Hardy Tayyib-Bah (born 23 May 1996), known professionally as Hardy Caprio, is a British rapper and singer. By 2020, Hardy has released a string of successful releases, broken into The Official UK Top 20, and amassed over 270 million streams online.

Career

2010–2016: Early career

Hardy began his music career in 2010, debuting his career under the rap name Profitz. At the age of 14, Profitz introduced himself to the music scene with his '#KNWME freestyle'. Hardy also featured on a few freestyles alongside South London rapper

Novelist (MC) Kwadwo Quentin Kankam (born 20 January 1997), better known by his stage name Novelist, is a British grime MC and record producer from Lewisham in South London. He was a founding member of the Square crew and was nominated for Best Grime Act at ...

. In 2010 Profitz went on to release his first project titled 'A New Page'. He later went on to release his first mixtape 'Indecisive' in 2013 under a new rap name, Hardy.

2017–2018: Rise to popularity, ''Hardy Season'' and ''The Hollywood EP''

Under the new name Hardy Caprio, he was inspired by Croydon artists such as

Krept and Konan Krept and Konan is a British hip hop duo from London, consisting of Casyo Valentine "Krept" Johnson BEM (born 4 February 1990, Gipsy Hill) and Karl Dominic "Konan" Wilson BEM (born 3 September 1989, Thornton Heath), the son of Delroy Wilso ...

and Stormzy receiving a widespread success across the UK, which motivated him to pursue music more seriously. Hardy went on to release over 20 videos in 2017, going from 10,000 views to 100,000 in a year. One notable freestyle he dropped was on the

SB.TV SB.TV Global Ltd, also known as SB.TV or SmokeyBarz, is a British music media company founded by Jamal Edwards and a small team of young people who work on web-based content. The platform was created on 2 November 2006, and its origins in urban m ...

platform, which helped raise his profile. Hardy rapped over Flukes instrumental "Wifey", a Rhythm & Grime song originally released and made famous by

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 ...

in 2006. In 2017, Hardy released "Unsigned" and "Super Soaker" alongside One Acen. "Unsigned" became a

platinum single Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

, garnered over 14 million views on YouTube, over 30 million streams, and reached number 2 on the

UK Independent Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

Discography

Mixtapes

* ''Indecisive'' (as Hardy) (2013)

Extended plays

* ''A New Page'' (as Profitz) (2010) * ''Hardy Season'' (2017) * ''The Hollywood EP'' (2017)

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

References

Living people 1996 births English male rappers Rappers from London People from Croydon {{authority control