A PROFILE ON MY ARTIST ALEC J.

1. Profile: Alec J
By Luke Collinson

2. Early life and career
• Alec Josiah didn’t have a particularly bright prospects; born in
the east end of London, no father figure and his ill mother
with bad (and worsening ) Parkinsons.
• He quickly got involved with gangs at the age of 13, however
this was short lived, Alec was viciously attacked at the age of
15 by 6 rival gang members.
• He ended up in intensive care for 2 week and stayed in the
hospital for a further 3 weeks.
• At the age of 16 his mother died and a devastated Alec moved
to live with his uncle in Manchester, however this was going
to be the beginning of his road to stardom.

3. Early life and career
(continued)
• With no friends, 3 GCSEs and little prospect of anything
meaningful in his new town; Alec began to spend his time
writing raps and recording them on his phone. He also spent
lots of his time revisiting his better times by listening to
Skepta.
• In 2010 still 16, but almost 17, he put on of his songs “where I
came from” on Facebook; it got 687 likes in the first week and
had over 1000 views.
• Several people encouraged him to make his own page where
he could upload songs regularly and build a following and so
he did.

4. • Over the next 3 and a bit years Alec continued to upload his
songs to Facebook and a YouTube channel he made, this
earned him enough money to move out of his uncle’s house
and get his own.
• At the age of 20 (2014) Alec was signed by DRM™ and
released his debut album “My Way”. It sold 100,000 in a year.
During the year Alec continued to release EPs all of which
were fairly successful.
• In the march of 2015 at the age of 21 Alec left DRM™ and with
his friend Levi Agbonso better known by his stage name
‘Young Money’ made his own label “south northward” under
which he now released his last album “Riches to Rags”
Early life and career
(continued 2)

5. Who are the people behind the scenes
of Alec J?
• Alec is in a group of people called ‘south
northward’ they are all rappers and
occasionally do songs together.
• He spends most of his time with them and
when on and goes on tour with them. His best
friend and co founder of the group ‘Young
money’ often does songs with Alec

6. How is he funded?
• When under DRM™ Alec was funded this way,
they payed his wage and funded any shows
and songs that he wanted to do.
• Now he has his own label he earns all his own
money with no on above him, Alec earns
much more in his group, but because he has
to pay for everything it doesn’t work out-
overall that much more.

7. Outfits
• Alec wears a big verity of clothes. When out
he is often seen wearing a tracksuit or jeans
and a polo shirt.
• His outfits are usually quite dark with one
element of brightness. He is known for often
wearing a green a green hoodie at his shows.
This green hoodie is from his own clothing
brand so when wearing it is almost a form of
advertising.

8. Fans
• Fans of Alec J are usually people from around
the age of 14 – 25.
• Of course it isn’t exclusive to males but his fan
base and crowd he gathers are predominantly
male.
• His fans are very lively and his shows are
usually full of jumping and mosh-pits, which
can get very rough sometimes.