Young Adz

Transforming from an underground lyricist to a pioneer of the U.K.’s trapwave scene, rapper Young Adz is best known for his work at the helm of D-Block Europe (DBE), alongside friend and collaborator Dirtbike LB. Through his versatility, Adz has thrived within multiple eras of the U.K. rap scene, building a fan base in conscious hip-hop and trap before engineering his own style, the autotune-laden trapwave.
Hailing from South London, rapper Young Adz made his way into the rap game at just 13 years old, releasing early tracks like “Ya Feel Me” (2009) and “Dope as It Gets” (2010) to underground acclaim. When he was 15, he landed a major deal with Universal Records alongside collaborator Benjamin AD. Though young in years, Adz’s confessional tone and grounded lyricism painted pictures of a tough London upbringing, scored by the production of artists from Dot Rotten to C-Major. After label disagreements, Adz and Universal parted ways in 2013, allowing the musician to build a career on his own terms.
Linking up with rapper Aero Sinc to form the collective D-Block Europe (a homage to iconic rap group the Lox), Adz returned to the freestyle game in force, going bar for bar with Jadakiss via a 2013 Tim Westwood freestyle. Continuing to impress across key U.K. platforms like GRM Daily and Link Up TV, the rapper grew his own brand through the mid-2010s with a series of candid, narrative-driven freestyles. However, it was with DBE that Adz was to find his next path to success; after rapper Dirtbike LB joined the collective in 2014, the duo immediately displayed synergy on the mic, adopting a more aggressive, trap-focused approach for 2014′s “Squad” and 2015′s “Ringin’,” “Anybody,” and “Must Be.”
Although this trap-led direction gave DBE their first taste of the spotlight, it would soon be eclipsed by their new invention, trapwave. Fusing London trap with melodic styles from overseas, the group’s new approach first coalesced in the 2017 single “Thank the Plug,” with Adz making his autotune debut on the track’s infectious chorus. Seeing the potential for this auto-crooned approach to London styles, Adz and LB teamed up again for a remix of Kodak Black’s “Tunnel Vision,” which quickly gathered millions of views online. The duo continued to work together on successive 2017 singles “Trap House,” “Large Amounts,” and “Trophy,” each reaching millions of streams. 2018 saw the release of increasingly bigger hits in “The Shard,” “Gucci Mane,” and “NASSty” before Adz and LB issued the collaborative mixtape Any Minute Now with Yxng Bane.
With Adz and LB at the helm of the DBE moniker, they continued to hone the trapwave sound, releasing a trio of mixtapes in 2019. January’s Home Alone brought the duo their biggest hit to date, “Kitchen Kings,” September’s PTSD landed in the fourth spot on the U.K. album charts, and December’s Street Trauma kept their fan base fed with hits like “No Cellular Site” and “Creep.” Having brought D-Block Europe to the forefront of the U.K. rap scene, Adz kicked off 2020 by releasing the joint album Insomnia, a varied set in collaboration with grime legends Skepta and Chip. ~ David Crone