Jermaine Sinclaire Scott (born 9 March 1985),
better known by his stage name Wretch 32, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter from
Tottenham,
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire.
The term ''nor ...
. He was a member of the grime collective Combination Chain Gang, before forming The Movement with
Scorcher,
Ghetts, and Mercston.
In 2011, Wretch 32 had three top-five charting songs from debut album
''Black and White'' and amassed over a million record sales, including the single "
Don't Go" which peaked at number-one 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 ...
. In 2012 he was employed by both
Adidas and
Coca-Cola as one of the main faces of their London 2012 Olympics campaigns and on 1 July 2012, he won 'Best International Act' at the 2012
BET Awards.
Early life
Born in March 1985 to a Jamaican family, Jermaine grew up alongside crews Combination Chain Gang and The Movement, the latter of which featured himself,
Scorcher,
Ghetts, Mercston and
Devlin. Continuing his MC career in 2006, Scott under the name ''Wretch 32'' released a series of mixtapes, including ''Teacher's Training Day'' – which featured guest appearances from Ghetts,
Bashy
Ashley Thomas (born 4 February 1985), also known by his stage name Bashy, is an English actor and rapper.
Early life
Thomas was born in Hammersmith, West London, the first born of a Jamaican mother and Dominican father. He attended St. M ...
and Scorcher.
His mother was from Jamaica, where "wretch" meant slim or skinny. She called him Wretch as a child, and the name stuck. 32 is his lucky number and he thought it would be fun to have a number as a surname, so he added 32 to the end of Wretch.
Career
2008–2011: ''Wretchrospective''
His debut studio album, ''
Wretchrospective
''Wretchrospective'' is the debut studio album released by British hip hop recording artist Wretch 32. The album was released on 13 October 2008, on the Hip Hop Village label. Not having been released on a major label, the album failed to cha ...
'' was released in the United Kingdom during 2008, prior to Wretch's signing with record label
Ministry of Sound
Ministry of Sound or Ministry of Sound Group is a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, shared workspace and private members' club, worldwide events operation, music publishing business and fitness studio.
J ...
. On 6 December 2010, Wretch 32 was named as one of the nominees for
BBC's ''
Sound of 2011'', an annual poll which predicts artists that will progress during the upcoming year. In 2010 Wretch 32 won an Official Mixtape Award for the 'best hiphop mixtape of 2009.
2011–2012: ''Black and White''
On 16 January 2011, Wretch released "
Traktor" as the lead single from his second studio album ''
Black and White
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
''. through
Ministry of Sound
Ministry of Sound or Ministry of Sound Group is a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, shared workspace and private members' club, worldwide events operation, music publishing business and fitness studio.
J ...
as both a
digital download and a
CD single
A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any s ...
. The track saw commercial success, having been selected as
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
's
Reggie Yates ''Weekend Anthem'' on 19–20 December 2010, before debuting at number five 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 ...
as the third highest entry of the week.
[Peak positions for singles in the United Kingdom:
*For "Traktor":
*For "Unorthodox":
*For "Don't Go":
*For ''Black and White'':
*For "Hangover":
] "
Unorthodox", featuring
British rapper
Example
Example may refer to:
* '' exempli gratia'' (e.g.), usually read out in English as "for example"
* .example, reserved as a domain name that may not be installed as a top-level domain of the Internet
** example.com, example.net, example.org, e ...
, was released as the second single from the album on 17 April 2011. The song, which sampled
The Stone Roses' 1989 hit "
Fools Gold" debuted at number two in the UK, also topping the
R&B chart and
independent releases chart; having been selected as
Jo Whiley's ''Weekend Anthem'' on 26–27 March 2011. "
Don't Go", featuring Josh Kumra, was released as the album's third single on 14 August 2011. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number one, being Wretch's most successful single to date. On 11 December 2011, "
Forgiveness" featuring
Etta Bond was released as the album's fourth single. It charted at number 49 on the UK Singles Chart as the album's least successful single. "
Hush Little Baby", featuring
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 ...
, was released as the fifth and final single from ''
Black and White
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
'' on 27 May 2012, peaking at number 35 on the UK Singles Chart.
2012–present: ''Growing Over Life''
During April and May 2012, Wretch completed an arena tour around the UK, first supporting
Example
Example may refer to:
* '' exempli gratia'' (e.g.), usually read out in English as "for example"
* .example, reserved as a domain name that may not be installed as a top-level domain of the Internet
** example.com, example.net, example.org, e ...
from 20 to 30 April 2012, and then starting his own second headline tour from 8—19, May 2012, supported by
Jakwob and Kyra. The tours saw the debut of a new track titled "Blur", to be featured on his upcoming album ''Growing Over Life''. The song features on the ''
FIFA 13'' soundtrack, as the full track's first appearance.
In early 2012, Wretch 32 led a national TV and advertising campaign with
Adidas for the London 2012 Olympics. Wretch recorded a song alongside friend and producer
Wizzy Wow that was used for the Adidas #takethestage campaign and TV advert. He featured as the main face of the TV advert and was also one of the key faces of the billboard and poster campaign across the country. On 1 July 2012, Wretch 32 won 'Best International Artist' at the
BET Awards. Over the course of July he also partnered with
Coca-Cola and completed a tour along the south coast of Britain, following the Olympic Torch Relay in the buildup to London 2012 and playing sets in the evening celebrations. He played a stripped version of his arena tour setlist, cutting out "
Forgiveness", "
Hush Little Baby", "Blur" and "Don't Be Afraid". A freestyle rap was filmed in
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of ...
to celebrate the event, taking a tour of the area with some parkour experts. On 15 August 2012, Wretch released his mixtape ''Wretchercise''. It features collaborations with several artists including
Chip,
Scorcher,
Loick Essien, Krept, Konan and
Kano.
In November 2012, Wretch's debut album ''Wretchrospective'' was re-released on iTunes, with Action Man (a track from ''Wretchercise'') as a bonus track. In late 2012 a new track titled "Pop?" received airplay on many major radio stations, and remixes from Melé,
Fake Blood and Wonder have been revealed. The track was released as a promotional single on 27 January 2013 and the Melé remix features on the
Ministry of Sound
Ministry of Sound or Ministry of Sound Group is a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, shared workspace and private members' club, worldwide events operation, music publishing business and fitness studio.
J ...
compilation ''Clubbers Guide 2013''. It received mixed reviews as it samples "
P's and Q's" by
Kano, a fellow UK rapper.
On 4 March 2013,
MistaJam on
BBC Radio 1Xtra premiered "
Blackout" featuring Shakka, the lead single from Wretch's upcoming third studio album ''Growing Over Life''. The song is produced by Knox Brown, who also worked on several songs for ''Wretchercise''. He revealed in an interview with Link Up TV that he has also been working with George the Poet and Jacob Banks, within the "Renowned" music group. The album was due to be released in August, but is now expected to be released by early 2014.
On 18 June 2013,
MistaJam premiered "
Doing OK" featuring Jacob Banks, the second single from the album. The song is also produced by Knox Brown. Wretch is due to complete a UK headline tour with George the Poet, Jacob Banks and Context in May 2014. He also made an appearance on
Naughty Boy's debut album ''
Hotel Cabana'' on the track "Pluto" alongside
Emeli Sandé.
In a live Google Hangout with Jacob Banks, Wretch confirmed collaborations with
Eshraque "iSHi" Mughal,
Angel
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inc ...
,
Daley and
Beenie Man on the album. He has since confirmed the track names "Flatline", "Rock Bottom" and "Raindrops" featuring Beenie Man. Another track titled "24 Hours" appears on the soundtrack to ''
FIFA 14'', but it ended up not appearing on the album.
The album's third single, "
6 Words", premiered in September 2014, and was released in November, reaching number eight in the UK Singles Chart and therefore making it one of his most successful songs.
On 18 December 2015, he released a joint mixtape with a young emerging North London artist;
Avelino. The mixtape, ''
Young Fire, Old Flame
''Young Fire, Old Flame'' is a collaborative mixtape by British rappers Wretch 32 and Avelino, released for free download on 18 December 2015. It serves as Wretch's seventh and Avelino's third mixtape. The project features guest appearances fro ...
'', has been labelled an industry success. The duo's ''Fire In The Booth'' freestyle on
BBC Radio 1Xtra was credited by host
Charlie Sloth as being the best the show had ever had.
''Growing Over Life'' was released on 2 September 2016. It was preceded by the singles "Antwi", "Liberation", "All a Dream", "I.O.U" and "Open Conversation & Mark Duggan", all released throughout 2016 in the run-up to the album.
He released FR32 in 2017.
Personal life
Scott has two children with ex-girlfriend Ashlee: Kyrayn Scott (born 2006) and Skye-Laurell Scott (born 2011). Wretch is the nephew of equal rights campaigner Stafford Scott, who has written for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'', and co-founded the
Broadwater Farm Defence Campaign in 1985, and is cousin of professional boxer (6-0)
Viddal Riley
Viddal Ethan Danso Riley (born 7 July 1997) is a British professional boxer, YouTuber, internet personality and rapper. He is notable as being the former boxing trainer and associate of YouTube personality KSI.
Viddal Riley is cousins with ...
.
Although Wretch 32 is from Tottenham, he is an avid
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
fan.
In March 2019, Scott claimed he had an Airbnb booking cancelled because the host "had an issue with Coloured folk and felt uncomfortable". Airbnb later said: "We were concerned to hear about this experience and have reached out to Wretch 32 and his management to learn more. Discrimination has no place on Airbnb and goes against everything our community stands for."
Discography
Studio albums
*2008: ''
Wretchrospective
''Wretchrospective'' is the debut studio album released by British hip hop recording artist Wretch 32. The album was released on 13 October 2008, on the Hip Hop Village label. Not having been released on a major label, the album failed to cha ...
''
*2011: ''
Black and White
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
''
*2016: ''
Growing Over Life''
*2017: ''
FR32''
*2019: ''Upon Reflection''
*2021: ''little BIG Man''
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
Official Web ShopWretch 32 Interview - Reading Festival 2013
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wretch 32
Living people
Grime music artists
Rappers from London
People from Tottenham
Black British male rappers
1985 births
English people of Zambian descent
English people of Guyanese descent
English people of Jamaican descent