Flowdan
Flowdan (born Marc Veira on 17 March 1980) is an English grime MC, rapper, and record producer from East London, renowned for his deep, rumbling vocals and contributions to the UK bass music scene.[1][2][3] Raised in areas including Bow, Poplar, and Leyton, Veira grew up immersed in influences from jungle, US rap, dancehall, and reggae, with his father, Gappy Crucial, being a reggae sound system performer.[4][2] Veira began MCing as a teenager, practicing lyrics over jungle tracks and initially facing rejection before gaining support from Wiley to join the Rinse FM crew. He rose to prominence in the early 2000s garage and grime scenes, first as part of the Pay As U Go Cartel and later as a founding member of the influential grime collective Roll Deep, which he helped name in 2001.[4][5] His work with Roll Deep, including the 2005 track "When I'm Ere," helped define grime's raw energy and became a genre classic.[4] Throughout his over two-decade career, Flowdan has collaborated extensively with producers like The Bug and released music across labels such as Hyperdub and Tru Thoughts, blending grime with dubstep, drum and bass, and electronic sounds.[6][7] In recent years, he achieved mainstream breakthrough with tracks like "Rumble" (with Skrillex and Fred Again..), which reached the UK Top 20 in 2023 and earned him the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording—the first for a British MC—and "Baddadan" (with Chase & Status), peaking at No. 5 on the UK charts in 2023. In 2025, he continued his momentum with collaborations such as "Hunter" with Subtronics and "Coast 2 Coast" with GRiZ.[8][4][9][10]Early life
Childhood in Bow
Marc Veira, professionally known as Flowdan, was born on 17 March 1980 in Forest Gate, East London, and raised in the adjacent Bow area.[11][2] Veira grew up in the multicultural heart of East London, a vibrant neighborhood shaped by waves of Caribbean immigration and diverse communities in Bow, Poplar, and Leyton.[4] His family background was deeply tied to this cultural fabric; his father, Gappy Crucial, was a pioneering figure in the reggae sound system scene, performing with Sir Coxsone Outernational in Brixton, which exposed Veira to patois-speaking environments and Caribbean musical rhythms from an early age through family gatherings and local interactions.[4] Information on siblings remains limited in available accounts, but the broader East London community provided a rich tapestry of influences that fostered his early worldview.[2] Veira's early school years in Forest Gate and Bow introduced him to informal musical engagement amid the area's dynamic social scene. At around age 10, his mother gifted him a stereo, enabling him to record and rehearse lyrics inspired by artists such as MC Hammer, P.M. Dawn, and Shabba Ranks, blending American hip-hop with dancehall elements.[4] By age 12, during English class, he wrote and performed an original poem that surprised his teachers, highlighting his budding talent for rhythmic storytelling and verbal delivery.[2] These playground and classroom experiences in local schools laid the groundwork for his creative expression, immersed in the sounds and slang of his surroundings.[4]Introduction to music scenes
Flowdan began his journey into music as a teenager in East London, starting to MC at school around the age of 13 or 14. Growing up in the Bow area, he was heavily influenced by the vibrant sounds broadcast on the London pirate radio station Kool FM, which exposed him to the burgeoning drum and bass and jungle scenes of the early 1990s.[12][6] Drawn to the energetic style of early MCs, Flowdan gravitated toward figures like Stevie Hyper D, MC Det, and Navigator, whose rapid-fire deliveries and commanding presence over fast-paced rhythms captivated him. These artists, prominent in the jungle and drum and bass circuits, shaped his initial approach to MCing, emphasizing vocal agility and crowd interaction. By his mid-teens, he was actively experimenting with these influences, honing his skills amid the underground energy of London's pirate radio culture.[12][6][13] In the late 1990s, Flowdan immersed himself in the drum and bass and jungle scenes, making early appearances on stations like Rinse FM as a jungle MC. As these genres evolved, he transitioned toward UK garage, which was gaining traction in London's clubs and raves, before aligning with the emerging grime sound around the turn of the millennium. His foundational experiences included informal performances and MC clashes in East London parks and at local raves, where he built essential skills in live delivery and improvisation under raw, community-driven conditions.[14][12]Career
Roll Deep formation and early success
Flowdan played a pivotal role in the formation of Roll Deep in 2001 alongside Wiley in east London, initially emerging as Roll Deep Entourage from the waning UK garage scene.[4] The group transitioned from garage's upbeat rhythms to the darker, faster-paced sound of grime, with Flowdan serving as a core MC whose deep, commanding vocals helped define the crew's raw energy.[15] It was Flowdan who coined the name "Roll Deep," drawing from slang for moving in a strong group, which captured the collective's tight-knit dynamic.[16] As a foundational member, Flowdan contributed to the group's early cohesion amid a rotating lineup that included Dizzee Rascal, Tinchy Stryder, and Scratchy, fostering a collaborative environment where MCs honed their styles over Wiley's innovative productions.[4] Key early releases included the 2002 track "Terrible," marking their shift to grime, and the 2005 mixtape Creeper Volume 1, which showcased freestyle sessions and instrumental clashes that highlighted the crew's improvisational prowess and group dynamics.[17] These efforts built underground momentum through relentless output, with Wiley selling thousands of early singles like "Eskimo" and "Ice Rink" independently to fund the crew.[16] Roll Deep's breakthrough came with the 2005 single "The Avenue" from their debut album In at the Deep End, which peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and brought mainstream attention to their street-level narratives and energetic flows.[18] This success elevated the crew's profile, transitioning them from niche pirates to recognized grime pioneers. Flowdan's participation in high-stakes pirate radio sessions on stations like Rinse FM, where the Roll Deep show became a weekly staple for testing new bars, further cemented their influence.[4] Live clashes at events like Sidewinder, including rivalries with crews such as Fire Camp, showcased their competitive edge and solidified Roll Deep's dominance in the early grime scene.[16]Transition to solo work
Following the release of Roll Deep's final album Green Light in 2010, the group entered an indefinite hiatus by 2013, allowing members like Flowdan to pursue individual paths after over a decade of collective efforts where he often served as a key MC and contributor.[19][20] This shift marked Flowdan's pivot from crew dynamics to solo artistry, enabling greater creative control amid grime's persistent underground positioning, which limited mainstream visibility and commercial opportunities for independent MCs during the early 2010s.[4] Flowdan's debut solo album, Original Dan, arrived in 2009 via Eskibeat Recordings, featuring collaborations with Roll Deep affiliates like Wiley and Tinchy Stryder, as well as producers such as The Bug and Target, signaling his initial foray into deeper production oversight beyond MCing.[21] Released just before Roll Deep's pop-leaning successes, the project highlighted Flowdan's raw grime roots but struggled for broader traction in a scene grappling with genre fragmentation and reduced label support.[2] Building on this, his 2014 EP Serious Business on Hyperdub further tested solo waters with tracks produced by Footsie, The Bug, and others, underscoring the logistical hurdles of self-funding and promoting amid grime's niche status, where live clashes and pirate radio remained primary outlets over traditional distribution.[22][23] In 2015, Flowdan founded the SpentShell label, establishing a platform for his own releases and emerging talent like YGG and GHSTLY XXVII, fostering independent grime by prioritizing raw, uncompromised sounds outside major industry pressures.[24] This venture reinforced his role as a mentor in the underground ecosystem, releasing music that blended grime with dancehall influences to sustain the genre's vitality during a period of commercial dormancy.[25] The label's ethos culminated in key 2010s output like the 2016 album Disaster Piece on Tru Thoughts, where Flowdan expanded his production involvement alongside collaborators such as Masro and Swifta Beater, exploring themes of resilience and street introspection that reflected matured lyrical depth honed through years of scene evolution.[26][27]2020s collaborations and resurgence
Flowdan's 2019 album Full Metal Jacket, released on Tru Thoughts, served as a pivotal bridge into the 2020s, showcasing his gritty grime roots with tracks like "Level" featuring Irah and "Boss" with Frisco, which garnered attention for their raw energy and set the stage for his expanded collaborations.[28][29] Entering the decade, Flowdan achieved a major breakthrough with "Rumble," a collaboration with Skrillex and Fred again.. released in January 2023, which fused grime vocals over pulsating bass and electronic drops. The track won the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2024, marking Flowdan as the first UK grime MC to secure a Grammy victory and highlighting grime's crossover potential in global electronic music.[30][15] This success was amplified by the pandemic-era surge in streaming, where platforms like Spotify and YouTube boosted visibility for underground artists; "Rumble" amassed millions of streams during lockdowns, propelling Flowdan's catalog and facilitating high-profile festival appearances, including a live rendition at Ultra Music Festival in 2023.[31][32] Further collaborations solidified Flowdan's resurgence, expanding his sound into bass music and drum and bass. In July 2023, he featured on "Baddadan" with Chase & Status and Bou, alongside IRAH, Trigga, and Takura; the track peaked at number 5 on the UK Singles Chart and was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry for over 400,000 units.[33][34] Subsequent releases included "Boost Up" with FISHER in August 2024, blending house rhythms with grime flows, and 2025 tracks like "Hunter" with Subtronics, emphasizing dubstep's heavy basslines, and "Up Top" with NGHTMRE and Sully, venturing into high-energy DnB.[35][36][37] In July 2025, Flowdan collaborated with GRiZ on "Coast 2 Coast," a bass-heavy track marking GRiZ's comeback.[10] Later that year, on November 7, 2025, he released "Dot Dot" with Kwengface and Interplanetary Criminal.[38] These partnerships, coupled with performances at major events like Boomtown Fair and Boardmasters in August 2025, and Simple Things festival in November 2025, underscored Flowdan's evolution from UK grime pioneer to a versatile voice in international bass genres, broadening his audience beyond traditional scenes.[39][40][41] In late 2025, Flowdan announced his USA Debut Tour, scheduled for 2025 with tickets on sale from December 20.[42]Musical style and influences
Roots in jungle and grime
Flowdan's musical foundations were deeply embedded in the 1990s jungle and drum and bass scenes, which he encountered through exposure to London's pirate radio stations. Growing up in East London, he began MCing as a schoolboy, inspired by broadcasts on stations like Kool FM, where he was drawn to the energetic styles of MCs such as Stevie Hyper D, MC Det, and Navigator.[6] By the late 1990s, Flowdan had established himself as a jungle MC on pirate radio outlets including Rinse FM, honing his skills amid the genre's fast-paced rhythms and breakbeat-driven energy that pulsed through underground raves and illegal broadcasts.[14] As the millennium turned, Flowdan shifted toward UK garage, joining the collective Pay As U Go Cartel around 1999-2000, a group that blended speedy 2-step beats with MC-driven vocals in East London's club circuit.[43] This phase marked a transitional period for him, bridging the frenetic jungle sound with garage's more melodic, bass-heavy grooves. By 2001, alongside Wiley, Flowdan co-founded Roll Deep, pioneering grime as a darker, more urban evolution of these influences—characterized by stripped-back 140 BPM beats, aggressive basslines, and raw lyrical delivery that captured the intensity of inner-city life.[15] Grime emerged from East London's pirate radio ecosystem, where Flowdan's contributions helped solidify its gritty, confrontational edge as a distinct genre.[4] Caribbean sounds, particularly dancehall, profoundly shaped Flowdan's rhythmic approach and linguistic style, rooted in his family's heritage. His father, Gappy Crucial, was a reggae sound system pioneer, instilling an appreciation for Jamaican culture's emphasis on powerful bass, call-and-response MCing, and infectious riddims that echoed through UK pirate radio.[4] This influence manifested in Flowdan's incorporation of patois-infused phrasing and dancehall-derived flows, blending them with grime's structure to create a hybrid rude boy aesthetic that evoked Caribbean street energy.[4] The East London environment, particularly neighborhoods like Bow, Poplar, and Leyton, played a pivotal role in infusing Flowdan's work with grime's raw, street-level aesthetic. Emerging from areas such as the Lansbury Estate—a notorious hub for early grime activity—he drew from the socio-economic grit, multicultural tensions, and everyday urban struggles of these locales, channeling them into the genre's unpolished, confrontational sound.[4] This backdrop not only fueled Roll Deep's formation but also embedded a sense of authenticity and defiance in Flowdan's contributions, reflecting the unfiltered pulse of East End youth culture.[43]Vocal delivery and lyrical themes
Flowdan's vocal delivery is characterized by a deep, sonorous baritone that conveys a menacing and commanding presence, often likened to a piercing stare or growl that dominates dancefloors.[2][15] This timbre sets a stark contrast to the higher-pitched, rapid deliveries common among many early grime MCs, allowing Flowdan to project authority and intensity even in sparse lyrical arrangements.[44] His style draws from Jamaican sound system traditions, incorporating a smooth yet urgent flow that shifts between reggae's patient lilt and grime's scattergun aggression.[44] Lyrically, Flowdan employs heavy patois and East London slang, blending raw aggression with narrative storytelling to create vivid, immersive tales.[45] His content frequently explores themes of street life and urban struggles, depicting paranoid narratives of city survival and council estate hardships with bleak humor and unfiltered realism.[44] Resilience emerges as a core motif, reflecting personal triumphs over pain and adversity, while party energy infuses his work with calls to rave and embrace chaotic good times.[2] Social commentary on broader urban challenges is woven throughout, underscoring the socio-economic tensions of his Bow upbringing without overt preachiness.[15] Over his career, Flowdan's delivery has evolved from the rapid-fire, high-energy flows of his drum and bass and early grime roots to slower, bass-heavy cadences in later collaborations, emphasizing spaced-out menace and rhythmic patience.[44] This progression mirrors his genre-spanning versatility, adapting his commanding voice to dubstep's sub-bass depths and drum and bass's frenetic tempos while retaining a core of storytelling-driven aggression.[2] By the 2020s, his style had refined into a languorous yet high-tempo approach, as seen in tracks that prioritize crowd-inciting power over dense wordplay.[15]Discography
Solo albums and EPs
Flowdan's debut solo album, Original Dan, was released on October 19, 2009, via Eskibeat Recordings.[21] The project marked his shift from group dynamics in Roll Deep to individual expression, featuring collaborations with fellow grime artists such as Riko on tracks like "Just Me" and "Dis Side Bwoy," Badness on "Rise the Larma," and Killa P on "Vurderas" and "Still Deya."[46] Highlighted for its dancehall-infused grime sound, the album emphasized raw lyrical delivery over polished production, though critics noted occasional lapses in flow pacing and rhyme complexity.[47] In 2016, Flowdan issued his second studio album, Disaster Piece, on Tru Thoughts Records.[48] Produced by a range of contributors including The Bug and Teddy Music, the record showcased guest vocals from Animai on several tracks such as "Chosen," "Curtain Call," and "Groundhog," blending grime with dubstep and drum and bass elements.[49] Themes of resilience and urban struggle dominated, with foot-soldier metaphors underscoring Flowdan's dramatic style; reception praised its unflinching lyricism as timely amid grime's mainstream resurgence, though some found the supplementary vocals distracting.[50][51] Flowdan's third album, Full Metal Jacket, arrived on May 24, 2019, also through Tru Thoughts.[52] Conceptualized as a metaphor for survival in life's chaos—likening individuals to soldiers donning protective armor post-adversity—the release featured production from Zinc and others, with appearances by Irah on "Level," Frisco on "Boss," and Toddla T on "What We Do."[53][29] Key tracks like "Welcome to London" and "What We Do" highlighted his darkened grime aesthetic, earning acclaim for bridging veteran and newer scene voices while maintaining intense, character-driven narratives.[54] Complementing his full-lengths, Flowdan released two notable EPs as standalone projects. Serious Business, his debut EP, emerged on June 23, 2014, via Hyperdub, comprising four tracks with beats from producers Footsie ("Ambush"), The Bug ("People Power"), Masro ("F About"), and Coki ("No Gyal Tune").[22] The EP asserted his solo prowess through aggressive, no-frills grime, serving as a bridge between his early career and later maturity.[55] In 2018, One Shell Fits All followed on his own SpentShell label, featuring D Double E on "Move Up," GHS and Nasty Jack on "Blackout," and Meridian Dan on "Rudeboy," alongside the solo "Top Corner."[56] This digital-only release underscored themes of versatility and crew loyalty, positioning it as a concise showcase of his enduring MC skills.[57] Flowdan also released the EP Tramplezone on March 29, 2019, via SpentShell, featuring five tracks with producers like Audio Slugs and Filthy Gears, including collaborations on "Run Out" with GHSTLY XXVII and Discarda, and "Bars For Bars" with Lyrical Strally, emphasizing intense grime bars and underground energy.[58] Following the 2015 founding of SpentShell, Flowdan's solo output increasingly incorporated self-releases, allowing greater creative control and alignment with his evolving grime-dubstep hybrid style, as evident in the independent EP formats and direct artist distribution via platforms like Bandcamp. This pattern emphasized focused, thematic projects over expansive catalogs, prioritizing lyrical depth and production collaborations within the UK underground scene.Solo singles and featured appearances
Flowdan's solo singles and featured appearances demonstrate his versatility, bridging early grime energy with contemporary electronic and bass music collaborations. His contributions as a featured artist have often driven chart success, particularly in the 2020s, where cross-genre partnerships amplified his distinctive vocal style and lyrical prowess. An early breakthrough came with his feature on Lethal Bizzle's "Pow! (Forward)" in 2004, a raw grime rally track that peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and earned a MOBO Award for Best Single. In 2023, Flowdan featured on "Baddadan" by Chase & Status and Bou, alongside IRAH, Trigga, and Takura, blending dancehall rhythms with drum and bass; the track debuted at number 5 on the UK Singles Chart, spending 36 weeks in the Top 100, and was certified Gold by the BPI for 400,000 units.[59] Later that year, his collaboration with Skrillex and Fred again.. on "Rumble"—a high-energy dubstep-infused banger—reached number 19 on the UK Singles Chart over 10 weeks and received Silver certification from the BPI for 200,000 units; it also secured a Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording in 2024, marking Flowdan as the first UK grime MC to win in the category.[60][32] Flowdan's 2024 and 2025 releases further emphasized electronic crossovers. He featured on Fisher's tech house single "Boost Up," released in August 2024, which charted on the UK Official Singles Chart and topped club rankings worldwide.[61] In May 2025, "Hunter" with Subtronics delivered seismic bass drops and aggressive bars, reinforcing their prior chemistry in dubstep circles.[62] Shortly after, "Up Top" with NGHTMRE and Sully emerged as a high-octane EDM track, showcasing Flowdan's commanding presence over pulsating beats.[37] In June 2025, Flowdan appeared on White Pony's "Do It Like Me" alongside Riko Dan, a grime-dubstep track highlighting crew dynamics and energetic flows.[63] These singles and features illustrate a pattern of evolution: from gritty, collective grime anthems in the mid-2000s to platinum-potential, genre-blending hits in the 2020s that expanded grime's global reach through electronic partnerships.| Title | Year | Collaborators | UK Peak | Certification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Pow! (Forward)" | 2004 | Lethal Bizzle (feature) | 11 | - |
| "Baddadan" | 2023 | Chase & Status, Bou (feature) | 5 | Gold (BPI) |
| "Rumble" | 2023 | Skrillex, Fred again.. (feature) | 19 | Silver (BPI) |
| "Boost Up" | 2024 | Fisher (feature) | 18 | - |
| "Hunter" | 2025 | Subtronics (feature) | - | - |
| "Up Top" | 2025 | NGHTMRE, Sully (feature) | - | - |
| "Do It Like Me" | 2025 | White Pony, Riko Dan (feature) | - | - |