Ramz is no stranger to the GRM Channel – when the artist was a university student, he began submitting his tracks to our channel and slowly began building momentum and his fan base.
Fast forward a few years, the Mitcham-hailing artist has performed on main stages at festivals, broken our channel’s viewing records multiple times and has been in one of the fiercest chart battles of the modern-day streaming era.
To celebrate Ramz’ EP Blockbuster dropping, we look back and reflect on the commendable career heights that the young artist has achieved in such a short time.
The “Barking” mad success of his debut mainstream single
Suitably named “Throwback”, Ramz’ older tracks such as the aforementioned one can be found dotted around the GRM Channel but none of these tracks can compare to the success that was “Barking”. The infectiously catchy single spread its way through social media after performances at clubs and events including Notting Hill Carnival.
The official video premiered on the GRM Channel in September of 2017 and to say that the track blew up is an understatement. “Barking” played on every radio station, at every club and appeared in everyone’s Snapchat story worth watching.
The entire scene championed the young artist from south London and began campaigning for the track to achieve the coveted number one spot on the Official Singles Chart. Ramz was on track for the Christmas number one and even dropped a festive Mad About Bars freestyle to match the holiday spirit.
Ramz battled it out against Eminem and Drake for the number one spot and although he narrowly missed out, “Barking” put not only the East London area on the map, but the artist behind it on too as the next one to watch. “Barking” has since gone platinum and is currently at over 59 million views on YouTube.
Breaking records with his records
“Barking” catapulted Ramz to fame and he followed on with several tracks as he experimented with his sound and found his identity as an artist.
“Power” and “Movin” featuring Zion B are among his highlights but Ramz truly proved naysayers wrong when he dropped his second smash hit, “Family Tree”.
The original along with the remix featuring M.O. were instantaneous hits and the aspirational visuals along with the relatable chorus made Ramz again the frontman of a chart staple. “Family Tree” was the third most viewed video on our channel last year and is in our top ten most viewed videos of all time. Our most viewed video of all time is none other than Ramz’ debut track, “Barking”.
Award Nominations & Special Honours
As a thank you for putting their town on the map, the Barking and Dagenham borough honoured him with the Barking and Dagenham Borough Recognition Award.
At the time, the councillor for the area said, “We have given out the award because Ramz is inspiring a whole lot of young people in Barking and Dagenham. Culture is inspirational. We wanted to recognise Ramz because he deserves this recognition.”
Ramz was also nominated at our own award ceremony, the Rated Awards and the artist earned himself the coveted Brit Awards nomination of Best British Single; all before the release of an album, an honour many artists fight their whole career to achieve.
Headlining Shows & Honing His Craft
Ramz continues to mature and grow as an artist and continues to improve his skills as a live performer.
“Barking” brought the artist into mainstream stardom and catapulted him onto some of the biggest stages in the UK and the rest of Europe. The artist remained resilient and eager to improve in the midst of technical difficulties on a few occasions and rose above them to prove himself a devoted performer.
Ramz will now headline his first show in London next month; again, a superb achievement for such a young artist who is yet to release a full-length studio project.
Ramz Drops Debut EP ‘Blockbuster’
Ramz took a short hiatus that saw him adopt a dog, travel to Jamaica and regain focus. Ramz then finally announced that he would be releasing his debut EP, Blockbuster.
Housing eight tracks and featuring a collaboration with LD, Ramz is sure to prove himself as versatile and an artist with longevity with this project.
For some, Ramz was expected to fade after the success of “Barking” however Ramz refused to succumb to such fate and grafted to drop hit after hit; from “Barking” to “Family Tree” to “Hold You Down” and most recently, “Sunday”. We are sure that Blockbuster will position Ramz with several more hits that will continue to cement his success which stemmed from “Barking” and will continue beyond it.
Be sure to listen to Blockbuster right here.