Tobit John Brown (born 8 April 1993), better known as TBJZL, is an English

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

, streamer, and influencer. He is a member and co-founder of the British

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 ...

group the

Sidemen The Sidemen is a British collective consisting of YouTubers, influencers and internet personalities KSI, Miniminter, Zerkaa, TBJZL, Behzinga, Vikkstar123, and W2S. The group produce videos of various challenges, sketches, and video game c ...

. He is the co-owner of XIX Vodka, Sidemen Clothing,

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many pa ...

Sides, and

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

brand Best Breakfasts. In 2019, Brown was listed as the 38th most influential online creator in the United Kingdom by ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

''. , his main YouTube channel had over 5.01 million subscribers and 567 million video views. Brown has also released music

mononymously A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. A mononym may be the person's only name, given to them at birth. This was routine in most ancient societies, and remains ...

, and in 2020, he released his debut single "Destined for Greatness", which peaked at number 31 on the UK Singles Chart and number 33 on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...

Early life

Tobit John Brown was born on 8 April 1993 in Hackney, an area of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, to a working-class family of Nigerian heritage. He attended St. Dominic's Catholic Primary School from 1997 until 2004, and then attended

Bexley Grammar School Bexley Grammar School is a co-educational grammar school with academy status in Welling, in the London Borough of Bexley, UK. It takes boys and girls aged 11–18 who have passed the eleven plus exam. History Bexley Grammar School was opened ...

, where he met future fellow

member Josh Bradley. Brown later completed an honours degree in computing at

Coventry University Coventry University is a Public university, public research university in Coventry, England. The origins of Coventry University can be linked to the Coventry School of Art and Design, Coventry School of Design in 1843. It was known as Lancheste ...

YouTube career

Brown joined

in 2011 while at university after he saw Josh gaining traction on the platform and then decided to become a full-time

after university. He uploads video game commentaries, most notably of the ''

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

'' and ''

NBA 2K ''NBA 2K'' is a series of basketball sports simulation video games developed by Visual Concepts and released annually since 1999. The premise of the series is to emulate the sport of basketball and the National Basketball Association. The ser ...

'' video game series, as well as

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

challenges,

vlog A vlog (), also known as a video blog or video log, is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one ta ...

s, and comedy-style videos. On 19 October 2013, Brown and four other British YouTubers formed the entertainment collective Ultimate Sidemen, later shortened to simply

. Since 2014, the group has consisted of seven British YouTubers: Vik Barn (Vikkstar123), Josh Bradley (Zerkaa), Harry Lewis (W2S), Simon Minter (Miniminter),

JJ Olatunji Olajide Olayinka Williams "JJ" Olatunji (born 19 June 1993), better known by his online alias KSI, is an English influencer, professional boxer and musician. He is a co-founding member of YouTube group the Sidemen, the CEO of Misfits Boxing an ...

(KSI), Ethan Payne (Behzinga), and Tobi Brown (TBJZL). The group produces online videos, consisting of challenges, sketches, and video-game commentary, as well as selling exclusive Sidemen merchandise. In September 2019, Brown was listed as the 38th most influential online creator in the United Kingdom by ''

''.

Music career

In December 2019, Brown released "The Gift" with the rest of the Sidemen, reaching number 77 on the UK Singles Chart. Brown released his debut single, "Destined for Greatness", with his brother Manny featuring his sister Janellé on 7 February 2020. The song charted at number 31 on the UK Singles Chart, making it Brown's first UK top 40 single. Elsewhere, "Destined for Greatness" debuted at number 18 in New Zealand and on the

Scottish Singles Chart The Scottish Albums Chart is a chart compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) which is based on how physical and digital sales towards the UK Albums Chart fare in Scotland. The official singles chart for Scotland, the Scottish Singles Chart, ...

, and peaked at number 33 on the

. He later featured in a

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

of his fellow Sidemen member KSI's song " Wake Up Call" by producer Yoshi with American rapper

Trippie Redd Michael Lamar White IV (born June 18, 1999), known professionally as Trippie Redd, is an American rapper and singer. Born and raised in Canton, Ohio, he has contributed to the progression of emo rap and rage, a subgenre of trap music. His de ...

and British rapper

P Money Paris Joel Moore-Williams (born 8 April 1989), better known by his stage name P Money, is a British grime MC, rapper and songwriter from New Cross, South East London, who is also active in the drum and bass scene. He is best known for his li ...

, which was released on 6 March 2020. Brown was featured on "This Year" by P Money and producer Silencer, which was released on 19 March 2021. Brown released his second single, "Rhythm & Vibes", also with his brother Manny, on 20 August 2021. In March 2022, he featured in rapper DTG's song "Just Do It". On 5 December 2022, Brown, KSI, and Vikkstar123 released a Christmas-themed single titled " Christmas Drillings" under the Sidemen banner featuring British rapper

Jme Jamie Adenuga (born 4 May 1985), known professionally as Jme, is a British grime MC, songwriter, record producer and DJ. He is the co-founder of the crew and label Boy Better Know. He also serves as a sole owner and director of an associated c ...

, which charted at number 3 in the UK.

Other ventures

Sidemen businesses

Brown and the

have founded multiple businesses throughout their online careers. In 2014 the group launched a clothing brand under the Sidemen Clothing banner. In November 2021, they founded a

known as Sides in collaboration with Reef. In October 2022, they launched their own

vodka Vodka ( ; is a clear distilled beverage, distilled alcoholic beverage. Its varieties originated in Poland and Russia. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impurities and flavourings. Traditionally, it is ...

brand known as XIX Vodka. in March 2024, they launched a breakfast cereal brand known as Best Cereal in collaboration with Mornflake.

ILLVZN

In June 2018, Brown founded a streetwear brand called ILLVZN, with the official launch in February 2019.

Baller League UK

In November 2024, it was announced that Brown would manage one of the 12 teams in the upcoming

Baller League UK The Baller League is an indoor six-a-side football competition that originated in Germany in 2024, created by entrepreneur Felix Starck, with backing from professional footballers Mats Hummels and Lukas Podolski. The league combines professiona ...

, a

six-a-side football Five-a-side football is a version of minifootball, in which each team fields five players (four outfield players and a goalkeeper). Other differences from association football include a smaller pitch, smaller goals, and a reduced game duration. ...

competition set to be broadcast on

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

. In March 2025, it was revealed that Brown would manage a team named VZN FC. The team played its first match on 24 March 2025, losing 6–3 against Deportrio.

''Family Ties'' podcast

In May 2025, Brown announced ''Family Ties,'' a podcast produced by

The Fellas Studios The Fellas Studios is an English audio and video based podcasting production company based in London and was founded in 2020 by YouTubers Callum Airey (Calfreezy) and Joshua Larkin (TheBurntChip). The company, whose roster accumulated more than ...

with his two brothers Manny and Jedidiah.

Personal life

Brown is a supporter of

Manchester United F.C. Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. They compete in the Premier League, t ...

and plays

Sunday league football Sunday league football is a term used in Britain, Ireland and Australia to describe the amateur association football competitions which take place on Sunday rather than the more usual Saturday. The term ''pub league'' may also be used, owing to ...

for Under The Radar FC, a team formed by his brother and fellow YouTuber Manny Brown. In 2019, he discussed the issue of racism in football in an interview with

Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British pay television, paid television sports news channel run by Sky Group, Sky, a division of Comcast. History Sky Sports first started broadcasting sports news bulletins when it began broadcasting the Premi ...

. He is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Charity

On 14 February 2025, Brown participated in "Match for Hope 2025", a football charity event hosted in Doha, Qatar, as a player for team

Chunkz Amin Mohamed (, ; born 21 February 1996), better known as Chunkz, is a British YouTuber, influencer, host, entertainer, and former musician. He is a member of the YouTube group Beta Squad. , his YouTube channel had over 3.6 million subscribers ...

IShowSpeed Darren Jason Watkins Jr. (born January 21, 2005), known online as IShowSpeed or Speed, is an American YouTuber, online personality and online streamer. He is known for his dramatic and energetic behavior showcased in his variety live streams, ...

, facing off against team

AboFlah Hassan Suleyman, known as AboFlah (born 18 December 1998) is a Kuwaiti YouTuber, he has a YouTube channel that makes videos about games and entertainment. YouTube AboFlah created his YouTube channel in 2016, under the name "GamesFlah" but aft ...

& KSI. The match ended with team AboFlah & KSI's 6-5 victory over team Chunkz & IShowSpeed. The event managed to raise more than $10.7 million for charity.

Filmography

As director

Music videos

Discography

Singles

As lead artist

As a featured artist

Guest appearances

Other charted songs

Music videos

Awards and nominations

Listicles

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1993 births Alumni of Coventry University Black British male rappers English Twitch (service) streamers English male rappers 21st-century British rappers English male web series actors English male writers English people of Nigerian descent English gaming YouTubers Living people British music YouTubers People educated at Bexley Grammar School Rappers from the London Borough of Hackney Video game commentators YouTube channels launched in 2011 YouTube vloggers YouTubers from London English men's footballers Tobi Brown People from Hackney, London Sidemen Sidemen Charity Match players 21st-century English sportsmen