North London MC Dabbla spent his formative years spitting on London’s legendary pirate radio stations Freeze FM and Rinse, his youth rooted in a love of jungle and garage. His first formal steps into rap were with crew LDZ (London Zoo) alongside Dubbledge. The collective were catapulted into success after dropping their single ‘Lips 2 Da Floor’, which caught a lot of attention and became one of grime’s earliest and most enduring viral hits.
Dabbla’s early mix of influences imprinted heavily on his first LP -Year Of The Monkey – which landed on High Focus in 2016. Featuring a cocktail of raw grime, trap and boom bap, the album debuted an eclecticism which has become his signature. As an artist, his lyrics pull from the mess and madness of London’s underground, and from a sometimes-contrary passion for Eastern Philosophy.
His most recent album ‘Nobody’ produced entirely by Sumgii is the first record from Potent Funk co-owners and described by Dabbla himself as ‘eleven songs, no features, all heaters’.