Phew what a scorcher! Singer goes from rags to rap in Pounds 1

0 Comments | Evening Standard; London (UK), Jul 27, 2010 | by Alistair Foster

P DIDDY worked in the music industry for seven years before launching his own clothing line Sean John, and Jay-Z was already famous when he set up Rocawear.

But an up-andcoming London rapper has gone about things the opposite way around to his US contemporaries. Tayo Jarrett, who goes by the stage name of Scorcher, already has his own clothing and video production companies despite the fact that he is yet to release his first single.

Fame now beckons for the 24-yearold entrepreneur from Enfield after he signed a Pounds 1 million deal with record giant Geffen.

Scorcher managed to garner an impressive fanbase for an unsigned act, with his self-produced videos on YouTube attracting more than two million views.

He said: “When I was making my first music video, I was deciding what I was going to wear. But I didn’t want to wear anyone else, and I thought, ‘Stuff it, I’m going to make my own’. I started designing pieces and I haven’t stopped.”

Scorcher sells his designs under the name Skywalker, another of his aliases which was his nickname as a child.

His production company, Staple House, has worked with fellow artists Chipmunk, Wiley and Bashy and came about in similar circumstances.

The rapper added: “I hired a director for my first video and I didn’t really like what was going on.

“I ended up directing it. I did a lot of research and reading, put my money where my mouth was and just did it.

“That’s how the production company came about
clothes line