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Jonathan James Wrate (born 12 February 1985), known professionally as Blade Brown[2] is a British rapper and songwriter from Battersea, London. He released the mixtape series Bags and Boxes, and the Financial Times mixtapes.[3][4][5][6][7] XXL has compared his style to that of early Young Jeezy and Gucci Mane.[8]
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Early life and career beginnings (1985–2006)
Wrate was born on 12 February 1985 in Streatham, later moving to Battersea. He is a supporter of Manchester United F.C.[9] 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.[10] 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.
Business Ventures
Blade Brown is the owner of the clothing label BXB LDN. BXB LDN for one fashion season did a collaboration with worldwide fashion brand founded from West London called "Trapstar".[11][12]
Collaborative mixtapes
Mixtapes
| Title | Released | Details | Peak chart positions | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [13] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Nothing Long Volume 1 | 2004 |
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— | ||||||||||||||||
| Best of Blade | 2009 |
|
— | ||||||||||||||||
| Bags and Boxes | Released: 31 March 2010 |
|
— | ||||||||||||||||
| Financial Times | Released: 31 March 2011 |
|
— | ||||||||||||||||
| Best of Blade 2 | Released: 9 February 2012 |
|
— | ||||||||||||||||
| Bags and Boxes 2 | Released: 30 November 2012 |
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— | ||||||||||||||||
| Best of Blade 3 | Released: 14 October 2014 |
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— | ||||||||||||||||
| Bags and Boxes 3 | Released: 31 November 2014 |
|
42[16] | ||||||||||||||||
| Bags and Boxes 4 | Released: 16 August 2019 |
|
12 | ||||||||||||||||
| "—" denotes an album that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||||||||
Other charted songs
| 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 | [17] | |||
| 2013 | Official Mixtape Awards | Best Overall Mixtape | Bags and Boxes 2 | Nominated | [18] |
| 2015 | Rated Awards | Best Video | Drug Dealer (featuring Tiggs Da Author) | Nominated | [19] |
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