Who is Big Narstie?

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  • Who is Big Narstie?

Undoubtedly a fully fledged TV and entertainment star now thanks to his BAFTA, double RTS Award, Edinburgh TV Festival and National Reality TV Award winning The Big Narstie Show (Channel 4), which recently completed it’s fifth season, Big Narstie has become a fixture on TV and social media alike. Appearances on shows including Blankety Blank (BBC1), Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel (BBC1), I Literally Just Told You (C4), Don’t Hate The Playaz (ITV2), Big Fat Quiz (C4), Would I Lie To You (BBC1), Big Zuu’s Big Eats, Bling Kings (C4), Crystal Maze (C4), Celebrity Juice (ITV2), Celebrity Bake Off (C4), and Good Morning Britain (ITV) – where his weather forecasting took the art to a new level – have helped cement him in the minds of young and old alike.

The Big Narstie Show is a groundbreaking hit, having increased youth and BAME viewing by over 150% on Channel 4 from the outset and proving that people will watch TV if the content is of interest to them.

Guests have included Idris Elba, Stephen Graham, Paul Mescal, David Schwimmer, Thandie Newton, Pamela Anderson, Nile Rodgers, Louis Theroux, Kathryn Ryan, Jonathan Ross, Stephen Fry, Charlotte Church, Aisling Bea, Patrice Evra, Judi Love, Eddie Hearn, Sir Lenny Henry, Jada Kingdom, Richard Ayoade, Ed Sheeran and Mel B with the show creating must see TV moments including a tearful Dennis Rodman, a daggering Harry Redknapp, an insult battle with Jimmy Carr, a MMA dojo with Stephen Dorff, an episode of Loose Mandem with Lorraine Kelly and Nadia Sawalha, and old school Grime throwdowns featuring Kano, Papoose and D Double E which went viral.

His most recent release is “Oomph For Your Boomph”, the Slimfast brand specific remix of his single “Work Hard Play Hard” which has been supported by BBC 1Xtra. It follows up his collaboration with Ed Sheeran and Papoose called “Groundwork”. “Oomph For Your Boomph” soundtracks the major brand relaunch for Slimfast which also sees Big Narstie become an ambassador for the brand in addition to writing and performing the campaign’s soundtrack.

These releases add to his over 150 million streams across all services for his music including album BDL Bipolar featuring Ed Sheeran, Raleigh Ritchie and Craig David, with whom he also scored a Top 10 single with the track When The Bassline Drops.

He released one of the first ever NFT singles in “Gas The Set” which was released via Pianity and his book “How To Be Narstie” (Ebury/Penguin) suggests ways to tackle life illustrated by his own experiences. The hardback enlightened many fans’ lockdown.

October 2021 saw Big Narstie join BBC 1Xtra with his weekly ‘Narstie Night Out’ radio show, with the BDL Hit Squad, DJ Prophecy, DJ Bluesy and Dullah Beatz. Shows include UK Garage, Carnival sounds and Grime specials, and are still a must listen.

It is sometimes forgotten that Big Narstie came up during the first wave of Grime and UK Hip Hop in the early 2000s, and has been with Dice Recordings (who also manage him) since the very start of his career. Collaborations with Professor Green, Robbie Williams,

 and Enter Shikari have followed; videos and radio sessions (1Xtra, Radio 1, Beats Radio) all finessed his skills and honed his talent, while bringing his music and his character to a much larger audience. He also brought the BDL (Base Defence League) into existence, a collective united by a desire to spread positivity and a new outlook on life.

He has been named Best Grime Act at the Urban Music Awards five times and been heralded as Noisey’s Man of the Year and Personality of the Year at GRM Daily’s Rated Awards.

As a live performer he has delivered incendiary performances at Wireless, Lovebox, Ibiza Rocks, NASS, Glastonbury, Sidewinder, Eskimo Dance, Fresh Island and Truck to name just a few.

Recent brand work for Big Narstie include the aforementioned brand ambassadorship with Slimfast and major campaigns with Sports Direct, Samsung, Buzzfeed with Cadbury’s Crème Egg, Primark & Greggs, Badoo, the National Lottery for their 25th birthday, Zopa, Gym Group, JBL, Candy Kittens and Mortal Kombat, which adds to previous work with 888Sport, McDonalds, and Carphone Warehouse among many others.

Big Narstie also continues to engage with his social media followers constantly including sharing his MMA training, behind the scenes footage from his TV show and his travel exploits.