Tion Wayne might be a newcomer to the pop charts, but the north London rapper’s current golden streak is the result of a decade of striving.
You can still find him on YouTube from 2010 performing Edmonton, praising his home and the toughness of its residents in grainy footage. By 2015 he was living a shinier life, posing in a Lamborghini while the uplifting synths of Can’t Go Broke rang out. Now he’s on Instagram sitting in a Rolls-Royce.
Since the start of last year he appeared on three top 10 hits as a guest with others – NSG’s Options, Keisha & Becky with Russ and the KSI track Houdini – and now he’s finally arrived at the top of the bill with I Dunno, which hit number seven last week. It’s no small feat to have your name in front of Stormzy’s on a track, even if the big man’s verse stole most of the attention while the internet speculated about who he’s tetchily addressing while he stresses again his greatness.
But Wayne is an attraction in his own right, as a quick sellout of Brixton Academy last autumn showed. After a longer run-up than most, his time is now.
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