Theo Jerome Kerlin (born 7 May 1989) is a British
MC who is credited by his stage name Master Shortie. He is also a singer and has established his own record label, Odd One Out.
He was included in the
Sound of 2009 poll.
Early life
Originally from
Mitcham
Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. I ...
in
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the boroughs, in whole or in part, of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Richmond, Southwark, ...
. his dad ran an east London jazz bar throughout his childhood, which led him to listen to many genres of music, encouraging him to start rapping at the age of 12.
Career
Early career
He started off at The Kidz in the Biz Academy in South East London. After a short stint at the
BRIT School
The BRIT School is a British performing and creative arts school located in Selhurst, Croydon, England, with a mandate to provide education and vocational training for the performing arts, music, music technology, theatre, musical theatre, dan ...
,
at the age of 14, he soon dropped out, claiming "it wasn't me, it didn't suit me". At 16, Kerlin enrolled on a
BTEC BTEC may refer to:
* Begumgonj Textile Engineering College, a college in Bangladesh
* Biomass Thermal Energy Council, a US advocacy organization
* Business and Technology Education Council, a British body, now part of Edexcel, which awards vocationa ...
course at Nescot, studying Music Technology. He then started recording and producing his own adolescent hip-hop songs with producers and an underground reggae singer called Sparky.
Kerlin also appeared as
Simba
Simba is a fictional character and the protagonist of Disney's ''The Lion King'' franchise. Introduced in the 1994 film ''The Lion King'', Walt Disney Animation's 32nd animated feature, the character subsequently appears in '' The Lion King II: ...
in a West End production of the
Lion King
''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American Animated film, animated Musical film, musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd List of Walt Disney Animati ...
.
Debut (2005–2007)
In 2005, Kerlin started to support American urban acts such as
ATL
ATL may refer to:
Places
* Atlanta, a city in the U.S. state of Georgia
** Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (IATA airport code)
** Peachtree station (Amtrak station code)
* Attleborough railway station, located in Norfolk, Engl ...
at the Hackney Empire, the Scala and Shepherd's Bush Empire.
He was asked to support
Hadouken! on their UK tour, as he shares the same management company as them.
''A.D.H.D'' and Sound Of.. Poll (2008–present)
In September 2008,Theo Kerlin released his debut single, "Rope Chain", alongside a music video which gathered popularity on YouTube.
In December 2008, Master Shortie was enlisted in the
Sound of 2009 poll,
whereby he was tipped to be the one to look out for in 2009. He stated that the hype was helping him "work twice as hard".
In January 2009, Master Shortie stated that his new album, ''
A.D.H.D'',
was slated to release in the summer of 2009.
Citing that the reason for the album name is that "my music is just so crazy and it's so all over the place and it craves attention."
In April, Master Shortie released his third single, "Dance Like a White Boy", which was shortly followed by the aforementioned album. The track "Swagger Chick" features
Vanessa White
Vanessa Karen White (born 30 October 1989) is an English singer who rose to fame in 2008 as a singer in the girl band The Saturdays. She is signed to "Salute the Sun" as a solo artist. White began her career as a theatre actress at an early age, ...
from girlgroup
The Saturdays
The Saturdays were a British-Irish girl group based in London, England. The group formed during the summer of 2007 and have been on hiatus since 2014. The lineup consists of Frankie Bridge, Una Healy, Rochelle Humes, Mollie King, and Vanessa ...
.
In the spring of 2009 Master Shortie supported
Basement Jaxx
Basement Jaxx are an English electronic music duo consisting of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe. The pair got their name from the regular club night they held in Brixton, London, UK. They first rose to popularity in the underground house scene ...
on their UK tour.
Master Shortie played at the
2009 Wireless Festival
The Wireless Festival is a rap and urban music festival that takes place every year in London, England. It is owned and managed by Live Nation. While it started as primarily a rock and pop festival, in recent years it has focused on hip hop and ...
on the 4th of July.
In October 2009 he supported
Lil Wayne
Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman (rapper), ...
at his three Hammersmith Apollo dates in London.
In March 2010, Master Shortie announced that he and his record label, Odd One Out, had signed to Hitz Committee,
RCA
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westin ...
(formerly
Jive) and
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
.
In 2012, Master Shortie's mixtape ''Studying Abroad'' was released. The record featured artists such as
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 ...
,
Rizzle Kicks
Rizzle Kicks are a British hip hop duo from Brighton, England, consisting of Jordan "Rizzle" Stephens (born 25 January 1992) and Harley "Sylvester" Alexander-Sule (born 1991). Their debut album, '' Stereo Typical'', was released in 2011. As ...
and
Chiddy.
Through October 2013 Master Shortie worked on his latest piece. He announced over Twitter that it would be named ''Nobody Taught Me'' and also shared the EP's artwork. On 4 November 2013, he released the first song of the album, "Where I'm At". It debuted on the music sharing site
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming s ...
, where he had had a presence for over a year.
Discography
Studio albums
*''
A.D.H.D.'' (2009)
Extended plays
*''Nobody Taught Me'' (2013)
Mixtapes
*''MistaJam Presents... Odd One Out Mashtape'' (2009)
*''Studying Abroad'' (2012)
Singles
*"Rope Chain" (2008)
*"Dead End"
(feat. Labrinth
Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989), better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. After initially pursuing a career in music production, Simon Cowell signed him to his record lab ...
) (2008)
*"Dance Like a White Boy" (2009)
*"Dead End"
(feat. Labrinth) (re-release) (2009)
*"Bringing It Back" (2009)
*"Right Time" (2010)
*"Daydream"
(feat. Polluted Mindz) (2010)
*"Social Groups" (2011)
Remixes
*"Bringing It Back"
(Vindata remix)
*"Dead End"
(Don Diablo remix)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Master Shortie
Living people
English male rappers
People from Mitcham
Rappers from London
Wonky pop musicians
1989 births