# N-Dubz
**N-Dubz** are a British hip hop and pop trio from [Camden Town](https://www.edgepedia.org/camden-town), London, made up of Dappy (Costadinos Contostavlos, born 1987), his cousin Tulisa (Tula Paulinea Contostavlos, born 1988), and Fazer (Richard Rawson, born 1987). Formed in 2000, the group rose from pirate-radio singles and Channel U music videos to three platinum-selling albums, a UK number-one single with [Tinchy Stryder](https://www.edgepedia.org/tinchy-stryder), and four [MOBO Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/mobo-awards), before an 11-year hiatus and a comeback that produced the 2023 album *Timeless*.[1](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/) • [2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/n-dubz-mn0001072817) • [3](https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/london-miles-kane-mobo-awards-ndubz-brit-award-b2386184.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Members | Dappy (rapper, singer, songwriter), Tulisa (singer), Fazer (rapper and DJ); all born in Camden, London[1](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/) |
| Name | A contraction of the Camden postcode NW1; earlier names were the Lickle Rinsers Crew and NW1[4](https://researchportal.northumbria.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/3004624/Sound%20of%20Street%20Corner%20Society%20Main%20Document.pdf) • [1](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/) |
| Biggest hit | "Number 1" with Tinchy Stryder, 3 weeks at UK number 1 in 2009[1](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/) |
| Albums | *Uncle B* (2008, No. 11), *Against All Odds* (2009, No. 6), *Love.Live.Life* (2010, No. 7), *Greatest Hits* (2011, No. 10), *Timeless* (2023, No. 6)[1](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/) |
| Awards | MOBO Best UK Newcomer 2007; four MOBO Awards in total, plus a Brit Award nomination[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/n-dubz-mn0001072817) • [3](https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/london-miles-kane-mobo-awards-ndubz-brit-award-b2386184.html) |
| Chart totals | 1 UK number-1 single, 4 top-10 singles, 13 top-40 singles; 4 top-10 albums, none at number 1[1](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/) |
| Hiatus and return | Final show September 2011; reunion tour in 2022 and the album *Timeless* in 2023 under a global EMI deal[1](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/) • [3](https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/london-miles-kane-mobo-awards-ndubz-brit-award-b2386184.html) |
## Formation and early years
The three members met as schoolmates in Camden Town. Dappy's father, Byron Contostavlos, a former member of the 1970s band [Mungo Jerry](https://www.edgepedia.org/mungo-jerry), brought them together as a kind of unorthodox after-school club, anxious to keep his son, his niece, and his son's best friend from straying onto the wrong path; all three had childhoods marked by financial hardship, gang culture, violence, and parental illness.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/n-dubz-mn0001072817) • [5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/n-dubz-interview-dappy-tulisa-fazer-b2358339.html) According to a Guardian interview with Tulisa, her uncle offered the 13-year-old £20 to join the boys.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/aug/02/tulisa-contostavlos-fake-sheikh-simon-hattenstone)
The group began recording as the **Lickle Rinsers Crew**, releasing underground tracks such as "Bad Man Riddim" and "Life Is Getting Sicker by the Day" intended for pirate radio play, then renamed themselves NW1 after their postcode and finally N-Dubz.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/n-dubz-mn0001072817) • [4](https://researchportal.northumbria.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/3004624/Sound%20of%20Street%20Corner%20Society%20Main%20Document.pdf) Their first music video, for "Everyday of My Life" in 2005, received airplay on Channel U, the satellite station that gave grime (fast, gritty London-born rap/electronic genre from early 2000s) and UK rap a national platform, and the success of the "Better Not Waste My Time" video on the channel helped win them a major-label signing.[7](https://artsandculture.google.com/story/aQWBH9Vurir1Kw) Byron Contostavlos managed the group until his death in 2007, shortly before their career took off.[8](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/my-fantasy-band-dappy-ndubz-1655014.html) • [5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/n-dubz-interview-dappy-tulisa-fazer-b2358339.html)
## Breakthrough: Uncle B
In 2007 the group won the MOBO Award for Best UK Newcomer and signed briefly to Polydor, whose re-release of "You Better Not Waste My Time" became their first Top 50 hit at number 26.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/n-dubz-mn0001072817) • [1](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/) In late 2008 they signed with the dance label All Around the World and released their full-length debut, *Uncle B*, named in tribute to Byron.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/n-dubz-mn0001072817) • [8](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/my-fantasy-band-dappy-ndubz-1655014.html)
The album and its lead single "Ouch" were both commercial successes, charting at numbers 11 and 22 respectively on the UK charts; *Uncle B* went on to spend 52 weeks in the top 100.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/n-dubz-mn0001072817) • [1](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/) Follow-up singles "Papa Can You Hear Me?" and "Strong Again" also charted, and the trio won MOBO Awards for Best UK Act and Best Album.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/n-dubz-mn0001072817) A Guardian review noted that tireless school tours had built them a significant fanbase, and that their call-and-response tracks, such as "N-Dubz Vs NAA", played out like stage productions.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/nov/14/n-dubz-uncle-b-review)
## Peak years, 2009 to 2011
The second album, *Against All Odds*, arrived just 12 months after the first and reached number 6, with production from Fazer and Dappy and features from Wiley, Tinchy Stryder, and [Mr Hudson](https://www.edgepedia.org/mr-hudson).[1](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/) • [2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/n-dubz-mn0001072817) The Mr Hudson collaboration "Playing with Fire" won the group their fourth MOBO, for Best Song.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/n-dubz-mn0001072817) In May 2009 the trio featured on Tinchy Stryder's "Number 1", which spent 3 weeks at the top of the UK singles chart and 38 weeks in the top 100.[1](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/)
Their sound blended hip-hop, grime, R&B, and pop choruses, with melodramatic, call-and-response lyrics about teenage relationships, and reviewers noted the contrast between the slick pop production and the gritty subject matter of songs about unwanted pregnancy, unfaithful partners, and urban life.[10](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/apr/21/ndubz-review-o2) • [11](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-ndubz-against-all-odds-universal-1825788.html) The live show borrowed showmanship from American R&B stars, with costume changes, dry ice, and singalong crowds.[12](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/ndubz-shepherd-s-bush-empire-london-1840849.html) A third album, *Love.Live.Life* (All Around the World/Island), followed in late 2010 and reached number 7, containing the top-10 hits "We Dance On" and "Best Behaviour".[1](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/) • [2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/n-dubz-mn0001072817)
## Hiatus and solo careers
The group played their final show in September 2011, and the compilation *Greatest Hits* followed that December, peaking at number 10.[1](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/) Each member then pursued solo work: Tulisa became a judge on the 2011 series of *The X Factor*, a role that, as one review put it, left her profile dwarfing those of her bandmates, while Dappy launched a solo career.[1](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/) • [13](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-ndubz-greatest-hits-universal-island-6268367.html)
## Comeback
After an 11-year hiatus broken by a string of reunion gigs in 2022, the trio returned with the single "Charmer", which peaked at number 32 on the UK singles chart.[3](https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/london-miles-kane-mobo-awards-ndubz-brit-award-b2386184.html) • [1](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/) Tulisa told The Independent in 2023 that "we never call it a reunion, we call it a comeback", and that she had done "the most amount of ass-kicking" to get everyone back into the studio.[5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/n-dubz-interview-dappy-tulisa-fazer-b2358339.html)
In August 2023, on a global record deal with EMI, they released *Timeless*, their first new album in 13 years, which peaked at number 6 on the UK albums chart.[3](https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/london-miles-kane-mobo-awards-ndubz-brit-award-b2386184.html) • [1](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/) The album shows more mature songwriting, with topics including mental health and unhealthy relationships, while keeping the trademark style: the single "February" tells of a relationship gone wrong, "The Ick" mocks people who brag about their wealth, and "London" is an ode to their home city.[3](https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/london-miles-kane-mobo-awards-ndubz-brit-award-b2386184.html)
## Place in British pop
Commentators have placed N-Dubz within the late-2000s wave of London-based urban acts that carried grime and UK rap into the pop mainstream, alongside [Dizzee Rascal](https://www.edgepedia.org/dizzee-rascal), Tinchy Stryder, and Chipmunk.[14](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/nov/01/ndubz-dappy-tinchy-taio) Academic writing on grime describes them as more chart-friendly than most grime artists while still rooted in council-estate London, their name a play on the NW1 Camden postcode.[4](https://researchportal.northumbria.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/3004624/Sound%20of%20Street%20Corner%20Society%20Main%20Document.pdf) Their blend of hip-hop, garage, R&B, and pop, with soap-opera narratives delivered in call-and-response, made them, in the band's own words, "an anomaly that beat the system".[5](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/n-dubz-interview-dappy-tulisa-fazer-b2358339.html)
## References
1. [N-DUBZ songs and albums, full Official Chart history, Official Charts Company](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2283/n-dubz/)
2. [N-Dubz Biography by Jason Birchmeier, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/n-dubz-mn0001072817)
3. [N-Dubz cement comeback with first new album in 13 years, The Independent (PA), 2 August 2023](https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/london-miles-kane-mobo-awards-ndubz-brit-award-b2386184.html)
4. [The Sound of Street Corner Society: British Hip Hop, Garage and Grime as Ethnography, Northumbria University Research Portal](https://researchportal.northumbria.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/3004624/Sound%20of%20Street%20Corner%20Society%20Main%20Document.pdf)
5. [N-Dubz interview: 'We're still young… we look good, we sexy, we here baby!', The Independent, 16 June 2023](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/n-dubz-interview-dappy-tulisa-fazer-b2358339.html)
6. [The Fake Sheikh and me: Tulisa talks, The Guardian, 2 August 2014](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/aug/02/tulisa-contostavlos-fake-sheikh-simon-hattenstone)
7. [In Celebration of Channel U, Google Arts & Culture](https://artsandculture.google.com/story/aQWBH9Vurir1Kw)
8. [My Fantasy Band – Dappy, N-Dubz, The Independent, 27 March 2009](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/my-fantasy-band-dappy-ndubz-1655014.html)
9. [Urban review: N-Dubz, Uncle B, The Guardian, 13 November 2008](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/nov/14/n-dubz-uncle-b-review)
10. [N-Dubz review, O2 Empire, London, The Guardian, 21 April 2009](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/apr/21/ndubz-review-o2)
11. [Album: N-Dubz, Against All Odds (Universal), The Independent, 21 November 2009](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-ndubz-against-all-odds-universal-1825788.html)
12. [N-Dubz, Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, The Independent, 14 December 2009](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/ndubz-shepherd-s-bush-empire-london-1840849.html)
13. [Album: N-Dubz, Greatest Hits (Universal/Island), The Independent, 27 November 2011](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-ndubz-greatest-hits-universal-island-6268367.html)
14. [N-Dubz and the second coming of Brit pop, The Guardian, 1 November 2009](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/nov/01/ndubz-dappy-tinchy-taio)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Ensembles and groups › Rock, pop, and metal bands › Rock, indie, and pop groups › Indie and alternative bands*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license