CEO Kanya King launched the MOBOS – the first awards show in Europe dedicated to celebrating urban music - in 1996. And with a reputation for obtaining the best homegrown acts for their yearly tour around the UK ever since, this year was no exception.
It seems like the days of an artist to emerge bearing a diamond-in-the-rough aura have been put to bed. In the past Dizzee Rascal, the So Solid Crew and many others jumped into the mainstream still bearing the so called ‘stains’ of their underground success.
Today, emerging acts are glammed up and polished to appear more ‘camera friendly’ and to (begrudgingly) be labelled as a pop act. But James Devlin has refused to follow suit. A product of the Grime scene, Devlin’s appearance isn’t as a potential poster boy for the new urban pop scene - but rather as a musician who has taken the dark, edgy tools which have elevated him and fine-tuned it to appeal to all markets.
Packing fierce, uncompromising lyricism, Devlin’s debut release Bud, Sweat & Beers intends to reaffirm the notion that the music scene is a level playing field and that the underdog can have its day.