Bugzy Malone

Bugzy Malone – Aaron Davis – grew up in Crumpsall in north Manchester. The backstory is rough and he’s never hidden it: care homes, fights, a stabbing that left him scarred. He channelled it into grime at a time when grime was still seen as exclusively a London thing. Manchester had a scene – MCs, crews, pirate radio – but nobody had broken through nationally. Bugzy changed that.

The sending-for-Chip saga in 2015 put him on the map. A series of diss tracks aimed at the London MC went viral and suddenly a grime artist with a Manchester accent was the most talked-about name in the scene. Walk With Me, the EP, showed there was substance behind the hype. Then came B. Inspired in 2018, his debut album – a top 5 chart entry that dealt with his childhood, the violence, the mental health struggles. It wasn’t comfortable listening. It wasn’t meant to be.

He sold out the Apollo. For a Manchester grime MC in 2018, that was a statement. He played the AO Arena. He did festivals. The live show was intense – Davis is a physically imposing figure and performs like he’s got something to prove every single time.

A serious motorbike accident in 2020 nearly ended everything. He was in a coma, had to learn to walk again. He came back with The Resurrection in 2021. The recovery was public and raw. Whether you rate the music or not, the trajectory – Crumpsall kid, care system, stabbed, grime MC, chart success, near-fatal accident, comeback – is genuinely extraordinary. He opened a door for Manchester’s rap and grime scene that hadn’t existed before, and plenty of MCs have walked through it since.