Joshua Ribera (10 August 1995 – 21 September 2013), performing as Depzman, was a British rapper, considered by some "a leading artist on the UK

grime Grime may refer to: * Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust * Grime (music genre), a genre of music * ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity * ''Grime'' (video game), a 2021 Metroidvania video game * "Grime", a 2022 song by Dallas Woo ...

scene." Ribera featured on some of the largest music channels on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

that showcase grime music all across the UK, from JDZMedia, P110 and, the largest out of them all,

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 ...

. He was stabbed in the heart outside of a

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 ...

nightclub by Armani Mitchell. He was 18 years old.

Life

Ribera was born in

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...

on 10 August 1995, to Alison Cope and Anselm Ribera, who was convicted of murder in 2009. Ribera was of Spanish and Irish descent through his father. He became serious about music after being sentenced to a

young offender institution In criminal justice systems, a youth detention center, known as a juvenile detention center (JDC),Stahl, Dean, Karen Kerchelich, and Ralph De Sola. ''Abbreviations Dictionary''. CRC Press, 20011202. Retrieved 23 August 2010. , . juvenile de ...

for theft, gaining a name for himself in the

genre. In 2012 he took part in the "

Lord of the Mics Lord of the Mics (also known as LOTM) is a series of recorded grime clashes, headed by Jammer and Chad ‘Ratty’ Stennett. Each edition of LOTM features grime MC's participating in recorded clashes, where they 'battle' each other over grime ins ...

" battle-rap competition in London. His only album, ''2 Real'', was released in July 2013, and reached number 1 on the iTunes hip hop chart.

Death

On 20 September 2013, Ribera attended a memorial tribute at a

Selly Oak Selly Oak is an industrial and residential area in south-west Birmingham, England. The area gives its name to Selly Oak ward and includes the neighbourhoods of: Bournbrook, Selly Park, and Ten Acres. The adjoining wards of Edgbaston and Harborne ...

nightclub held for a friend, Shamz, who had died exactly one year earlier after being stabbed in the leg. Ribera was stabbed in the heart at the event and died the next day. In March 2014, his killer, Armani Mitchell, was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

, to serve a minimum of 18 years.

Discography

* ''2 Real'' (2013)

References

External links

* Depz
Celebrate
P110 YouTube channel * Depz
Reality
P110 YouTube channel {{DEFAULTSORT:Ribera, Joshua 1995 births 2013 deaths People from Solihull Rappers from Birmingham, West Midlands English people of Irish descent English people of Spanish descent English male rappers Grime music artists People murdered in England Deaths by stabbing in England English murder victims Male murder victims British people convicted of theft