Maxwell Owusu Ansah (born 14 September 1984), known by his stage name Lethal Bizzle, is a British rapper from

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London and the ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Charing Cross, the town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and Sout ...

, London, of Ghanaian origin. He emerged in 2002 as a grime MC as part of

More Fire Crew More Fire Crew is an East London-based English grime crew from Waltham Forest, whose 2002 single " Oi!" with Platinum 45 was widely recognised as the first grime song to reach the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number eight. Background While enr ...

, with their grime single "Oi!" charting in the top 10 of 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 ...

. His debut solo single "

Pow! (Forward) "Pow! (Forward)" is the debut single by English grime artist Lethal Bizzle. The track features guest appearances from a variety of underground grime artists. It was released on 25 October 2004 for digital download via iTunes and then releas ...

" attracted attention for its aggressive content, charting at number 11 despite being banned from

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

and clubs. Although known notably for his single releases, Lethal Bizzle released his debut studio album, '' Against All Oddz'', in 2005, followed by ''

Back to Bizznizz ''Back to Bizznizz'' is the second album by grime artist Lethal Bizzle Maxwell Owusu Ansah (born 14 September 1984), known by his stage name Lethal Bizzle, is a British rapper from Walthamstow, London, of Ghanaian origin. He emerged in 2002 ...

'' in 2007. Throughout his career Lethal Bizzle has experimented with blending mainstream chart genres such as

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded da ...

with grime, leading to numerous top 40 singles. He is known for his singles "

", "

Rari WorkOut "Rari WorkOut" is a single by English grime MC Lethal Bizzle, featuring vocals from Jme and Tempa T. It was released on 31 August 2014 for digital download in the United Kingdom. The song has peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart The ...

" and " Fester Skank", including other top 40 songs such as " The Drop", " Pow 2011" and " Party Right" – all of which have been non-album releases, besides " Pow 2011", which was included on his first compilation album ''

Best of Bizzle "Best of Bizzle" is a compilation album by grime MC, Lethal Bizzle. It was released on February 27, 2011 for digital download. The album features artists such as Mr Hudson, Donae'o, Dizzee Rascal, Tawiah, Kate Nash and Mark Ronson - along with Le ...

'' (2011). Outside of music, Bizzle is a social media personality through platforms

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and

Snapchat Snapchat is an American multimedia instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before the ...

, which have been used to promote his music independently. In 2012, he launched a clothing brand titled "Stay Dench" based on his popular British slang phrases.

Music career

2002–2005: More Fire Crew and "Pow (Forward)"

In 2000, Lethal Bizzle formed the grime collective

, consisting of himself, Neeko and Ozzie B as MCs. Their debut single, "Oi!", was released in 2002 and charted at number 7 on the

. It was one of the first grime songs to chart in the top 10 and remains one of the most highest-charting grime singles to be released. Their sole studio album, ''More Fire Crew C.V.'', was released the following year. Their follow-up single, "Back Then", peaked at number 45, while their third single "What's the Point?" did not chart. Soon after, the crew disbanded and Lethal Bizzle pursued a solo career. In early July 2005, Lethal Bizzle appeared on stage at the final

Live 8 Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, from 6–8 July 200 ...

concert in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. In December 2004, he released the single " Pow (Forward)", also known as "Forward Riddim" which was banned from

by some mainstream radio stations because it contained some lyrics about gun culture. It entered the

at number 11 in its first week on the chart in 2005, and it reached number one on the

UK Dance Chart The UK Dance Singles Chart and the UK Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synthpop) in record s ...

. He won a

MOBO The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and ...

for "Pow (Forward)" as "Best Single", and was nominated at the same awards as "Best Newcomer". Following the success of " Pow (Forward)", Bizzle released the follow-up singles "Uh Oh (I'm Back)", "Fire" and "What We Do" with Kray Twinz,

Twista Carl Terrell Mitchell (born November 27, 1973), better known by his stage name Twista (formerly Tung Twista), is an American rapper and record producer. He is best known for his chopper style of rapping and for once holding the title of fastes ...

and

Gappy Ranks Jacob Lee Williams (born c.1983),Serwer, Jesse (2011)From Harlesden to Yokohama: UK reggae star Gappy Ranks, ''The Guardian'', 7 April 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2014 better known as Gappy Ranks, is an English dancehall musician of Jamaican an ...

, the latter two which peaked at number 34 and number 23 respectively. Bizzle's debut album, '' Against All Oddz'' (2005), was released on 15 August 2005. The album peaked at number 89 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

2006–2009: ''Back to Bizznizz'' and ''Go Hard''

In 2007, the single "Police on My Back" charted at number 37, and was included on Bizzle's second studio album, ''

'' (2007), released on 23 July 2007. The album peaked at number 86 on the UK Albums Chart. After releasing no singles for two years, Lethal Bizzle returned with "Go Hard" featuring Donae'o, as the lead single off his third album ''Go Hard'' (2009). The album was released on 5 October 2009.

2010–2012: "Pow 2011" and ''Best of Bizzle''

It was announced by Lethal Bizzle on

that he would be re-releasing "Pow!" on 13 December 2010, to try to get the

Christmas number 1 In the United Kingdom, Christmas number ones are singles that top the UK Singles Chart in the week in which Christmas Day falls. The singles have often been novelty songs, charity songs or songs with a Christmas theme. Historically, the vol ...

in the

, like many people were trying to do by using

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

campaigns. On 18 November 2010, Lethal was interviewed by Grime Daily. Bizzle revealed: "The whole Pow 2011 thing started as a joke. I was on

one day and I said 'You know what? Pow for

'. And bare people retweeted it and someone was like 'Bizz you should do an updated version to go with it.'" Lethal (saying to another source) said: "I felt the original was still relevant, 6 years on it's still one of the biggest club tunes, so it was kind of a no brainer. I was messing around on

about doing a new POW and getting it to the top of the charts- and the reaction was so crazy I thought wow I actually have to make this happen..." Upon release, "Pow 2011" entered and peaked at number 33 on the

, becoming Bizzle's fifth top 40 entry as a solo entry and sixth overall. The single was included on Bizzle's first compilation album, ''

'' (2011), which was released on 27 February 2011.

2013–2016: Non-album chart success

From 2013, Lethal Bizzle began experimented with musical genres, particularly with

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

and

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

. Bizzle released a string of non-album singles without releasing a full-length project. He released the single " Not a Saint" with Dutch DJ & producer Vato Gonzalez and frequent collaborator Donae'o, which peaked at number 20. This was followed by " Party Right" featuring Ruby Goe, which peaked in the top 30. The grime-dubstep song " They Got It Wrong" featuring Wiley peaked in the top 80, and was later remixed featuring Krept and Konan, Kano and Squeeks. In 2014, " The Drop" featuring Cherri Voncelle also peaked in the top 20. In late 2014, the single "

" featuring Jme and Tempa T received notable attention due to the popularity of Bizzle's

posts of working out in the gym. The single became tied with " Pow (Forward)" as Bizzle's highest-charting single as a solo artist, peaking at number 11. In 2015, the popular dance-inspired single " Fester Skank" also charted at number 11, giving Bizzle three top 15 chart entries and three peaking at number 11. The singles "Going to the Gym", considered a sequel to "Rari WorkOut", "Playground" featuring Shakka, "Dude" featuring

Stormzy Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr. (born 26 July 1993), known professionally as Stormzy, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter. In 2014, he gained attention on the UK underground music scene through his ''Wicked Skengman'' series of f ...

and "Box" featuring Jme and Face were also released, three of which entered the top 100.

2017–present: ''Lennox Rd'' and ''You'll Never Make a Million from Grime'' EP

In late 2016, Lethal Bizzle announced he would be releasing his first album after eight years, following his third studio album ''Go Hard'' (2009). The album was revealed to be titled ''Lennox Rd'' in December 2016, following a teaser for the lead single off the album. The lead single, "Round Here" featuring Giggs and Flowdan was released on 10 January 2017. In early April 2017, Bizzle abruptly preceded the release of ''Lennox Rd'' with the announcement of an EP titled ''You'll Never Make a Million from Grime'', featuring a guest appearance from

Skepta Chief Joseph Olaitan Adenuga Jr. (born 19 September 1982), known professionally as Skepta, is a British-Nigerian grime MC, rapper and record producer. Alongside his younger brother Jme, he briefly joined Roll Deep before they became foundin ...

. The seven-track EP was released 5 May 2017, charting at number 79 on the

. It became Bizzle's highest-charting album release. The second single released from the EP was "Hold You" featuring Mostack.

Other ventures

Stay Dench

In 2011, Bizzle started a successful T-shirt business with his first cousin and footballer

Emmanuel Frimpong Emmanuel Yaw Frimpong ( ak, ) (born 10 January 1992) is a Ghanaian former Professional sports#Association football, professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He began his career at Arsenal F.C., Arsenal, where ...

, featuring his catchphrase "Dench". Since then he has been very successful branching out to his fans on Snapchat, that has led him to create the hit song "

Rari Workout "Rari WorkOut" is a single by English grime MC Lethal Bizzle, featuring vocals from Jme and Tempa T. It was released on 31 August 2014 for digital download in the United Kingdom. The song has peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart The ...

". In September 2017 the social media website LADBible posted a video of Bizzle rapping with actress

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...

whose support for Stay Dench is credited with raising the profile of the brand.

Television and film

In 2011, he had a cameo in the

Adam Deacon Adam Steven Deacon (born 4 March 1983) is an English actor, rapper, writer and director. He is known for his lead role in the films ''Kidulthood'', sequel ''Adulthood'' and for his directorial debut, ''Anuvahood''. Career Deacon was brought up ...

film ''

Anuvahood ''Anuvahood'' is a 2011 British urban comedy film directed by Adam Deacon, who also plays the film's lead character. It also stars Paul Kaye, Wil Johnson, Ollie Barbieri, Femi Oyeniran, Jocelyn Jee Esien, and Ashley Walters. Critics of the f ...

'', knocking him out in the opening scene. In 2012, Lethal Bizzle appeared in the BBC Three comedy drama, '' Bad Education'' in which he competed in a rap battle with the headmaster. On 20 October 2013, Lethal B appeared on BBC's '' Match of the Day 2''; after being hired to deliver a one-off report on the

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 mostl ...

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

match against Norwich City. On 17 April 2014, Bizzle made a guest appearance on

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, ...

's ''

Celebrity Juice ''Celebrity Juice'' is a British television comedy panel game on ITV2, broadcast since 24 September 2008. The show is written and presented by Leigh Francis in the role of his alter ego Keith Lemon, and its current team captains Laura Whitmore ...

''. On 22 September 2014, Lethal Bizzle, along with

DJ Semtex DJ Semtex (born John Fairbanks; 1974) is an English DJ, author, radio DJ and presenter of Spotify's Who We Be podcast. Between 2002 and 2018, he was presenter for BBC Radio 1Xtra's weekly hip-hop show. Biography Due to complications from lymp ...

DJ Target Darren Joseph, known professionally as DJ Target, is a British DJ. Career Joseph is a former member of Roll Deep. Joseph began hosting part of the 1Xtra Takeover, a simulcast across BBC Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra, in September 2013. In 2018, Josep ...

and A.Dot, took part in a special

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

version of the classic quiz show '' Mastermind'' titled ''Hip Hop Mastermind'', presented by host

John Humphrys Desmond John Humphrys (born 17 August 1943) is a Welsh broadcaster. From 1981 to 1987 he was the main presenter for the '' Nine O'Clock News'', the flagship BBC News television programme, and from 1987 until 2019 he presented on the BBC Radio 4 ...

, which Semtex went on to win.

Personal life

Ansah is the cousin of former football player

. It is also speculated that he might be related to Norwegian footballer Yaw Ihle Amankwah.

Controversies

He had a feud with N-Dubz over intellectual property rights citing emails of hooks he had sent Tulisa. N-Dubz members Tulisa and Dappy responded with foul-mouthed attacks.

Music career

2002–2005: More Fire Crew and "Pow (Forward)"

2006–2009: ''Back to Bizznizz'' and ''Go Hard''

2010–2012: "Pow 2011" and ''Best of Bizzle''

2013–2016: Non-album chart success

2017–present: ''Lennox Rd'' and ''You'll Never Make a Million from Grime'' EP

Other ventures

Stay Dench

Television and film

Personal life

Controversies

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Compilation albums

Mixtapes

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other songs

References

External links