Bugzy Malone
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Aaron Daniel Davies (born 20 December 1990), known professionally as Bugzy Malone, is a British
rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...
and actor from Manchester, England. Malone has been described as one of the key artists instigating a "grime revival" moving the UK urban scene away from more commercially oriented music, and the first artist in the
grime Grime may refer to: * Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust Music * Grime music, a genre of music * ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity * "Grime", a 2023 song by Macklemore from ''Ben'' * "Grime", a 2024 song by Kittie from ''Fire ...
genre from Manchester to commercially succeed in the UK. Malone's third
extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
'' King of the North'' was released on 14 July 2017 and peaked at 4 on the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
.


Early life

Malone was born Aaron Davies in
Withington Community Hospital Withington Community Hospital is a hospital in south Manchester, England, managed by the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. History Originally known as the Chorlton Barlow Moor Work House, the hospital was purpose-built between 1854 an ...
and grew up in Crumpsall, Manchester, in a family of career criminals. He grew up in a poverty-stricken household and had never met his biological father in his childhood. Davies saw his stepfather as a role model until his parents divorced due to
domestic abuse Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. In a broader sense, abuse including nonphysical abuse in such settings is called domestic abuse. The term "domestic violence" is often use ...
. He grew up being influenced by his family members who were involved in criminal activities, including his uncle whose murder he witnessed. Davies began taking part in criminal activities when he was eleven years old, and as a result was expelled from secondary school in
year nine Year 9 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England and Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is the tenth or eleventh year of compulsory education. Children in this year are generally between 13, 14 and 15, with it ...
when he was fourteen. He continued a life of criminal behaviour until he was arrested when he was sixteen years old and sent to HMP Stoke Heath; he was unable to complete his
GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...
exams. After leaving prison when he was 17 years old, Davies took up boxing as a hobby in an attempt to find a career and avoid returning to crime. While he was boxing as a career, Davies moved close to his biological father in
Marple, Greater Manchester Marple is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. It is on the River Goyt, south-east of Manchester, north of Macclesfield and south-east of Stockport. At the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census, the ...
, before they eventually lost contact. He moved close to
Heaton Park Heaton Park is a public park in Prestwich, Manchester, England, covering an area of over . The park includes the grounds of a Grade I listed, neoclassical 18th century country house, Heaton Hall. The hall, remodelled by James Wyatt in 1772, i ...
when he was 20 years old. Davies was inspired to start rapping from the influential "''Risky Roadz''" DVD series that featured artists such as
Dizzee Rascal Dylan Kwabena Mills (born 18 September 1984), known professionally as Dizzee Rascal, is a British rapper and MC. He is often credited as a pioneer of British hip hop and grime music and was ranked by ''Complex'' as one of the greatest British ...
, Wiley and
Skepta Joseph Olaitan Adenuga Jr. (born 19 September 1982), known professionally as Skepta, is a British grime MC, rapper, record producer and DJ. Alongside his younger brother Jme, he briefly joined Roll Deep before they became founding members of ...
early in their careers. He began rapping with his friends when they would often congregate or commit crimes. His friends would play instrumentals from their mobile phones which Davies would then freestyle on. Davies received the nickname "Bugz" from a gang he was in when he was 13 years old, before developing into "Bugzy Malone" when he was serving his prison sentence. After leaving prison, Davies began to take music seriously as a side hobby to his then-growing boxing career.


Career


2010–2015: Career beginnings

Malone released his debut mixtape, ''SwaggaMan,'' in 2010. He began
freestyling Freestyle rap, also simply known as Freestyle, is a style of hip hop music where an artist normally improvises an unwritten verse from the head, with or without instrumental beats, in which lyrics are recited with no particular subject or structure ...
for northern grime YouTube channel KODH TV on their series ''Spray Out Freestyle''. He then freestyled on popular urban
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channels including Grime Daily. In 2011, Davies released his second mixtape ''Why So Serious,'' inspired by '' Batman: The Dark Knight Rises.'' The lead single from the mixtape ''"Hip Hop Heavy Metal"'' was released on 21 September 2011 and the music video currently has 1.3 million views on YouTube. ''Lost in Meanwhile City'', Malone's third mixtape, was released in 2012. Malone commented on the mixtape on his website:
I called this mixtape "Lost In Meanwhile City" because I stumbled across a film called
Franklyn ''Franklyn'' is a 2008 British science fantasy film written and directed by Gerald McMorrow as his debut feature. The film stars Eva Green, Ryan Phillippe, and Sam Riley. ''Franklyn'' had its world premiere at BFI London Film Festival on 16 O ...
— I felt like I could relate to the dark atmosphere at the time and also some of the featured characters faced similar problems I felt I was faced with i.e family problems, girl problems, law suits, depression. I felt 'Lost In Meanwhile City' was the perfect metaphor for my position in life at that particular time, I felt lost and basically in a world of my own.
The lead single for the project and the second music video created by Malone was released on 23 August 2012. In 2014, Malone announced his fourth mixtape, ''Journal of an Evil Genius,'' and begun a "mixtape campaign" where he released music videos with narratives that coincided with the singles released from the mixtape, similar to a "
visual album A visual album is a type of concept album in which the album is accompanied by a feature-length film or individual music videos for every song. Usually, the film, or "visuals", emphasize the album's overall theme and serve as the "visual vehicle" ...
". The visuals were released in the form of a YouTube video every Monday at 19:00 for six weeks. On the topic of creating a campaign consisting of videos to promote the mixtape, Malone listed
Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...
as an influence and said: "I felt as if I wanted to tell a story loosely based on reality and used the raw emotion of the songs as an excuse to create a mini-horror movie." As of 2017, the videos have over 5 million views combined on YouTube. The mixtape was released on 10 February 2014. Talking about the mixtape, Davies wrote on his website.
I called this mixtape 'The Journal of an Evil Genius' mainly because that is what it is. The songs themselves are written in a journal-like style making this record the one that means the most to me. The "Evil Genius" is an alias I came up with one day in the studio and it just kind of stuck. This project is an Intricate/accurate story about my past all the way back to childhood going right the way up to the present giving it a journal-like feel.


2015–present: Feud with Chip, ''Walk with Me'', ''Facing Time'' and ''King of the North''

On 7 September 2014, Malone released a "Spitfire" freestyle on JDZmedia which procured his first million views on YouTube and gave him more popularity outside Manchester; it later earned him a performance on ''Fire in the Booth'' with
Charlie Sloth Charlie Ian Paul Rouillon (born 20 August 1981), known professionally as Charlie Sloth, is a British DJ, hype man, producer and TV presenter. Early life BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts Black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been ...
. Davies released his latest ''Fire in The Booth'' video on 14 March 2015. When Malone originally received a phone call from Sloth requesting an appearance on Radio 1Xtra's ''Fire in the Booth'' segment, he thought it was a
prank call A prank call (also known as a crank call, a hoax call, or a goof call) is a telephone call intended by the caller as a practical joke played on the person answering. It is often a type of nuisance call and can be illegal under certain circumsta ...
. Malone's ''Fire in the Booth'' is currently the most viewed video in the series with 25 million views. In May 2016, 1Xtra released Davies' second ''Fire in the Booth'' which currently has 9 million views. During his ''Fire in The Booth'', Davies dissed fellow grime artist
Chip Chip may refer to: Food * Chip (snack), thinly sliced and deep-fried gastro item ** Potato chips (US) or crisp (UK) * Chips (fried potato strips) (UK) or french fries (US) (common as a takeout side) * Game chips, thin chip/French fries * Choco ...
. Chip, two days later, published a tweet on Twitter saying "The name you can ride off... CHIPMUNK!" before replying to his critics including Davies lyrically on the song "Pepper Riddim" which was released on 20 March 2015. A grime feud and drew attention to the grime scene. Several days later on 25 March, Davies released "Relegation Riddim". The music video on YouTube featured many artists who were included in the feud, including
Big Narstie Tyrone Mark Lindo (born 16 November 1985), known by his stage name Big Narstie, is a British MC, author, rapper, singer, songwriter, comedian and television presenter. He started his career in 2002 as a member of grime crew "N Double A," thoug ...
. The video currently has over 12 million views, making it Davies' most viewed music video. On 3 April 2017 Chip released "The End" which Davies replied to with "The Revival." In September 2017, Chip replied to "The Revival" with six tracks which led to Davies replying twice. This would be the last time Davies replied to Chip who later went on to include two more diss tracks before stopping. In July 2017, Davies released a documentary-style vlog in promotion for his EP ''King of the North'' where he directly references the feud, saying:
He phoned me saying "Yo listen, we can do this thing like a, back and forth ting and shine some light on your career" but you know yourself, I've been grinding at this point for six years. I don't need anybody to shine. Right, so, it was a case of "alright, cool" and it was quite a civilized conversation. He was like "we can do festivals together" and this that and the other and I was like "yeah, I hear that bro, but I kind of already wrote my response."
On 13 June 2015, DJ MistaJam premiered Malone's first official single "Watch Your Mouth" on BBC Radio 1 and the video was released on Malone's YouTube channel the same night. The track went on to be played across UK radio and popular TV networks, including Capital Xtra, Bang Radio, Kiss 100, Reprezent, Unity Radio, BBC Xtra, Radio 1, Asian Network, Westside FM, MTV Base, Flava TV, Kiss TV and Channel AKA. On 24 July 2015, Malone released his first EP '' Walk with Me'', which entered at number 8 on the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
. He later set up his own record label, "Ill Gotten Records", in an attempt to assist Manchester-based artists. Malone released ''Facing Time'', his second EP, which made No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart on 16 June 2016. To promote the EP, he released a trilogy of visuals titled "Section 8(1)" meant to coincide with the subject matter of the EP. On 27 August, released the first "chapter" with the same name as his hit song, "Beauty and the Beast". On 28 August 2016, chapter 2 was released and was based on the song "Facing Time". On 29 August 2016, the third and final chapter, based on the song "I Suggest", was released. "Section 8(1)" was produced by G. Kuba and Malone himself. Malone planned a publicity stunt about himself being arrested in an armed robbery to promote the EP. Malone released his first charting single "Through the Night" with
DJ Luck & MC Neat DJ Luck & MC Neat are a British musical duo, composed of Joel Samuels (a.k.a. DJ Luck) and Michael Rose (a.k.a. MC Neat) mainly performing a combination of house music and UK garage. They had three consecutive top 10 hits in the United Kingdo ...
on 18 May 2017. The song charted at No. 92, making it Davies' first charting single on the UK singles chart. Davies released his third EP ''King of the North'' on 14 July 2017. The album charted at No. 4 on the UK Album Charts and had three charting singles, "Through the Night", "Memory Lane" and "Bruce Wayne", charting at 92, 74 and 99 respectively. Davies was announced as one of the artists performing at the
Manchester Evening News Arena Manchester Arena (currently known as AO Arena for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights space. Prior to the opening of Co ...
reopening and posted on his personal Twitter account following his performance: "I've told them before and I'll tell them again Manchester is the home of the brave..." A photo of Davies and Chip pictured together at Giggs' birthday party was uploaded to Instagram on 13 December 2017. This led to speculation that their two year long feud was either over or had been faked. Davies explained that he reconciled with Chip and ended their feud at the party.


Artistry


Musical style

Malone lists his biggest inspiration as
Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...
. The ''Guardian'' has called Malone a trendsetter for Manchester's urban music scene, mainly its grime scene where he was the first Manchester grime artist to reach national commercial success. When asked to describe his sound by MTV, he called his sound an "Evolution of Grime." Malone's Mancunian accent is a trademark of his vocal style which has been described as "deep-from-the-diaphragm". Malone has been praised for his writing style which has been called "introspective", "confessional", and "unique". Davies' lyrics usually deal with criminality, poverty and emotional suffering. Malone's delivery has been called "clear, powerful and precise", and "fast-rapid" when he is rapping.


Fashion

In May 2016, Malone partnered with Supply & Demand for a fashion line that would mainly encompass track suits. The line was sold at retail chain
JD Sports JD Sports Fashion plc, commonly known as JD Sports, JD or JD Group is a British multinational sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 10 ...
and has dropped three sets of the Supply & Demand collaboration. Malone's clothing is mainly merchandise that had been formatted into high-end fashion wear. The clothing generally has traits of things that Davies likes, such as the superhero, Batman.


Legal issues

When Davies was sixteen, he was arrested and sent to HMP Stoke Heath. Bugzy Malone told Vice.com "There's nothing good about jail. Having your freedom taken off you… It's nothing to be proud of. But then, you can't pay for that feeling of getting your freedom back". On 15 September 2020, Bugzy appeared in court after being charged with two counts of wounding to inflict
grievous bodily harm Assault occasioning grievous bodily harm (often abbreviated to GBH) is a term used in English criminal law to describe the severest forms of battery. It refers to two offences that are created by sections 18 and 20 of the Offences against the ...
. He was cleared of the charges after the jury accepted he was acting in
self-defense Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of Force (law), ...
.


Personal life

In December 2020, Manchester-born Bugzy Malone and his team have bought 50 underprivileged children a sack full of presents each. Davies proposed to his then-girlfriend of 9 years on 20 December 2019. On 26 March 2020, Davies was seriously injured after being involved in a crash in Bury. Footage circulated on
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
of the rapper riding a
quad bike An all-terrain vehicle (ATV), also known as a light utility vehicle (LUV), a quad bike or quad (if it has four wheels), as defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), is a vehicle that travels on low-pressure tires, has a seat ...
and was followed by videos of him lying on the ground in the aftermath of the collision. He was revealed to have crashed into a car at 70 mph whilst not wearing a helmet, which led to him subsequently suffering a brain bleed. Davies is a supporter of football club
Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...
.


Discography


Studio albums


Extended plays


Mixtapes


Singles


As lead artist


As featured artist


Other charted and certified songs


Guest appearances


Filmography


Film


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malone, Bugzy 1990 births Black British male rappers English male rappers 21st-century male rappers Grime music artists Living people Male actors from Manchester Rappers from Manchester