Switchy B
Biography
Switchy B (real name Omar Cofie) is a grime and RnB artist from Bletchley, Milton Keynes.Switchy B focuses mainly on RnB music but is also a keen Grime artist. He currently is working on a number of solo projects but is known to be slowly building up a crew known as Showerface Camp, a collective of artists from Lincoln University where he is studying Sports Development. He began slowly gaining nationwide recognition for his grime single Trouble Boi, a Myspace exclusive that saw him receive numerous show bookings in Lincoln, Nottingham and Leeds. He is known for never having made any money from CD sales, only from shows and performances as he believes he is not at a stage where he can charge people to listen to him, so he gives his CD's out for free. In 2007, Switchy was nominated for Best Male Artist by the http://www.glasswerk.co.uk/index2.php?db=national&page=news,article&id=3101 Glasswerk New Music Awards, but the award went to Indie artist Karim Fanous.
Born on February 12, 1987, Switchy had been a keen performer from an early age, playing lead roles in school plays in primary and secondary school. He studied Performing Arts at A-Level at Walton High and while he received A's and B grades for his practical work, his theory work lead him to fail the course. Switchy is also talented basketball player, currently playing for the Lincoln University first team known as, the Lincoln Lakers. While at Walton High he was the won basketball Player of the Year more than anybody in the schools history (3 times, 2003, 2004 and 2005), won the Bletchley Lions Player of the Year award in 2004 and was the Lincoln Lakers Personality of the Year in 2007. He also played for the BBL side Milton Keynes Lions from Under 14's to Under 18's as well as representing Buckinghamshire at the 2000 Millenium Youth Games.
Switchy is also known to be a fan of Chipmunk, Skepta, JME, and Griminal.
Career
January 2006 - September 2006
Switchy B started his music career at the age of 18 after he missed out on a basketball scholarship at Worcester University after an unsucessful trial. He began by remixing songs such as Marvin Gaye's [...] Healing and doing his own version of Tinie Tempah's Wifey Riddim and it was these two songs that established him as artist at Lincoln University. The sound quality of these songs, however, was poor due to the fact he was recording on his laptop and had no mix down experience. In the summer of 2006 he released the Switcher In The Picture EP at Lincoln University and while his [...] Healing Remix and Wifey Riddim were recognised as successful songs, the EP was rather average, especially in comparison of what was to come.
- Trivia: Switchy B's Wifey Riddim was still allegedly being played in club in Mansfield at the back end of 2006.
October 2006 - August 2007
2006 saw Switchy peform his first stage shows. He began at Pulse Nightclub when Chris Fountain (who plays Justin Burton in the Channel 4 show, Hollyoaks) made an appearance. Fountain began beatboxing and then the DJ called Switchy to the booth. Switchy then began freestyling to Fountain's beatboxing and the crowd gave an extremely positive reaction. It was the first time Switchy had really been exposed to Lincoln and Lincoln University and it generated a hype which Switchy has since built on massively. He next made an appearance at Revolution Nightclub performing 'Wifey Riddim' along with his next single 'What Is Your Problem?'. This was also the first time Lincoln was introduced to Treakz who was an MC from South London who had just joined Lincoln University. Again Switchy received a favourable reception and this lead to him being asked to perform at two of Lincoln's Black History Month celebrations. After the Black History Month shows Switchy began to take more of a back seat to focus on his university education. During this time Switchy released his first mixtape 'Are You Listening'. This showcased Switchy's all-round talent, generating hits such as 'Promise Remix' and, most notably, 'Trouble Boi'. The hype that Trouble Boi generated lead to Switchy recieving his first booking outside Lincoln. He performed at Time & Diva in Newark, becoming a crowd favourite and returning on regular occasions as well as doing a show in Castleford. During this time Switchy also appeared numerous times on Lincoln University's Siren Radio station.
September 2007 - December 2007
Widely regarded as Switchy's most sucessful period to date. September saw Switchy nominated for Best Male Artist at the http://www.glasswerk.co.uk/index2.php?db=national&page=news,article&id=3101 Glasswerk New Music Awards. After this nomination he cancelled the forthcoming mixtape 'Are You Listening Volume 2' and began on a new project deciding he was now ready to step into a music studio for the first time in his career. To celebrate this step up, he named the new mixtape, 'Just Come From Studio. Prior to this he release another RnB track called 'Prince To The Ladies' which was on his Myspace page for 3 months. The first tracks he recorded for the new mixtape where 'Jezzy', 'Do You Know' (both produced by F-Tizzle of Imp Batch) and 'Trouble Boi 2007' which is essentially Trouble Boi with a new beat, one less verse and a new final verse. These were released as the promotional EP (Trouble Boi EP) which has regained and built up Switchy's reputation further. In October 2007 Switchy failed to win the Best Male Artist award but undeterred by this he carried on writing new material for the mixtape. Arguably his defining moment to date was in November 2007 when he supported Skinnyman and L Dot Man on Skinnyman's Smoking Ban tour when it reached Hull. Again, Switchy performed Trouble Boi (incidentally, the first time it had been heard outside of the studio) and he put in his best performance to date, receive three wheel ups. In November 2007, even Skepta managed to find time to show his support for the MC, leaving a positive comment on Switchy's Myspace, and hyping up the Trouble Boi tune.
January 2008
Switchy is still working on 'Just Come From Studio' and while he set a January 30 release date, it is understood that he will confirm that the mixtape will be pushed back to February. He is also set to release a number of 'hood' videos for Youtube, Myspace and Facebook as well as official music videos for 'Trouble Boi', 'Real Love', 'Do You Know', and 'Jezzy'.
Releases
Mixtapes & EP's
- Switcher In The Picture(2006) (EP)
- Wifey Season (2007)(EP)
- Are You Listening Vol. 1 (2007)(Mixtape)
- Trouble Boi EP (2007)(EP)
Myspace Releases
- Trouble Boi EP (2007)(EP)
Forthcoming Mixtapes/Albums
- Just Come From Studio (2008) (Mixtapes)
Collaborations
Features
The following are artists who have featured or are in the process of featuring on Switchy B songs.
- Treakz (Feeling You & Paper Chasers)
- Kaylea ('I'm Leaving You)
- Tyrone Huntley (Choosing You & Real Love)
- DSouth (Paper Chasers)
- Twisted (Dont Make Me Switch)
- Reflex (Dont Make Me Switch)
Vocals
The following are producers who have worked with, or are in the process of working with Switchy B.
- F-Tizzle (10 Tracks including 'Do You Know')
- Sketch (Closer)
- Treakz (Real Love)
- S.K.I.T.Z. Beats (Not The Only One)
- KAZe (Favouring You)
- S Dot Beatz (R U Dumb?)
- Lyrical Boi (My Diary)
- Olay (Goonish Freestyle)