Merlin

In the Britain of the late 1980s, rap talent was rarely expected to surface. Merlin, whose Jamaican roots ran deep, spent his childhood in the Brixton district of South London. By age eleven he was already performing vocals and instruments inside a church ensemble that blended drum machines and synthesizers with its customary organ and piano. Family ties to music ran further still, as his uncle was reggae performer Smiley Culture. While still at school, Merlin assembled the Juveniles to supply entertainment at dances. At fourteen he began circulating among neighborhood MCs and struck up a friendship with MC Blade. The pair entered and won a prominent rap competition, after which DJ Master Mix swiftly arranged a solo contract for Merlin with Rhythm King Records. That British imprint issued the album Born Free, and Merlin went on to team with area rappers such as Bomb and S'Express on multiple charting singles. Among his recorded output are the 1989 track "Who's in the House" plus the albums Merlin (1989) and The New Rap Messiah (1992). A six-month prison term resulting from the theft of checks belonging to Mute Records brought his momentum to a halt. Although he returned to the microphone upon release, the period of peak success had passed, and his recording activity ceased before he reached twenty-one.