Tobit John "Tobi" Brown (born 8 April 1993), better known as TBJZL, is an English

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influent ...

streamer Streamer or streamers may refer to: * a person who streams online on an internet platform like twitch or youtube * Pennon, a small pointed flag * Streamer, a kind of confetti consisting of strips of paper or other material * Streamer, a common nam ...

and

Internet personality An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social m ...

. He is also a member and co-founder of the British

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 ...

group known as the

Sidemen A sideman is a musician who performs live with a band of which they are not a permanent member. Sideman or Sidemen may also refer to: * Sidemen, Bali, a district in the Karangasem Regency of Bali * Sideman (bishop), a 10th-century Bishop of Cred ...

. In 2019, Brown was listed as the 38th most influential online creator in the United Kingdom by ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

''. , his main YouTube channel has over 4.9 million subscribers and 524 million video views. Brown has also released music

mononymously A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...

, and in 2020, he released his debut single "Destined for Greatness", which peaked at number 31 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and number 33 on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

Early life

Tobit John Brown was born on 8 April 1993 in Hackney,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to a working-class family of Nigerian heritage. Brown attended St. Dominic's Catholic Primary School from 1997 until 2004, and then attended

Bexley Grammar School Bexley Grammar School is a co-educational grammar school with academy status in Welling, in the London Borough of Bexley, UK. It takes boys and girls aged 11–18 who have passed the eleven plus exam. History Founded in 1955, Bexley Grammar ...

, where he met future fellow Sidemen member

Josh Bradley Joshua Bradley (born 4 September 1992), better known as Zerkaa and his stage name Josh Zerker, is an English YouTuber, streamer and Internet personality. He is also a co-founder and member of the British YouTube group known as the Sidemen. In ...

. Brown later completed an honours degree in computing at

Coventry University , mottoeng = By Art and Industry , established = , type = Public , endowment = £28 million (2015) , budget = £787.5 million , chancellor = Margaret Casely-Hayford , vice_chancellor = John Latham , students = () , undergr ...

Career

Brown joined

in 2011 while at university after he saw Bradley gaining traction on the platform and then decided to become a full-time

after university. He uploads video game commentaries, most notably of the ''

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

'' and ''

NBA 2K ''NBA 2K'' is a series of basketball sports simulation video games developed by Visual Concepts and released annually since 1999. The premise of the series is to emulate the sport of basketball, and more specifically, the National Basketball A ...

'' video game series, as well as

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

challenges,

vlog A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in ...

s, and comedy style videos. On 19 October 2013, Brown and four other British YouTubers formed the entertainment collective Ultimate Sidemen, later shortened to simply Sidemen. Since 2014, the group has consisted of seven British YouTubers: Vikram Barn (Vikkstar123), Joshua Bradley (Zerkaa), Harry Lewis (W2S), Simon Minter (Miniminter), JJ Olatunji (KSI), Ethan Payne (Behzinga), and Tobi Brown. The group produces online videos, most often consisting of challenges, sketches and video-game commentary, as well as selling exclusive Sidemen merchandise. In June 2018, Brown founded a streetwear brand called ILLVZN with the official launch in February 2019. In May 2019, he collaborated with New Era Cap to release a custom 9Fifty snapback. That September, he was listed as the 38th most influential online creator in the United Kingdom by ''

''. In December, he released "The Gift" with the rest of the Sidemen, reaching number 77 on the

. Brown released his debut single, "Destined for Greatness", with his brother Manny featuring his sister Janellé on 7 February 2020. The song charted at number 31 on the UK Singles Chart, making it Brown's first UK top 40 single. Elsewhere, "Destined for Greatness" debuted at number 18 in New Zealand and on the

Scottish Singles Chart The Scottish Albums Chart is a chart compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) which is based on how physical and digital sales towards the UK Albums Chart fare in Scotland. The official singles chart for Scotland, the Scottish Singles Chart, ...

, and peaked at number 33 on the

. He later featured in a

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

of his fellow Sidemen member KSI's song " Wake Up Call" by producer Yoshi with American rapper

Trippie Redd Michael Lamar White II (born June 18, 1999), known professionally as Trippie Redd, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is one of the most prominent members of the SoundCloud rap scene, which gained mainstream acclaim in the late ...

and British rapper

P Money Paris Moore-Williams (born 8 April 1989), better known by his stage name P Money, is a British grime MC, rapper and songwriter from New Cross, South East London, who is also active in the drum and bass scene. He is best known for his live pe ...

, which was released on 6 March 2020. Brown featured on "This Year" by P Money and producer Silencer, which was released on 19 March 2021. Brown released his second single "Rhythm & Vibes", also with his brother Manny, on 20 August 2021. In March 2022, he featured in rapper DTG's song "Just Do It".

Personal life

Brown is a supporter of

Manchester United F.C. Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd), or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The club competes in the Premier League, ...

and plays

Sunday league football Sunday league football is a term used in Britain and Ireland to describe the amateur association football competitions which take place on Sunday rather than the more usual Saturday. The term pub league may also be used, owing to the number of ...

for Under The Radar FC, a team formed by his brother and fellow YouTuber Manny Brown. He has spoken out on racism within football with

Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British pay television, paid television sports news channel run by Sky Limited, Sky, a division of Comcast. History Since 1992, Sky Sports had broadcast sports news, initially a brief ''Football Update'' and lat ...

Filmography

Discography

Singles

As lead artist

As a featured artist

Other charted songs

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1993 births Alumni of Coventry University Black British male rappers English male rappers English male web series actors English male writers English people of Nigerian descent Gaming YouTubers Living people Music YouTubers People educated at Bexley Grammar School Rappers from London Twitch (service) streamers Video game commentators YouTube channels launched in 2011 YouTube vloggers YouTubers from London English male YouTubers