Jordan Stephens

Jordan David Stephens (born 25 January 1992) is a musician, actor, and presenter.

He is best known for being one half of Rizzle Kicks, and for presenting the ITV2 panel show Don't Hate the Playaz.

Born in Neasden to Herman Stephens and Emma Boulting, Stephens met Harley Alexander-Sule when he was four, with whom he founded Rizzle Kicks, which released eight UK Singles Chart and two UK Albums Chart entries.

He has also released solo music under the aliases "Rizzle", "Wildhood", "Al, the Native", "Gnarly Ventura", and "Jordan Stephens".

As an actor, he has appeared in the TV series Glue, Uncle, Drunk History, Catastrophe, Feel Good and the films Alleycats, Access All Areas, Rogue One, Teen Spirit, Tucked, and The Ex-Wife, and as himself, he has appeared in several unscripted reality shows, including Don't Hate the Playaz, which he presents.

Stephens was born Jordan David Stephens on 25 January 1992 to Herman Stephens and Emma Boulting, the granddaughter of John Boulting, though has claimed to use the middle initial F. He grew up in a council estate in Neasden, before moving to Brighton when he was ten, where he attended Blatchington Mill School.

He met Harley Alexander-Sule when he was four, lost contact, and met him again when he was eleven whilst at a Sunday league football match.

They both attended the same Hip Hop Foundation project at AudioActive, a Brighton-based charity, and both attended BRIT School, with Stephens taking broadcasting and digital communication; he told a September 2022 The Guardian article that he took the subject after being advised by the principal that the entry standard for music was such that those that did not play at least two instruments need not apply.

He and Alexander-Sule formed Rizzle Kicks in 2008 after Stephens asked Alexander-Sule to sing on his mixtape 'Minor Breaches of Discipline'; Stephens had acquired the nickname "Green Rizla" at school after being accused of being part of a crew with that name, with that nickname later evolving into "Rizzle", and the "Kicks" part of the name coming from them both having just played a game of football.

Stephens used the alias "Rizzle" when featuring on Hint's 2008 album Driven from Distraction on "Muddled Morning".

Between 2011 and 2014, Rizzle Kicks released eight singles that entered the UK Singles Chart (Down with the Trumpets, Heart Skips a Beat, When I Was a Youngster, Mama Do the Hump, Traveller's Chant, Lost Generation, Skip to the Good Bit and Tell Her), and two albums that entered the UK Albums Chart (Stereo Typical and Roaring 20s).

Stephens has released solo music under his own name and others, having used the pseudonyms "J Steezy", "Rizzle", "Wildhood", "Gnarly Ventura", and "Al, the Native".

As "Gnarly Ventura", he featured on "Check" by Mikill Pane in 2013.

The following year, he featured on the remix of Meridian Dan's German Whip, which was released on 13 April, and for which Stephens was credited as Rizzle Kicks.

On 15 November 2013, he appeared on 8 Out of 10 Cats; he would make two subsequent appearances on 4 July 2017 and 28 January 2020.

On 2 January 2014, he appeared on Celebrity Mastermind, taking the life and times of Ross Geller; he came third.

Later that year, Stephens played Rob in the E4 drama series Glue; its cast promoted the show with a 26 September 2014 appearance on Chatty Man.

In February 2015, he appeared in Uncle as Hugo, a sound engineer.

As "Wildhood", he released the 2015 singles "Double Dark" on 8 July and "Psycho Jam" on 30 October, both of which featured on his extended play Vert on 16 March 2016.

On 26 February 2016, under his own name, he appeared on Mikill Pane's album track "Hold My Crown" featuring Doc Brown, from "Let MC It".

In July 2016, Stephens uploaded "SLBK" featuring Thunderbird Gerard to his Facebook page; its music video was compiled from old home recordings and footage taken at a Black Lives Matter march he attended earlier that month.

The following October, he released the music video "Whole" in 2016, which was used to front the NHS-YMCA collaboration Whole.

On 21 February 2016, he appeared on Let's Play Darts; he lost to Greg Davies.

That April, he appeared as a Norman soldier in Drunk History, and that June, he appeared in Alleycats.

In December 2016, Stephens appeared as Corporal Tonc, a Rebel soldier in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, on 29 December 2016, he appeared on Robot Wars; his robot Dee, a pink axlebot made in collaboration with the Terrorhurtz drivers, lost two of its fights by knockout but won the third by a split decision.

As "Al, the Native", he featured on 7 April 2017's "Drumroll Please" by The Last Skeptik featuring Scrufizzer, Mikill Pane and Dream Mclean; The following year, that alias released "The System" on 16 February, "Light of Day" featuring Dizraeli and Manifest on 20 April, "Animals" on 18 May, and "Funfair" on 30 November.

On 17 January 2017, he appeared on Virtually Famous, and in March 2017, he appeared as Rafe in Catastrophe.

On 30 June 2017, he appeared in Access All Areas.

In August and September 2017, he appeared in three episodes of Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls.

In 2018, Stephens appeared on a 12 January episode of Would I Lie to You?, a 5 May episode of Harry Hill's Alien Fun Capsule, and five episodes of House of Games broadcast between 28 May and 1 June.

In August and September 2018, Stephens appeared in BBC Two's "Eight Go Rallying: The Road to Saigon".

On 7 September 2018, Stephens played Rollo in Teen Spirit at the Toronto International Film Festival; the film saw theatrical release the following April.

On 11 October 2018, Stephens began presenting Don't Hate the Playaz, an ITV2 panel show which on first broadcast drew comparisons with Never Mind the Buzzcocks, on which Stephens had twice appeared as half of Rizzle Kicks; first in December 2011 as guests, and then on 4 November 2013 as hosts on an episode infamous for Huey Morgan losing his temper and throwing his coffee mug at the table.

The following day, he appeared on Any Questions' seventieth anniversary edition.

On 8 November 2018, he appeared on an episode of Celebrity Juice.

Under his own name, he released the singles "FOUND IN SPACE" on 20 September 2019 and "SHADOW LOVE" on 4 October 2019, both of which later appeared on his 25 October 2019 extended play "P.I.G."

(Pain Is Good ).

He then released the singles "Son Of A Gun" on 28 May 2020, "Sunshine Skin" on 16 July 2020, "Wicked" on 30 July 2021, "Star" on 4 October 2021, "Shake!"

on 3 December 2021, and "Big Bad Mood" featuring Miraa May on 14 January 2022, all of which later appeared on his 11 February 2022 album "I Wanna Die Inside You".

On 28 July 2022, again using his own name, he featured on United Freedom Collective's "1994"; on 18 August that year, his and Lazy Habits released a remix of Joshua Idehen's "Don't You Give Up On Me", and on 24 November 2022, he released one further single, "TELL THE TRUTH!".