Blade is probably as close as you can get to a UK Hip Hop godfather. He is one of the very few artists who was around to break the new style of music in this country and still be around today doing the same thing that he loves - producing music. He has been putting out records on his own 691 Influential records label for nearly 15 years now, some of which have become seminal moments in UK Hip Hop. Blade has a great deal of personal experience to draw upon. I have heard all sorts of stories relating to where he originally comes from including that he's Kazakstani and whole manner of other things. According to his new press release he is Iranian, but moved to India at age 3 and at age 7 came to the UK for his education. Since day one he has been heavily involved in Hip Hop originally by becoming a top rated beatboxer, only later focussing on writing and rapping lyrics.