10 Things You Didn’t Know About Rizzle Kicks

In the summer of 2012, Rizzle Kicks helped to launch the 2012-13 Arsenal away kit under the theme of Purple Reign. The English hip hop duo, Rizzle Kicks was formed on 2008 in Brighton, England. They played their first headline tour from March to May 2012, a sellout, including two nights at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire. On April 2014, it was revealed that Jordan had been cast to star in Eposide 4 drama series Glue. Alexander-Sule also appeared as a gang leader in the 2014 thriller The Guvnors, set in south-east London. There is no doubt that the English hip hop duo is definitely a group to look out for in the music industry.

Here are 10 things you probably didn’t know about the English hip hop duo group, Rizzle Kicks:

1. Rizzle Kicks was formed on 2008 in Brighton, England.

2. The duo consists of Jordan “Rizzle” Stephens born on 25 January 1992 and Harley “Sylvester” Alexander-Sule born on 23 November 1991.

3. The pair attended AudioActive’s Hip Hop Foundation project. Jordan and Harley both attended Brit School where Jordan studied Media and Harley studied Theatre.

4. The name stems from ‘Green Rizla’, an early nickname given to Stephens by a football teammate after a crew of the same name from the school that he attended at the time. That nickname evolved into ‘Rizzle’ and the duo decided on the suffix ‘kicks’ due to their shared love of football.

5. Prior to embarking on their rap career, Harley went on to work as an assistant drama teacher, whilst Jordan was flipping burgers at the Corals Greyhound Stadium in Hove.

6. Their YouTube videos caught the attention of several record labels and in November 2010, they signed to Island Records, part of Universal Music.

7. As of May 2012, the duo has sold over 1 million singles and over 600,000 albums in the UK.

8. Their first official single, “Down With the Trumpets”, was released on 12 June 2011, in the manner of on air on sale, entering the UK Singles Chart at number 84 and going on to eventually peak at number 8 in September 2011, having been certified gold.

9. Their debut album Stereo Typical was released a week later on 31 October 2011, entering the chart at number 9, peaking at number 5 and was certified platinum in May 2012.

10. Their third single “Mama Do the Hump”, which was produced by Norman Cook, was released on 16 December, eventually peaking at number 2 and has been certified platinum. The track spawned a dance craze known as ‘The Hump’ which infiltrated parties across the UK and generated many YouTube videos of members of the public doing the dance.