Devlin

Born in Bermondsey and raised in Dagenham, East London, Devlin, whose real name is James Devlin, cut his teeth at a young age on the British grime scene with O.T Crew before joining The Movement, a collective that includes Ghetts, Wretch 32 and Scorcher. His trajectory began to take shape in the mid‑2000s with the mixtapes Tales from the Crypt (2006) and The Art of Rollin’ (2008), which established a tense, precise and highly articulated rap at the crossroads of grime and English hip‑hop. Devlin developed a dense, often narrative writing style, carried by a rapid yet intelligible delivery and by dark, sometimes more melodic productions. After The Devz EP (2008), Devlin released Bud, Sweat and Beers in 2010 on Island Records, then the EP The Director’s Cut in 2012 and the album A Moving Picture in 2013. With The Devil In (2017), Devlin pursued a more introspective aesthetic without abandoning the urban grounding of his beginnings or his ties to the London rap and grime scenes.