To Jamal Edwards, A Trailblazer of UK Music

A pioneer with his SBTV platform, Edwards dared to dream and nurtured a generation of talent that would change the face of popular music.

Jamal Edwards, 1990-2022

When Jamal Edwards picked up the camera his mother bought him for Christmas at age 15, he’d unwillingly lit a match that would spark the UK black music scene into life.

A music head through and through and a would-be rapper in his own right under the name of Smokey Bars, the Luton-born, Acton-raised music and media entrepreneur, director, DJ and philanthropist who sadly passed away this week at the tender age of 31, cared about uplifting the voices on the fringes of society, the musicians with dreams that lacked an avenue to let their skills shine. Repurposing his rap moniker, he breathed life into SBTV in 2006, the YouTube channel that would launch the careers of everyone from Dave and Ed Sheeran to Stormzy and Emeli Sande. As the UK scene has grown in stature in the following years since, it walks on a road paved, in no small part, to the efforts of Edwards.

By 2006, four years removed from grime’s inception, the sound had permeated British shores, fortified by the success of first generations such as Dizzee Rascal, Kano and Wiley. As the digital age loomed with the birth of social media, the sound had meandered into a new, online terrain, where fans congregated to share music and where the next cohort of artists would rise. Edwards was forward-thinking; filming his friends rapping around the council estate in which he grew up, he saw the value of presenting these grainy visuals to serve the next slice of talent to fans. “Ten years ago, there wasn’t anything online I could find that covered the artists I wanted to film,” he told The Guardian in 2017. “They weren’t being represented in mainstream media or platforms; I saw a gap in the market and wanted to fill it.”

With his new platform, Edwards went to work, travelling up and down the country to film freestyles and direct music videos under the SB banner.  Through SB, we saw UK Rap stars Krept & Konan’s first freestyle, Giggs and Skepta’s immortal collaboration ‘Look Out,’ a young Ed Sheeran strumming his guitar and the birth of ‘F64,’ the jewel in the crown which gave Dave, Stormzy and countless others the room to flex their lyrical muscle. It was official: SB had taken over the streets and anyone who was anyone, across Grime, Hip Hop and R&B, had a video on the channel, changing their fortunes from that moment on. “That to me is the most important thing,” he said in an interview. “Because that’s what I got into it for, being able to help get these artists to the next level.” From these online confines, these stars have reached the heady heights of number one songs and albums, multiple awards and worldwide acclaim.

This grassroots approach would prove incredibly successful and SBTV now stands strong at 1.2 million subscribers on YouTube, over one billion views across the channel and, as of 2013, a company valuation of £8 million. With this foundation, prominent digital platforms such as GRM Daily, Link Up TV and Mixtape Madness have since followed the SBTV blueprint to great success, thanks to the doors Edwards kicked open. By 2014, Edwards had reached a pinnacle, receiving an MBE while digging deep into his philanthropic work, including funding youth centres and his work with The Prince’s Trust charity founded by The Prince of Wales.

Approachable, forward-thinking and eternally helpful to those around him, Edwards meant so much to so many and, as such, the wider music world, from Dave to AJ Tracey, has poured endless tributes to him. MOBO Awards founder Kanya King’s words hold significant poignancy, perfectly capturing his essence: “Jamal was passionate about pushing his scene and culture and that’s what made him so special. When it came to what he wanted to achieve for his community and culture, he set the bar high and never missed it.”

Jamal Edwards was a man of the people, a visionary at a time when UK music and culture was shifting who picked up his camera to document it all. If anything, his legacy lives on in the artists, directors, producers, writers and creatives who have scaled heights unfathomable before he arrived, existing in spaces previously closed off, both in and out of music. That, if anything, is the truest reflection of a true pioneer.