Bashy
| Bashy | |
|---|---|
Thomas at SCAD ATVfest 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ashley Thomas |
| Born |
4 February 1985 Chiswick, London, England |
| Origin | Kensal Rise, London, England |
| Genres | British hip hop, grime |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, actor, songwriter, music supervisor |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | Ragz 2 Richez Entertainment |
| Associated acts | Tinie Tempah, Chip, N-Dubz, Tinchy Stryder, Wretch 32, Gorillaz, Kano, Justice |
| Website | bashy |
Ashley Thomas (born 4 February 1985), also known by his stage name Bashy, is an English musician and actor, from Kensal Rise, London, England.
Thomas was born in Chiswick, West London. The first born of a Jamaican mother and Dominican father. He attended St Mary's of the Angels RC Primary School. At age eleven, his family moved to Kensal Rise, northwest London and he attended the Cardinal Hinsley High School. Thomas attended The BRIT School for Performing Arts as a theatre student.
During the release of the Chupa Chups Mixtape Thomas was a struggling independent musician and worked for Royal Mail as a postman. He worked there for a year to save money then left to pursue a music career full-time. The money was soon spent, as his music career did not take off as envisaged, it was during this period that he decided to become a bus driver.
In 2007 Thomas released the song "Black Boys". It was this track that propelled Thomas into the nation's consciousness, catching the imagination of a country suffering from many incidents of violence amongst its inner-city youth.
With frequent reports of shootings and stabbings on news bulletins, and with the media continually focusing on the lack of role models in certain communities, he felt that the nation's inner city youth needed a reminder that they had a number of positive role models they could look to for inspiration. His début single provoked controversy, as some people called the track racist. This prompted the governing body Ofcom to investigate. Rumours soon began to circulate that the track had been banned from TV. Certain sections of the black community were outraged; groups were set up on the social networking site Facebook in order to fight the ban. Racist videos were put up as responses to the track on YouTube, in which men dressed as Ku Klux Klan members would hurl abuse at black people, with the track playing in the background. This prompted people of many races to get behind and support Bashy, in a united stand against racism. It was as a result of this publicity and grass roots action that Bashy was invited to perform at the Love Music Hate Racism Rally in 2008 at Victoria Park, to a crowd of 100,000. He was asked to take the main stage alongside Damon Albarn. Bashy persuaded various British artists to share their views on the subject. Skinnyman, Ty, Big Narstie, Tinie Tempah, Wretch 32, Chipmunk, Swiss, Durrty Goodz, J2K, Skepta, Sincere, Akala and Scorcher featured on the track.
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