Professor Green is an english rapper from East London, currently signed to Virgin Records, after Mike Skinner's The Beats label closed, and ended a run of his own radio shows on BBC Radio 1. Having fortified his name storming through the hip-hop battle rap circuit, East London native Professor Green dropped his debut album on Mike Skinner's The Beats label (via Warner's). Growing up on the Northwold estate in Upper Clapton, Green's familial situation saw him being raised by his grandmother while he traded up school attendance for just hanging on the estate, like kids do. The Read All About It Songfacts reports that he had a turbulent relationship with his father, who was rarely around during Manderson's childhood and committed suicide in 2008. ...show more

Professor Green is an english rapper from East London, currently signed to Virgin Records, after Mike Skinner's The Beats label closed, and ended a run of his own radio shows on BBC Radio 1. Having fortified his name storming through the hip-hop battle rap circuit, East London native Professor Green dropped his debut album on Mike Skinner's The Beats label (via Warner's). Growing up on the Northwold estate in Upper Clapton, Green's familial situation saw him being raised by his grandmother while he traded up school attendance for just hanging on the estate, like kids do. The Read All About It Songfacts reports that he had a turbulent relationship with his father, who was rarely around during Manderson's childhood and committed suicide in 2008.

In his hit single, Read All About It, Green responds to accusations made by his stepmother that his debut album, Alive Till I'm Dead, was "cashing-in" on his death. While the usual nefarious stories of low budget living played a part in his life, Green's formative years were also characterised by fun: skating was big on the estate, etc. He also had an early inkling that the art of verbal sparring would somehow play a part in his life, confessing how, he always wanted to be a barrister or a lawyer. "I like debates and I've always been argumentative, I think that's helped me in battles a lot." However, while becoming obsessed with hip-hop at the age of nine "Biggie [The Notorious B.I.G.] is my greatest hip-hop influence", Green only switched up from passive fan to active participant at a relatively late stage.

After turning 18 years old, he coined his first rhyme completely off-the-cuff when put on the spot at an impromptu freestyle jam session round a friends house. Passing the test with aplomb and impressing his music making peers, the underground rap battle scene suddenly opened up before him. After seeing a poster advertising a rap battle at the Lyric Pad night in London, Green turned up and won. From that he graduated to competing at the prestigious Jump Off events, performing at venues like The Scala and Sound in Leicester Square, and becoming the first ever contestant to win six straight weekly finals in a row. ...show less