Headie One

Emerging from North London, Headie One ranks among U.K. drill’s most compelling voices and became the first artist from that world to reach number one on the album chart while also landing a Top Ten single. National attention arrived first through his partnership with RV, propelled by the influential mixtape Drillers & Trappers, after which he turned toward solo projects in the latter half of the 2010s. The 2019 mixtape Music X Road carried him into the U.K. album chart’s Top Ten, and Edna, his debut proper studio album, ascended to number one in 2020. Across his career he has joined forces with an eclectic range of talents including FKA Twigs, Abra Cadabra, Burna Boy, and Fred again.., issued the 2023 mixtape Strength to Strength alongside K-Trap, maintained a steady output of singles such as the 2024 track “Cry No More” featuring Stormzy and Tay Keith, and readied his forthcoming 2024 album The Last One.

Born Irving Adjei in Tottenham, Headie One rose from the remnants of the North London gang Tottenham Mandem as part of the rap collective Star Gang, which quickly gained traction on the local scene alongside fellow member RV. Their immediate chemistry on the microphone stood out from the start. Early in the 2010s, recording under the Star Gang name, the pair issued singles such as “Youngers from Farm” and alternated between classic U.K. rap and American-style trap on the respective solo and joint projects Headz or Tails (2014) and Sticks & Stones (2016). Fully embracing U.K. drill, they unveiled the third mixtape Drillers & Trappers the next year, where their collaboration with producers including MKThePlug and M1OnTheBeat forged a dedicated audience through unyielding flows and shared artistic vision. Singles branded with the #OFB tag led to the formation of the drill crew Original Farm Boys, named after the Broadwater Farm Estate that shaped their upbringing.

Headie pressed ahead with a string of solo releases through the late 2010s. His second solo mixtape The One (2018) yielded enduring anthems such as “Golden Boot” and “Know Better,” which became fixtures within drill. After rounding out 2018 with the third tape The One Two, he launched 2019 by reuniting with RV for the 13-track Drillers X Trappers II. Paced by the Top Ten single “18Hunna,” the fourth tape Music X Road landed later that year; bolstered by appearances from Skepta, Dave, and NAV, the project steered his drill sound into fresh, inventive territory. A sustained alliance with producer Fred again.. produced the late-2019 single “Charades,” which preceded their early-2020 experimental mixtape GANG. Headie’s first studio album, Edna, reached stores in October 2020. Spanning trap to drill, the set delivered an intimate chronicle of his life and path, showcasing some of his most candid writing yet. It claimed the top spot on the U.K. album chart and featured the hit singles “Only You Freestyle” with Drake, “Ain’t It Different” alongside AJ Tracey and Stormzy, and “Princess Cuts” with Young T & Bugsey. The commercial mixtape Too Loyal for My Own Good arrived in 2021. Subsequent work encompassed the 2022 tape No Borders: European Compilation Project, assembled with European collaborators and spotlighting “22 Carats” and “Link in the Ends” (with French MCs Gazo and Koba LaD) plus “Cloud” (with German rapper Luciano). Additional singles and smaller projects continued, among them the 2023 collaborative effort Strength to Strength with K-Trap, as Headie finalized preparations for the June 2024 release of his next studio album The Last One.