, Drench and Bloc Party on the 2016 N.M.E Tour. His 2016 ‘Facing Time Tour’ was also sold out and his support acts included Dave, Star One and Isaiah Dreads.
Bugzy was among the new artists picked for BBC 1Xtra’s ‘Hot For 2016’ List and was also part of the N.M.E’s ‘Ones to Watch For 2016’.
Bugzy Malone is definitely one to watch, he is already being followed by Drake on Instagram, plus he has had upfront support from Radio 1, Beats 1, MTV Base, 1Xtra, Link Up TV, Channel AKA, GRM Daily, P110, Flava TV, SBTV, Sub TV, JDZ Media and Germany’s 1LIVE.
