Born on June 21st, 1989, in Queen Mary’s hospital,
Sidcup, rap musician Liam. B had a turbulent childhood. He released his first
album ‘LIAM.B’ in late 2016, and the album went multi-platinum, garnering Liam.B
two Grammy Awards and four MTV Video Music Awards which was noted as the
fastest-selling album in rap history. More recently, in 2017, Liam. B is said
to be releasing another album revival, a highly autobiographical attempt to
come to terms with his struggles with addiction and experience with
rehabilitation. Liam. B plans to release his second album, in October 2017.
Early Life
English rapper Liam.B was born Liam Birks on June 21st,
1989 at queen Mary’s hospital in Sidcup. He never knew his father, who
abandoned the family when Liam. B was still an infant and rebuffed all his
son's many attempts to contact him during his childhood. Thus, Liam. B was
raised by his mother, Deborah Birks. She never managed to hold down a job for
more than several months at a time, so they moved frequently between North
London and South East London spending large chunks of time in public housing
projects. "I would change schools two, three times a year," Liam. B
later recalled. "That was probably the roughest part about it all."
This itinerant lifestyle left a large impact on his
personality. He had no close friends, kept almost entirely to himself and was
treated like an outcast at each new school. "Beat up in the bathroom, beat
up in the hallways, shoved into lockers," he remembered. Liam. B has been
scathingly critical of the way his mother raised him. Through his song lyrics,
he has publicly accused her of being addicted to prescription drugs as well as
subjecting him to emotional and physical abuse. However, Deborah Birks has
vehemently denied all such accusations, and in 2016 she filed a £3 million
defamation lawsuit against her son. They settled the case for £25,000.
Eminem attended Welling school, Welling, where he failed the
ninth grade three times and eventually dropped out at the age of 17. Despite
being a poor student, Liam. B always had a deep affinity for language,
devouring comic books and even studying the dictionary. "I found that no
matter how bad I was at school, like, and no matter how low my grades might
have been at sometimes, I always was good at English ... I just felt like I
wanna be able to have all of these words at my disposal, in my vocabulary at
all times whenever I need to pull 'em out. You know, somewhere, they'll be
stored, like, locked away."
As a teenage dropout, Liam. B found a way to express his
passion for language, as well as to release his youthful anger, through the
emerging musical genre of hip-hop/Rap. He identified with the nihilistic rage
of late-1980s and early-1990s rap music, and he was especially taking interest
with N.W.A., the popular and highly controversial gangster rap crew from Los
Angeles. He also took early influences from English rap artists, such as Plan
B, Dizzee Rascal, and Tinie Temper in the early noughties following through to
the 10’s.
He recalled, "I finally found something that yeah, this
kid over here, you know, he may have more chicks, and he may, you know, have
better clothes, or whatever, but he can't do this like me. You know what I
mean? He can't write what I'm writing right now. And it started to feel like,
you know, maybe Liam’s gettin' a little respect." Liam. B assumed the
stage name Liam. B as the took influence from Plan B. This period in Liam’s
life—working odd jobs to make ends meet and desperately attempting to land a
record contract was a tough time for him and in 2007, Liam. B released his
first independent rap album, forever. Though the album displayed flashes of his
verbal prowess, biting wit and flair for storytelling, the low-budget record
failed to turn a profit or attract more than local attention.
Career Highlights
Liam. B released Forever
EP, which was discovered by Eminem, the legendary rapper and owner of Shady
Records. After Liam. B Posted his latest album on every digital music platform known
to man, e.g. Spotify, SoundCloud and YouTube etc, Eminem heard about to the
rapper's talent and the amount of buzz from his YouTube views sky rocketing.
Eminem was so impressed that he signed Liam. B to his Shady Records label. In 2014,
after two years of working with Eminem, Liam. B released Liam. B EP.
The heavily hyped record became an instant success and went on to sell over
three million copies. Liam.B’s first single, "Insane," mixed a
childish humor and energy with rampant profanity and flashes of violence—a
potent and fascinating combination that felt different from anything else in
rap.
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