Jamal Edwards

The mustard tree does not exist without somebody planting the mustard seed.

When Jamal Edwards MBE got his first video camera aged 15, nobody would have predicted this small gift would become such a large empire. But the British music entrepreneur, philanthropist, mentor and founder of online R&B/hip-hop platform SB.TV who helped lay foundations in the careers of some of the UK’s biggest musicians created a legacy that keeps developing beyond his passing.

Whether it was Ed Sheeran way back in 2010, or Stormzy in the same year, Jamal Edwards MBE was the vehicle that moved the UK music scene towards becoming the self-serving machine that it is today, no longer reliant on its counterparts across the Atlantic to define its ‘success’ – for rappers, especially.

Before his passing, Edwards commented on meeting Alison Cope – mother of Joshua Ribera (aka Depzman, a rising star in the grime scene who was tragically murdered in 2013): “We have to do this because legacy is important.” He was then involved in the creative conception of a music video, Life Cut Short, released in October 2022 after his death. The video, which used deepfake technology to create a lifelike version of Depzman, continued the massive potential career the Birmingham-based artist had and raised awareness about the long-lasting effects of knife crime.

Many large UK-based artists now choose to post music videos onto their own channels, cutting out the middleman. And there’s no doubt that Jamal Edwards MBE was a catalyst for that change, gifting the UK the autonomy it needed to be more than the ‘little sibling’ of the US music scene.

His legacy is the greatest gift of all: independence. For that, he will never, ever be forgotten.

More information about The Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust can be found at jamaledwards.org