Theo Kerlin (born 7 May 1989 in London) is a British rapper who is credited by his stage name Master Shortie . He is also a singer, establishing his own record label, Odd One Out. Plus has been listed in the Sound of 2009 poll. [1]

MASTER SHORTIE TICKETS BTS Tickets Rush Tickets Journey Tickets Shakira Tickets Bryson Tiller Tickets Earth, Wind and Fire Tickets

Early life

Theo Kerlin moved to South London at the age of 6, his dad ran an East London jazz bar throughout his childhood which led him to listen to many genres of music, encouraging him to start rapping at the age of 12

Career

Early career

After a short stint at the BRIT School ^[2] at the age of 14, he soon dropped out, claiming “it wasn’t me, it didn’t suit me”. At 16, Kerlin enrolled on a BTEC course at Nescot studying Music Technology. After a year he was excluded from the college due to unruly behaviour and possible plagiarism. He then started recording and producing his own adolescent hip-hop songs with producers and an underground reggae singer called Sparky.

Kerlin also appeared as Simba in a West End production of the Lion King. ^[3]

Debut (2005—2007)

In 2005, Kerlin started to support American urban acts such as ATL at the Hackney Empire, the Scala and Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

He was asked to support Hadouken! on their a UK tour, as he shares the same managment company as them. ^{[4] [5]}

A.D.H.D and Sound Of.. Poll (2008—Present)

In September 2008, Kerlin released his debut single "Rope Chain", alongside a music video which gathered popularity on Youtube. In December 2008, Master Shortie was enlisted in the Sound of 2009 poll, whereby he was tipped to be the one to look out for in 2009. He stated that the hype is helping him "work twice as hard" ^[6].
In January 2009, Master Shortie stated that his new album A.D.H.D was slated to release in the summer of 2009. Citing that the reason for the album name is that "my music is just so crazy and it's so all over the place and it craves attention." In April, Master Shortie released his third single, "Dance Like a White Boy", which was shortly followed by the aforementioned album. The track "Swagger Chick" features Vanessa White from girlgroup The Saturdays.

Master Shortie played at the 2009 Wireless Festival on the 4th of July. ^[7]

Master Shortie was accused by popular website Hype Machine, trying to manipulate their charting system by creating fake profiles & favouring his own music, though this has been denied by his online PR company ^[8].

Discography

Singles

• Rope Chain (2008)
• Dead End (2008)
• Dance Like a White Boy (2009)
• Dead End (re-release) (2009)
• Bringing It Back (2009)

Studio Albums

• A.D.H.D. (2009)

Mixtapes

• MistaJam Presents... Odd One Out Mashtape (2009)

References

1. BBC Sound of 2009: The longlist
2. Master Shortie on Sound Of...
3. Breaking act: Master Shortie
4. Master Shortie Bio
5. Master Shortie: Dance Like A White Boy
6. The young British rapper ... is in our Spanking New for 09 list
7. Wireless 2009 Lineup
8. A Blacklisted Artist Responds To Hype Machine