Headie One

Early life

Headie One, whose real name is Irving Adjei, entered the world on 6 October 1994 at North Middlesex Hospital in North London. He spent his childhood on the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham. Raised by his father and older sister after his mother Edna Duah passed away when he was three, he is of Ghanaian descent and speaks Twi.

Football was his early passion; he played for Haringey Borough F.C. and was set for a trial at Stevenage F.C. until a broken ankle ended that path. He started rapping as a young teen but only committed to it after his first stint in prison. His stage name comes from a childhood nickname, inspired by how his head looked like a 50p coin.

Career

Adjei began releasing music in the early 2010s under the name Headz, including as part of the group Star Gang. In 2014 he released his only mixtape under that alias, Headz or Tails. Fellow Tottenham rapper RV, also in Star Gang, became a frequent collaborator; together they co-released the mixtapes Sticks & Stones (2016) and Drillers x Trappers (2017) and formed part of the UK drill group OFB, based in the Broadwater Farm estate. In February 2018 he released his next solo mixtape as Headie One, titled The One, which included the single "Know Better" featuring RV and became an underground hit.

This was his first release signed to Relentless Records, a Sony Music subsidiary. In May 2018 he was featured on "Missing" by Belly Squad, which peaked at number 84 on the UK Singles Chart. His solo mixtape The One Two followed in June 2018 and entered the UK Albums Chart at number 32. In November 2018 he performed on his first national UK tour.

2019–2020: Music x Road

In January 2019 his single "18Hunna" featuring Dave entered the UK chart at number 6, then the highest charting for a drill artist. In March 2019 he released his sixth mixtape, Drillers x Trappers II with RV, which entered the UK Albums Chart at number 21. In July 2019 he featured on Krept and Konan's single "I Spy", which peaked at number 18. In August 2019 he released his seventh mixtape, Music x Road, which was praised by critics and noted as a move away from his usual sound; it entered the UK Albums Chart at number 5.

In December 2019 he featured on Stormzy's album Heavy Is the Head on the song "Audacity". In April 2020 he collaborated with Fred Again… to release the mixtape Gang. In July 2020 he released the single "Only You Freestyle" featuring Drake, which peaked at number 5. In August 2020 his single "Ain't It Different" with Stormzy and AJ Tracey peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, his highest charting single, and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry on 21 January 2021.

Controversy

In January 2018 Adjei was reportedly attacked by rivals at the University of Bedfordshire; a video of the assault was posted on Snapchat and then YouTube, resulting in an all-out gang war. He responded with the diss track "Know Better". In March 2018 his concert at the Barbican Centre was shut down by the Metropolitan Police, who had previously linked his music to rising knife crime in London. In an interview that April, Headie claimed that only a fool would say drill music is the root of the problem of violence in the capital.

Associations between London gang culture, drill music and social media were examined in a BBC Radio Four programme File on Four on 8 March 2020, focused on three violent murders. On 17 November 2020 Adjei was involved in an altercation with rapper Tion Wayne on a flight from Dubai to London. On 23 November 2022 he was involved in a fight against rapper E1 (3x3) at the Sony Music Building in London; an employee described it as frightening and said there was blood on the floor. Sony Music issued a statement that the matter was a police matter and they could not comment further.

Did You Know?

• He was presented with the Brits Billion Award on 4 May 2023 for over 1 billion career streams in the UK.