Who is Young Spray?
Young Spray (real name Léon Riviere) is a rapper and podcaster born in Dominica and raised in east London. He is known for his Realer Than Most mixtape series, as a member of the 2000s Rap collective North Star and for his role as host and founder of RTM Podcast since 2020.
As a musician Young Spray is credited for being among the first contemporary generation of UK Rap acts whose music largely revolves around street crime and the consequences of this life path. Young Spray has remained an active musician since around 2003, following a prison release the year prior.
Young Spray’s Musical Career
Pre-Recording
Young Spray experimented with music first by MCing to Jungle sporadically as a youth. He started writing poems as a teenager and transitioned to make Rap music in Doncaster Prison, while he was in custody for a drugs charge. Young Spray recalls his brother sent him his first instrumental pack and started writing to it.
Among the many artists Young Spray used to listen to in the late 1990s were contemporary East Coast Rap acts including Nas, Mob Deep and Jay-Z, as well as 2Pac and UK acts including Moorish Delta 7 and Skinnyman.
When Young Spray was transferred to Winson Green Prison Spray he wrote Getaway, a track inspired by his eventual life and time being sent to multiple prisons. He also wrote Can’t Stop Won’t Stop while in custody, but stopped writing Rap songs soon after.
North Star
Young Spray’s friend Taylor heard him rap in the car and encouraged him to make songs from his lyrics. He recorded Getaway, Streets are Kinda Murky and Badman from Round Here in his first studio sessions in 2002.
Young Spray was the final addition to the North Star music collective, headed by C1 (Clint Ponton). Ponton, inspired by So Solid Crew’s success, had already recruited Buckhead, Chyna and Anna White to be a part of the group when Young Spray was added.
In 2003 Young Spray opted to pursue music properly, soon after the passing of Buckhead. The group continued as a trio with C1 and Young Spray as the group’s rappers and Chyna as the singer. The collective released two mixtapes through Lisa Maffia’s Maffia Records in the early 2000s.
The association with So Solid Crew led to collaborations with Lisa Maffia, Megaman, Face and Swiss on their first projects.
North Star were noted for singles including On a Rise and This is Our Time. Their music videos were among very few UK Rap songs with play on MTV Base, and they also featured heavily on Channel U.
Although police pressure on So Solid Crew affiliates prevented UK shows, the collective were booked to perform in a number of overseas locations including Cyprus, Spain, Greece, Netherlands and Kazakhstan. They also took part in a UK school tour.
Young Spray continued to release music as a North Star member up to 2006. However he has expressed that by this time he grew tired of the more commercially directed nature of North Star’s singles.
Young Spray’s Solo Career
By 2007 Young Spray remained affiliated with North Star when he moved to south London and recorded his first solo mixtape Realer Than Most at Unit 10 in Peckham with DJ One Step. This took place around the time Giggs was recording notable projects with SN1, Blade Brown and other contemporary rappers in south London.
Realer Than Most (Vol. 1) was his first mixtape and was credited for leading the way for ‘Road Rap’ along with releases from other prominent acts releasing CDs via the UK’s Ruthless Records label in the late 2000s.
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Young Spray continued as a solo artist and went on to release regular projects almost annually between 2007 and 2020. Notable highlight singles include Amen (feat. Skepta), Lord Have Mercy (featuring Young Mad B) and Proud (feat. Wretch 32 and Chip).
In 2016 Young Spray had his Sho single signed by Lily Allen’s Bank Holiday Records label. In 2017 Young Spray released his first official album Invisible Tears. It included music released years prior as well as newer recordings with Blade Brown, Fekky and Sneakbo among others.
Young Spray’s music has been credited for its honesty, with the artist revealing details of his personal life, including romantic relationships, details about his family upbringing and the birth of his son.
Young Spray was stabbed at the 2018 Rated Awards, after which point he felt “blackballed” by UK media channels and opted to release all future music videos via his own YouTube channel and using his own record label RTM Records. He also unofficially rebranded as Big Bad Spray.
Before the pivotal stabbing incident Young Spray featured heavily on popular Black British music YouTube channels and has appeared on many of the most notable freestyle platforms, including:
- SB.TV Warm Up Session (2012)
- Link Up TV’s Behind Barz (2012) (2013) (2014)
- Westwood Crib Session (2014) (2015) (2017)
- Fire in the Booth (2013)
- SB.TV’s #3rdDegree (2013)
- GRM Daily’s Daily Duppy (2015)
- Mixtape Madness’ Mad About Bars (2017)
Notable Young Spray Collaborations
Over the course of his career, Young Spray has worked with a range of notable UK rappers including:
- Skepta
- Giggs
- Chip
- Wretch 32
- D Double E
- Blade Brown
- Fekky
- Yungen
- Don Strapzy
- President T
- DVS
- Snap Capone
- Paigey Cakey
- Frisco
- Ratlin
- Pound Sterling
- Milena Sanchez
- Harvey
- Bushkin
- SafOne
- Vic Santoro
- RM
Young Spray’s Discography
Releases with North Star
- Not Guilty (Vol. 1) (2003)
- Not Guilty (Vol. 2) (2004)
Young Spray Releases
- Realer Than Most (Vol. 1) (2007)
- Realer Than Most (Vol. 2) (2009)
- Hard 2 Kill (Vol. 1) (2010)
- Realer Than Most 3 (2011)
- Hard 2 Kill (Vol. 2) (2012)
- Invisible Tears (2017)
- Hard 2 Kill (Vol. 3) (2018)
- Hard 2 Kill (Vol. 4) (2018)
- Ready to Live (2019)
- Hard 2 Kill (Vol. 5) (2020)
Young Spray’s Business Ventures
RTM Clothing
Young Spray launched in 2010 with his then-partner Hayley Agbandje. The clothing line focuses around Spray’s Realer Than Most catchphrase.
RTM Records
In 2019 Young Spray launched RTM Records after feeling “blackballed” by the industry. He recruited artists from across the country, including up and coming UK Rap and Drill artists from Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham and London.
Artists on the label included:
- DrllxMtchll
- Queen Icecream
- Cio Soprano
- Da Unsigned Artist
- Korz
- CeeOne
- Maczino
- Star Bizzy
- FavellaMafia
RTM Podcast
Young Spray launched RTM Podcast with Queen Icecream in November 2020. It is primarily an interview platform and features Young Spray with his co-host in conversations with musicians, sportspeople and personalities. RTM Podcast has featured appearances from Don Strapzy, President T and Frisco among many others.
Young Spray’s Personal Life
Young Spray’s Early Life
Young Spray was born in Dominica. His father was a local MP and his mother was a teacher. Young Spray is one of five children. In Dominica he grew up in relative privilege and his household had a maid. His early memories from time on the island include a number of firearms-related incidents in the area, including his mother attempting to shoot a burglar.
On his 2007 song Mummy Don’t Cry, he describes a violent household where he witnessed his father assaulting his mother while Spray was still in his early years.
Spray’s parent split around the time he was 5. His mother moved with the children into social housing on the island for a brief period, before moving over to the UK.
Young Spray’s mother moved him to James Lane in Leyton in 1988. He attended Barclay Primary School, where he struggled to concentrate due to advanced learning in Dominica.
Young Spray has mentioned that he lived in west London for a spell with his grandmother in Westbourne Park, before he settled in Walthamstow. While Young Spray was in primary school he used to practice Karate in Hackney.
At age 8 Young Spray and his family returned to Dominica to finalise the divorce between his parents, before he returned to school. He didn’t return to the island until he was an adult.
Young Spray went to Holy Family College secondary school, the same school attended by Lethal Bizzle, Fleur East, Flow Dan and Ozzie B. He was expelled from the school shortly before his GCSEs for smoking and destroying a CCTV camera that caught him in the act.
After school Young Spray enrolled in and was kicked out a number of colleges in quick succession. He briefly attended Sir George Monoux College, Epping Forest College and Rebridge College in Romford before he went to prison.
Spray stopped talking to his father when he went to prison age 16. He didn’t see him again until his funeral after he died in 2016.
Young Spray’s Criminal History
Young Spray used to shoplift as a child and has spoke about stealing around the local area in Waltham Forest, as well as department stores such as House of Fraser and Selfrides. He has discussed partaking in petty theft with Maxwell D in his youth.
Young Spray has spoken about engaging in robbery from his secondary school days. He first went to prison age 16 for this activity and was convicted for two years, after pleading guilty. He served his sentence in Feltham Prison and then Onley. His time was extended multiple times for fights and he came out on his 18th birthday.
He returned to prison within six months, after having being introduced drug dealing. This led to a two-year sentence in 2001 for intent to supply class A drugs. He spent time in Chelmsford, Norwich, Onley, Woodhill, Stoke Heath and Doncaster.
During his drug-related conviction, Young Spray was moved many times due to a number of separate violent incidents. At Doncaster Prison he engaged in physical altercations with staff, leading to him being sent back to Stoke Heath and then Winson Green Prison in Birmingham.
Young Spray started making music after his release from his first drugs sentence. He went to prison again in 2007, 2011 and 2015. Among his sentences he’s also spent time at Thamesmead and met fellow podcaster Bobby Kasanga (known for Big Ego Podcast) while incarcerated.
Young Spray’s Life
Young Spray is the father of one child, born in 2007 with his former partner and business associate Hayley Agbandje. Young Spray identifies as Muslim and has done since 2000 while he was at prison in Woodhill.
Young Spray has moved to several parts of London. Once he left his mother’s home in Walthamstow he spent time living in Tottenham and south London. He also briefly lived in west London with his grandmother.
Young Spray has expressed that he suffers from mental health issues and has had several periods where this has been exacerbated.
In September 2018 Young Spray was stabbed backstage at the GRM Daily Rated Awards at Hammersmith Apollo. A video was released in the aftermath showing his wounds and the blood-covered dressing room where the incident took place. Shortly false rumours spread that Young Spray had passed away from his injuries.
Young Spray was responsible for leaking the infamous sex tape of Posty in which he asks a girl to “Say ‘East London’”. He uploaded it to his own YouTube channel among other places in retaliation to his belief that the aftermath of the stabbing incident hadn’t been addressed properly.
Young Spray has gone through a number of periods where he used controlled substances and in 2022 confirmed that he overcome a cannabis addiction for eight months and started reusing afterwards. He has admitted to having tried a variety of drugs including crack cocaine.
In 2022 Young Spray admitted to watching Love Island even when he’s not been in a relationship.
Young Spray FAQs
Who stabbed Young Spray at the Rated Awards?
Young Spray was stabbed at the 2018 GRM Rated Awards. It has never been confirmed who the perpetrator was by Young Spray or anyone else in attendance at the ceremony in Hammersmith, although Metropolitan Police confirmed a man was arrested for his part in the incident. Young Spray has stated that he believes that two events prior may have contributed to the altercation.
Young Spray has stated that he had gone through an incident at a Drake event in Greenwich attended by associates of Giggs several weeks beforehand. At the Rated Awards Young Spray engaged in a conversation with Buck. Shortly after he was stabbed in a dressing room reserved for Skepta at the event’s venue.
In the aftermath Young Spray went on to experience severe mental health issues and severed relationships with many long-term friends with Twitter rants. Among the people he went on to have disagreements with was past collaborator Giggs and the person he came to the event with, Vic Santoro.
Young Spray spoke about his perspective of the stabbing on an August 2022 episode of RTM Podcast special where Queen Icecream interviewed him.
What does RTM stand for?
RTM stands for Realer Than Most. Young Spray has used this phrase since the early 2000s and has used it for many different projects over the years. RTM has been used as the name for his for the name of his record label and podcast.
Where is Young Spray from?
Young Spray was born in Dominica and lived there until he was 6 years old. He moved from the island to Leyton in east London with his mother and siblings and was raised in the area. Young Spray spent his teen years living in Walthamstow.
Is Young Spray a father?
Young Spray is the father to one son born 28th December 2007. Young Spray made Daddy’s Little Soldier about his child. Make That Journey is a song dedicated to the mother of his child, Hayley Agbandje.
Is Young Spray religious?
Young Spray is a Muslim and expresses his faith regularly through his RTM Podcast. He converted to Islam while in prison in 2000.
Who owns Realer Than Most Clothing?
Young Spray is the owner of RTM Clothing (Realer Than Most Clothing). Realer Than Most is a phrase popularised by Young Spray and has been used for the name of many of his projects, including RTM Podcast, RTM Records and primarily his Realer Than Most mixtape series.
What are Young Spray’s nicknames?
Young Spray used to be known as Spider as a teenager. Since late 2018 he unofficially rebranded as Big Bad Spray. He has also self-styled himself as Mr RTM.
