Stephan Fabulous Allen (born 11 November 1993), better known by his stage name Dutchavelli, is a British rapper. His name comes in part from the fact that he and his family (including his sister, singer and rapper

Stefflon Don Stephanie Victoria Allen (born 14 December 1991), better known by her stage name Stefflon Don, is a British rapper and singer. She rose to fame after her 2017 single " Hurtin' Me" featuring French Montana peaked at number 7 on UK Singles Chart ...

) spent their formative years in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, and he initially went under the name 'Dutch'. He has worked with artists such as

Stormzy Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr. (born 26 July 1993), known professionally as Stormzy, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter. In 2014, he gained attention on the UK underground music scene through his ''Wicked Skengman'' series of f ...

Gzuz Kristoffer Klauß (; born 29 June 1988), better known by the stage name Gzuz (), is a German rapper. In addition to his solo career, he has had success as part of Hamburg hip hop crew 187 Strassenbande. Biography After his parents divorced, K ...

and

Tion Wayne Dennis Junior Odunwo (born 1 September 1993), known professionally as Tion Wayne, is a British rapper and DJ from Edmonton, North London. He appeared on three top-10 singles on UK Singles Chart as a guest – NSG's " Options", "Keisha & Becky" ...

and has achieved Top 40 hits with songs such as " I Dunno", "Burning" and "808", the former peaking at number 7 in the charts.

Early life

Stephan Allen was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

to parents of Jamaican and Trinidadian descent. He has six siblings and is the fifth born of the seven. When he was a year old, his family moved to

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, (hence Allen's stage name); around a decade later on they moved back to Clapton in Hackney,

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

. He cites that instead of sitting around the dinner table to eat they would play each other music ranging from

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

. After first recording in his teens, although he was spurred on by those around him, at age 17 he was handed a six-year prison sentence for an unspecified offence which delayed the start of his music career.

Career

Dutchavelli begun his career as Dutch in 2016 releasing songs such as 'New Jack City' whilst making appearances on

Rinse FM Rinse FM is a London-based community radio station, licensed for "young people living and/or working within the central, east and south London areas". It plays garage, grime, dubstep, house, jungle, UK funky and other dance music genres popula ...

. Further legal trouble involving a firearm charge in 2018 curtailed his career for another two years while imprisoned on remand (he was later acquitted of the main charge but convicted of an offence relating to witnesses in the case). After being released on licence he began to gain recognition in 2020 with a series of hits which began with 'Only If You Knew' which racked up 20 million views in eight months. Further hits such as 'Surely' alongside collaborations with artists such as

and

M Huncho M Huncho is a British rapper and singer from London. He performed a Mad About Bars online freestyle session in 2017, and releasing his first EP ''Get Out'' that October, with the single "Mediocre" and another EP, ''48 Hours'', following in 201 ...

began to cement his name as one of the leading emerging talents within the drill scene.
Dutchavelli was named on the BBC Sound of... 2021 longlist. 10 artists were nominated by industry experts and artists such as

AJ Tracey Ché Wolton Grant (born 4 March 1994), known professionally as AJ Tracey, is a British rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is from Ladbroke Grove, West London. Tracey rose to popularity in 2016 and was listed by ''The Guardian'' i ...

and

Billie Eilish Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell ( ; born December 18, 2001) is an American singer-songwriter. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single " Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell, with whom ...

In popular culture

Dutchavelli has gained a reputation for being seen as a tough individual. This, paired with his large stature – he is 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) in height – has led to a proliferation of

memes A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...

relating to this within popular culture.

Personal life

Allen converted to Islam in 2022.

Discography

Mixtapes

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

References

{{reflist 1993 births Living people Rappers from Birmingham, West Midlands English male rappers English hip hop musicians Black British male rappers English people of Jamaican descent English people of Trinidad and Tobago descent English expatriates in the Netherlands People from the London Borough of Hackney English prisoners and detainees UK drill musicians Gangsta rappers Musicians from Rotterdam Converts to Islam