Charlie Ian Paul Rouillon (born 20 August 1981), known professionally as Charlie Sloth, is a British DJ,

hype man A hype man, in hip hop music and rapping, is a backup rapper and/or singer who supports the primary rappers with exclamations and interjections and who attempts to increase the audience's excitement with call-and-response chants. The hype man's ...

, producer and

TV presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garner ...

Early life

Charlie Ian Paul Rouillon was born on 20 August 1981. He was raised in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and ...

and attended

Haverstock School Haverstock School (formerly Haverstock Comprehensive School), is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located on Haverstock Hill in Haverstock, London, England. It is opposite Chalk Farm Underground station, and bounded by Prince of W ...

. He is an avid supporter of

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

in 2004 he starred in a documentary Tower block dreams ep.1 “spittin & shottin” by David O’Neil documenting the hip hop and grime scene in London and Southend

Career

Sloth came to notability in 2007 after he won Most Original Video at the CraveFest Awards Canada for music video "Guided Tour of Camden". Most of Sloth's career as a radio DJ has been spent on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

and BBC Radio 1Xtra, presenting ''The Rap Show'' on Saturday nights and his weeknight late show ''The 8th''. He was previously a presenter on the weekday drivetime show on BBC Radio 1Xtra. His trademark freestyle brand, ''Fire in the Booth'', has been described as "...a real mark of prestige in the scene, especially for newcomers" with MCs from grime and hip-hop coming into the studio to perform. Akala, Avelino, Devlin,

Professor Green Stephen Paul Manderson (born 27 November 1983), better known by his stage name Professor Green or simply Pro Green, is an English rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, television personality and mental health activist from London. Growing up on ...

K Koke Kevin Georgiou (born 22 May 1985), known professionally as K Koke, is an English rapper. He is best known for his "Are You Alone" Diss track and ''Fire in the Booth'' freestyle on Charlie Sloth's show on BBC Radio 1Xtra, which has accumulate ...

Lowkey Kareem Dennis (born 23 May 1986), better known by his stage name Lowkey, is a British rapper and activist from London. He first became known through a series of mixtapes he released before he was 18, before taking a hiatus from the music bus ...

, Mic Righteous,

Bugzy Malone Aaron Davies (born 20 December 1990), better known by his stage name Bugzy Malone, is a British rapper and actor from Manchester, England. Malone has been described as one of the key artists instigating a "grime revival" moving the UK urban sc ...

, Big Narstie,

Tinie Tempah Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He has been signed to Parlophone Records since 2009, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own entertainment compa ...

Wretch 32 Jermaine Sinclaire Scott (born 9 March 1985), better known by his stage name Wretch 32, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter from Tottenham, North London. He was a member of the grime collective Combination Chain Gang, before forming The M ...

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

, Big Shaq, Migos and others have performed on ''Fire in the Booth.'' Canadian rapper Drake's appearance was "...four or five years in the making", with Sloth noting in 2018 that it was one of his favourite moments of the show.

2007

Sloth created a weekly online video series ''Being Charlie Sloth'', which was picked up by WorldStarHipHop.com. The show ran for 59 episodes.

2008–2019

In 2008, Sloth won Best Rap/Hip-Hop/R&B Unsigned Artist at the CraveFest awards in Canada. He released ''Hard Being Good'' in the same year. Sloth presented the daily drivetime show on BBC Radio 1Xtra from September 2012 until November 2017 On 6 November 2017, Sloth began presenting a new late-night show, ''The 8th'', which was simulcast on Radio 1 and 1Xtra from Monday to Thursday from 9 until 11 pm. The show was notable for its post-watershed language and content. Uniquely for Radio 1, swearing, and graphic sexual conversations were routinely a part of the programme, seen by station bosses as a way of attracting younger listeners.

Apple Music

On 3 October 2018, Sloth announced he would be leaving BBC 1Xtra, with his last planned show being on 3 November. This was however cut short on 20 October when Radio 1 "agreed with Charlie" that he would not be completing his remaining 10 shows. This followed Charlie Sloth controversially "storming the stage" at the Audio and Productions Awards show on 18 October. On 14 January 2019, Sloth announced via Instagram that he will be joining

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

and Beats 1 and will be bringing ''Fire In The Booth'' over. He also hosts the Rap Show and curates playlists for Apple Music.

Roc Nation

In August 2020 it was announced that Sloth had signed a deal with Jay Z's Roc Nation. The deal is a partnership which sees Roc Nation look after all of his assets on a worldwide deal.

Political views

In November 2019, along with 34 other musicians, Sloth signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party leader

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

in the

2019 UK general election The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party receiving a landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 48 seats and won 43.6% of the popular vote ...

with a call to end austerity.

Discography

Albums

* ''The Plug'' (2017)

Mixtapes

* ''The Big Boot'' (2004) * ''Secret Society'' (2006) * ''Hard Being Good'' (2008) * ''The Black Book'' (2010) * ''Hood Heat Vol. 1'' (2014) * ''Hood Heat Vol. 2'' (2015)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sloth, Charlie Living people English hip hop musicians English record producers Grime music artists BBC Radio 1 presenters 1981 births British hip hop DJs DJs from London People from Camden Town BBC Radio 1Xtra presenters