Big Narstie

Undoubtedly a fully fledged TV and entertainment star now thanks to his BAFTA, double RTS Award, Edinburgh TV Festival and National Reality TV Award winning The Big Narstie Show (Channel 4), currently preparing for season 4, and series Let’s Settle This (BBC3), Big Narstie has become a fixture on the nations’ TV screens. Appearances on Big Fat Quiz, Would I Lie To You, Celebrity Coach Trip, Crystal Maze, Celebrity Bake Off, Roast Battle and Good Morning Britain – where his weather forecasting took the art to a new level – have cemented him in the minds of young and old alike.

The Big Narstie Show has proved a groundbreaking hit, increasing youth and BAME figures by over 150% on Channel 4 and proving that people will watch TV if the content is of interest to them. Guests have included David Schwimmer, Thandie Newton, Pamela Anderson, Nile Rodgers, Louis Theroux, Kathryn Ryan, Jonathan Ross, Stephen Fry, Charlotte Church, David Haye, Richard Ayoade, Ed Sheeran and Mel B, and the show has created must see TV moments including a tearful Dennis Rodman, an insult battle with Jimmy Carr, a MMA dojo with Stephen Dorff, an episode of Loose Mandem with Lorraine Kelly and Nadia Sawalha, and an old school Grime throwdown featuring Kano which went viral.

Big Narstie also headed to Jamaica where, in addition to filming a documentary for BBC Studios & Channel 4 (featuring Tyson Beckford and Koffee) he revisited his musical roots by jumping into the studio to record his forthcoming BDL To The World project, which includes Jamaican legends Popcaan and Julian Marley. This project follows his next single Every Day (released in September 2021), recent release Smoking Grown Folk OG EP, his Legacy single with Devlin, fan favourite “It’s Yours” with Donae’O, and collaborations with Kurupt FM and the multi million streaming version of Nightcrawlers “Push The Feeling On”. These all add to his 100 million streams across all services for his music including his solo album BDL Bipolar featuring Ed Sheeran, Raleigh Ritchie and Craig David, with whom he also scored a Top 10 single with the track When The Bassline Drops.

April 2021 saw the paperback release of his book “How To Be Narstie” (Ebury/Penguin) where he suggests ways to tackle life and shares his own experiences to illustrate the point. The hardback enlightened many a lockdown on initial release in March 2020. It is sometimes forgotten that Big Narstie came up during the first wave of Grime and UK Hip Hop in the early 2000s, and has been with Dice Recordings (who also manage him) since the very start of his career. Collaborations with Professor Green, Ed Sheeran, Robbie Williams, and Enter Shikari have followed; videos and radio sessions (1Xtra, Radio 1, Beats Radio) all finessed his skills and honed his talent, while bringing his music and his character to a much larger audience. He also brought the BDL (Base Defence League) into existence, a collective united by a desire to spread positivity and a new outlook on life.

He has been named Best Grime Act at the Urban Music Awards five times and been heralded as Noisey’s Man of the Year and Personality of the Year at GRM Daily’s Rated Awards. As a live performer he has delivered incendiary performances at Wireless, Lovebox, Ibiza Rocks, NASS, Glastonbury, Sidewinder, Eskimo Dance, Fresh Island and Truck to name just a few. Recent brand work for Big Narstie includes major campaigns with Badoo, the National Lottery for their 25th birthday, Zopa, Gym Group and Mortal Kombat, which adds to previous work with 888Sport, McDonalds, and Carphone Warehouse among others. Big Narstie also continues to engage with his social media followers constantly including sharing his MMA training, behind the scenes footage from his TV show and his travel exploits.