Tayo Jarrett (born 5 April 1986), better known as Scorcher, is a British grime MC, songwriter and actor from

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

. He was previously a member of the grime collective The Movement and is signed to Blue Colla Music.

Career

2005–08: Early career

He began his career in Cold Blooded where he became known for his "shank" bars, and would regularly attend

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially ...

and work his way up through the

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 ...

grime circuit. Scorcher served a short prison sentence in 2006 for driving offences, and while in jail his mixtape ''Simply the Best'' was released and was greeted with good reviews from the grime scene. After an incident with fellow Cold Blooded member Cookie, Scorcher left Cold Blooded to concentrate on a new collective known as The Movement, which featured Scorcher alongside

Wretch 32 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. He was a member of the grime collective Combination Chain Gang, before forming The M ...

, Devlin, Mercston, and

Ghetts Justin Clarke, better known by his stage name Ghetts (formerly Ghetto), is a British grime MC, rapper and songwriter. His music has been played on national radio stations such as BBC Radio 1, Kiss 100, BBC Asian Network, and BBC Radio 1Xtra. C ...

. At this point he was involved in a momentous clash that saw him and fellow movement members go up against rival grime collective

Boy Better Know Boy Better Know, often abbreviated as BBK, is a British grime collective and record label. The collective was founded in North London in 2005 as an independent record label by brothers Jamie and Joseph Adenuga, better known as Jme, and Skepta. ...

. Scorcher did three dubs directed at

Wiley Wiley may refer to: Locations * Wiley, Colorado, a U.S. town * Wiley, Pleasants County, West Virginia, U.S. * Wiley-Kaserne, a district of the city of Neu-Ulm, Germany People * Wiley (musician), British grime MC, rapper, and producer * Wiley Mil ...

, Jammer and Frisco. Scorcher also produces beats, and ''Thunder Power'' was a release entirely his own production. He has produced beats such as 'Way Down The Road', 'Beef with T', 'Igloo Remix', 'Talk of the Ghetto' and others which have been big through the year of 2006. Scorcher won an Official Mixtape Award for best producer in 2009 and was also nominated for best Grime mixtape of 2010.

2009–10: ''Concrete Jungle'' and Geffen

Concrete Jungle Concrete jungle may refer to: Music Albums * ''Concrete Jungle'' (David "Fathead" Newman album), 1977 * ''Concrete Jungle'' (Dive album), or the title song, 1993 * ''Concrete Jungle'' (Nneka album), 2010 * ''Concrete Jungle'' (Scorcher album) ...

'' is a 2009 debut album by Scorcher released independently. The album is seen as a critical success in electronic music, but a major disappointment to grime fans. The albums has spawned two singles, "I Know" and "Lipsin' Ting", neither of which charted. The albums has been widely anticipated by many in the grime scene, but disappointed many in the scene. It features collaborations with the likes of

, J2K, and

. The album was inspired by a short freestyle by Scorcher. The third single from the album is "Dark Knight". His debut single, "It's My Time", charted on the UK R&B chart at number 38. When Geffen's MD left for Sony and the bigger artist moved to other labels within Universal, Scorcher's deal was ended.

2011–2014: Blue Colla and acting career

In 2011, Scorcher began an acting career and played the major role of Kamale, in the 2011 Channel 4 drama,

Top Boy ''Top Boy'' is a British television crime drama series, created and written by Ronan Bennett. The series is set in the fictional Summerhouse estate in the London Borough of Hackney and focuses on two drug dealers Dushane ( Ashley Walters) and ...

. "Making the transition from music to acting hasn't really been that hard for me, as you get used to performing its just performance in a different setting." He described his character as sinister, and an all-out bad man and is working with other rappers such as Ashley Walters, Kano and other first time actors. He has also played a part in the movie Offender which was released on 24 December 2012. After being released from

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

in 2011, Scorcher was signed to independent label Blue Colla Music in 2012 and his first single of the year "It's All Love" premiered on MistaJam's 1XTRA show on 3 March 2012.

2015–present: The Intent and return to music

In 2016, Scorcher signed to RU Listening Limited. He, Scorcher starred in the 2016 film ''

The Intent ''The Intent'' is a 2016 British crime thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots ...

'' in which he plays small-time criminal called Hoodz, who finds success in robbing stores and small businesses, and finally catches the jackpot by attacking a big drug dealer for his stash of money and drugs. He played the role of Diesel in the film ''Road'' (2017). He returned to music in 2019 and released the singles "Gargoyle", "Could Be Worse", "9", "Sandpit" and was featured on the track "Hunnids" by Tizzy x Brandz. In October 2019 Scorcher attended the

Christian Louboutin Christian Louboutin (; born 7 January 1963) is a French fashion designer whose high-end stiletto footwear incorporates shiny, red-lacquered soles that have become his signature. Initially a freelance designer for fashion houses, he started hi ...

Palace Nights Collection Launch.

Discography

Studio albums

*2009: ''

Mixtapes

*2006: ''Simply The Best'' *2006: ''Tempo Specialists'' /The Movement*2007: ''Leader of the New School'' *2007: ''Thunder Power'' *2008: ''Simply The Best 2'' *2010: ''Jungle Book'' *2011: ''Audio Wave'' *2012: ''Simply The Best 3'' *2014: ''1 of 1'' *2016: ''Rocket x Scorcher EP'' /Rocket

Guest appearances

Filmography

Film

* Offender (2012) - Essay *

(2016) - Hoodz *

Road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types o ...

(2017) - Diesel

Television

(2011) - Kamale (season 1) * You Don't Know Me (2021) - Spooks

Personal life

Following the

Death of Mark Duggan Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

by Police in 2011, which resulted in the

2011 England riots The 2011 England riots, more widely known as the London riots, were a series of riots between 6 and 11 August 2011. Thousands of people rioted in cities and towns across England, which saw looting, arson, as well as mass deployment of police an ...

, Scorcher revealed via Twitter that his grandmother was Cynthia Jarret, a 49-year-old Afro-Caribbean woman who was killed by Police on 5 October 1985 during the search of her home. Together with the death of Cherry Groce the previous week (which caused the

1985 Brixton riot The Brixton riot of 1985 started on 28 September in Lambeth in South London. It was the second major riot that the area had witnessed in the space of four years, the last in 1981. It was sparked by the shooting of Dorothy "Cherry" Groce by the ...

, her death is credited with being one of the main causes of the

Broadwater Farm riot The Broadwater Farm riot occurred on the Broadwater council estate in Tottenham, North London, on 6 October 1985. The events of the day were dominated by two deaths. The first was that of Cynthia Jarrett, an Afro-Caribbean woman who died the p ...

the following day. :" ic5 years ago police killed my grandma in her house in Tottenham and the whole ends rioted, 25 years on and they're still keepin up fuckry. Police R here 2 uphold the law & protect us leadin by example so wen they stop upholdin the law its natural reaction 4 there 2 B lawlessness." Scorcher is a supporter of

Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has play ...

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scorcher 1986 births Living people Black British male rappers English people of Nigerian descent People from Enfield, London Grime music artists English male rappers Rappers from London English people of Jamaican descent