Harlem Spartans facts for kids

Harlem Spartans, often abbreviated to HS, also known as Harlem O or simply Harlem, is a British hip hop collective based in Kennington, London. Members of Harlem Spartans have acquired over 100 million streams through their music. The name, "Harlem", is a nickname for their local area of Kennington. The police allege that Harlem Spartans is a gang, however this is denied by the group.

Harlem Spartans is affiliated with Walworth-based group Moscow17. Australian drill group Onefour cites Harlem Spartans as a major influence in their music. They are considered to be one of the pioneers of the UK drill scene.

History

Beginnings (2014–2018)

Harlem Spartans started making music in 2014, using a local youth centre as a music studio. Most artists within Harlem Spartans are from Kennington, with many of them attending Archbishop Tenison's School in Oval. Musically, like much of UK drill music, their music contains references to their local area, violence, references to beef with other groups, and is often riddled with slang.

The group is known for its beef with Brixton-based group 410. The beef has been expressed through various diss tracks, and has at times escalated to physical violence. 410 rapper AM released the song "Attempted 1.0" in 2018. The song contained many direct references to violence towards Harlem Spartans members. Skengdo & AM, members of 410, were later given a gang injunction from the police that banned them from entering Kennington or mentioning rival gangs in their music.

Rise to fame and success of Harlem Spartans (2018–present)

Prominent songs from the group include "Call Me a Spartan", "Kennington Where It Started", and Loski's songs "Cool Kid", "Hazards", and "Forrest Gump", the latter of which entered the charts. These songs combined have gained over 59 million views on YouTube, as of February 2022. In April 2018, Loski released his mixtape Call Me Loose.

Canadian artist Drake has publicly stated he is a 'fan' of Harlem Spartans, and has posted Harlem Spartan music lyrics onto his social media. In 2019, Drake appeared on-stage alongside Harlem Spartans member Loski. Drake credited Loski as an influence for his album Scorpion.

Current members

The list below includes confirmed members of Harlem Spartans. DJ Sparta is also known to DJ for the group.

Former members

• Bis (formerly YS) (deceased)
• Jmash
• SA (short for Splash Addict; also known as Latz) (deceased)

Legal issues

Imprisonment of MizOrMac

Mucktar Khan, better known by his stage name MizOrMac, was jailed following an incident in the early hours of February 15th 2017, when a taxi containing MizOrMac and fellow Harlem member Joshua Eduardo, better known as Blanco, was pulled over by armed police. The police searched the pair and found a loaded gun on Blanco and a samurai sword he had attempted to conceal in his trousers, additionally MizOrMac was wearing ballistic body armour and had a balaclava. On 9 February 2018, MizOrMac was convicted of possession of a firearm and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place and sentenced to six years in prison. His co defendant Blanco was sentenced to 3 and a half years. On 11 December 2020, he announced via Twitter that he'd been recalled for an undisclosed amount of time.

Imprisonment of Loski

In 2015, Loski was sentenced to prison after being found in possession of a knife. In 2018 he was caught in possession of a firearm. On 25 July Loski was recalled back into prison. Due to lack of evidence, his case was dropped and he was released some time later.

Discography

Mixtapes

• TG Millian - The Mixtape: Episode 1