Shabazz Kwame Kussie Baidoo (born 13 April 1988) is an English former professional footballer of Ghanaian and Montserratian descent. Baidoo has since become known for his rap career under the stage name Terminator.

Football career

Born in Hackney, as a youngster Baidoo played at first for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future i ...

and then with Arsenal's

. He later left Arsenal and had a trial at

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

before signing up for

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

. Baidoo burst onto the scenes rather prematurely, during an injury crisis for

Ian Holloway Ian Scott Holloway (born 12 March 1963) is an English professional football manager, former player, media personality and television pundit who was most recently the manager of Grimsby Town. A midfielder, he notably played in the Premier League ...

's team towards the end of the 2004–05 season. He made his club debut aged just 16. The following two seasons saw Baidoo feature slightly more regularly, scoring four goals and making numerous substitute appearances and a few starts. However, with John Gregory becoming manager, Baidoo had been used sparingly and out of position, on the wing. Baidoo went on loan to Gillingham in December 2007, but failed to make an appearance for the club, returning to

Loftus Road Loftus Road is a football stadium in White City, London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers. In 1981, it became the first stadium in British professional football to have an artificial pitch of Omniturf installed. This remained in ...

in the New Year. Altogether Baidoo made 33 appearances and scored four goals for QPR. On 17 January 2008, Baidoo's contract was terminated by mutual consent by QPR. On the same day he joined Dagenham & Redbridge on a deal that lasted until the end of the 2007–08 season. In September 2008, he joined Conference club Lewes on a monthly contract and was released from the club afterwards. In October 2008 he moved on to Croydon Athletic. During the summer of 2013, Baidoo left Croydon to link up with

Biggleswade Town Biggleswade Town Football Club is a football club based in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, England. The club are currently members of the and play at Langford Road. History The club were established in 1874 as Biggleswade, later becoming known as ...

. Around the same time, he had been working as a car trader.

Musical career

As well as his career as a professional footballer, Baidoo has a music career under the stage name Terminator (otherwise known as ''T'' or the ''Darkside Pioneer''). According to his GrimeForum page, Baidoo's musical career is secondary to his footballing and is a recreational activity. However, since the end of his football career, his output has been more sporadic and he prefers to be an unsigned artist. Baidoo is said to have created his own musical subgenre within

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 ...

known as "darkside", which predominantly involves a "sluggish flow" coupled with violent lyrics. Some of his musical techniques include rhyming words with themselves and holding one syllable for an extended amount of time to allow a bar to pass. Sometimes Baidoo will even make use of one word lines in his lyrics. On 19 December 2013, Baidoo released ''Darkside Pioneer''. On 2 November 2015, Baidoo released ''Darkest Facts of Existence''. In March 2019, Baidoo released a surprise project, his third album, ''Darkest Facts''.

Discography

Albums

*''Darkside Pioneer'' (2013) *''Darkest Facts of Existence'' (2015) *''Darkest Facts'' (2019)

EP

*''Friday the 13th'' (2013)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baidoo, Shabazz 1988 births Biggleswade Town F.C. players Bishop's Stortford F.C. players English people of Ghanaian descent English people of Montserratian descent Croydon Athletic F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players English footballers Ghanaian footballers Gillingham F.C. players Lewes F.C. players Wealdstone F.C. players Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Hackney Queens Park Rangers F.C. players English Football League players Association football forwards