Theo Jerome Kerlin (born 7 May 1989) is a British MC who is credited by his stage name Master Shortie. He is also a singer and has established his own record label, Odd One Out. He was included in the

Sound of 2009 Sound of... is an annual BBC poll of music critics and industry figures to find the most promising new music talent. It was first conducted by the BBC News website in 2003, and is now widely covered by the corporation's online, radio and TV outle ...

poll.

Early life

Originally from

Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It ha ...

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

. his dad ran an east London jazz bar throughout his childhood, which led him to listen to many genres of music, encouraging him to start rapping at the age of 12.

Career

Early career

He started off at The Kidz in the Biz Academy in South East London. After a short stint at the

BRIT School The BRIT School is a British performing and creative arts school located in Selhurst, Croydon, England, with a mandate to provide education and vocational training for the performing arts, music, music technology, theatre, musical theatre, danc ...

, at the age of 14, he soon dropped out, claiming "it wasn't me, it didn't suit me". At 16, Kerlin enrolled on a BTEC course at Nescot, studying Music Technology. He then started recording and producing his own adolescent hip-hop songs with producers and an underground reggae singer called Sparky. Kerlin also appeared as

Simba Simba is a fictional character and the protagonist of Disney's ''The Lion King (franchise), The Lion King'' franchise. Introduced in the 1994 film ''The Lion King'', Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation's List of Walt Disney Anim ...

in a West End production of the

Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance, it ...

Debut (2005–2007)

In 2005, Kerlin started to support American urban acts such as ATL at the Hackney Empire, the Scala and Shepherd's Bush Empire. He was asked to support Hadouken! on their UK tour, as he shares the same management company as them.

''A.D.H.D'' and Sound Of.. Poll (2008–present)

In September 2008,Theo Kerlin released his debut single, "Rope Chain", alongside a music video which gathered popularity on YouTube. In December 2008, Master Shortie was enlisted in the

poll, whereby he was tipped to be the one to look out for in 2009. He stated that the hype was helping him "work twice as hard". In January 2009, Master Shortie stated that his new album, ''

A.D.H.D Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise Development ...

'', was slated to release in the summer of 2009. Citing that the reason for the album name is that "my music is just so crazy and it's so all over the place and it craves attention." In April, Master Shortie released his third single, "Dance Like a White Boy", which was shortly followed by the aforementioned album. The track "Swagger Chick" features

Vanessa White Vanessa Karen White (born 30 October 1989) is an English singer who rose to fame in 2008 as a singer in the girl band The Saturdays. She is signed to "Salute the Sun" as a solo artist. White began her career as a theatre actress at an early age, ...

from girlgroup

The Saturdays The Saturdays were a British-Irish girl group based in London, England. The group formed during the summer of 2007 and have been on hiatus since 2014. The lineup consists of Frankie Bridge, Una Healy, Rochelle Humes, Mollie King, and Vanessa Wh ...

. In the spring of 2009 Master Shortie supported

Basement Jaxx Basement Jaxx are an English electronic music duo consisting of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe. The pair got their name from the regular club night they held in Brixton, London, UK. They first rose to popularity in the underground house scene ...

on their UK tour. Master Shortie played at the 2009 Wireless Festival on the 4th of July. In October 2009 he supported

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman (rapper), ...

at his three Hammersmith Apollo dates in London. In March 2010, Master Shortie announced that he and his record label, Odd One Out, had signed to Hitz Committee,

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

(formerly Jive) and

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

. In 2012, Master Shortie's mixtape ''Studying Abroad'' was released. The record featured artists such as

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

Rizzle Kicks Rizzle Kicks are a British hip hop duo from Brighton, England, consisting of Jordan "Rizzle" Stephens (born 25 January 1992) and Harley "Sylvester" Alexander-Sule (born 1991). Their debut album, '' Stereo Typical'', was released in 2011. As o ...

and Chiddy. Through October 2013 Master Shortie worked on his latest piece. He announced over Twitter that it would be named ''Nobody Taught Me'' and also shared the EP's artwork. On 4 November 2013, he released the first song of the album, "Where I'm At". It debuted on the music sharing site

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

, where he had had a presence for over a year.

Discography

Studio albums

*'' A.D.H.D.'' (2009)

Extended plays

*''Nobody Taught Me'' (2013)

Mixtapes

*''MistaJam Presents... Odd One Out Mashtape'' (2009) *''Studying Abroad'' (2012)

Singles

*"Rope Chain" (2008) *"Dead End" (feat.

Labrinth Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989), better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. After initially pursuing a career in music production, Simon Cowell signed him to his record labe ...

) (2008) *"Dance Like a White Boy" (2009) *"Dead End" (feat. Labrinth) (re-release) (2009) *"Bringing It Back" (2009) *"Right Time" (2010) *"Daydream" (feat. Polluted Mindz) (2010) *"Social Groups" (2011)

Remixes

*"Bringing It Back" (Vindata remix) *"Dead End" (Don Diablo remix)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Master Shortie Living people English male rappers People from Mitcham Rappers from London Wonky pop musicians 1989 births