Noughties rap duo reunite nine years after band split as frontman reveals real reason they quit
A HUGE noughties rap duo have announced their reunion nine years after parting ways.
Appearing on The Red Carpet Treatment podcast, the iconic stars revealed they are bringing the band back together.
Rizzle Kicks stars Jordan Stephens and Harley Alexander-Sule shot to fame in the late noughties after their debut album Stereo Typical.
But in 2015 the pop stars went their ways after they released their last song, a cover of Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince.
Following this, both members pursued acting careers and solo music ventures.
Speaking about their return Jordan said: “I think our music has aged very well and I think that we, this is my guess, we are reminiscent of a time in British history, 2012, which was pretty optimistic.
“We had the Olympics, pre-Covid, pre-Brexit, pre-Trump, people were living their lives man.”
Between 2011 and 2013, the band was a huge success with hits like Down With the Trumpets and Mama Do The Hump.
They had several chart-topping songs, including a collaboration with Olly Murs‘ Heart Skips a Beat, which reached number one.
The pair had shows planned for a tour together in 2016, but Jordan took to X ahead of the events to announce they had decided to cancel.
Despite promises to return to the music scene in 2017, the pair seemed to just vanish without further details.
Rizzle Kicks have now spoken about why they decided to split almost a decade ago.
Turning the conversation to their split, Harley said: “It’d be interesting to talk about that period of time where we stopped making music a little bit.
“We were both, very much not in a position to be popstars at that time.”
Jordan added: “But yeah, we took a break because I was doing loads of drugs.
“I had crippling anxiety.”
The pair both agreed their health was suffering because of their music careers.
Reminiscing on the exact day the pair decided to take a step back from the limelight, Harley said “It was one of the most depressing days of my life.”
He explained that he experienced a panic attack after performing at a festival.
“Performing in front of 15, 20,000 people or whatever, and coming off and feeling worse than you did when you went on stage. I was like, that’s not right,” he said.
“And I think we both just looked at each other like yeah, nah that’s not the one.”
Away from Rizzle Kicks, Jordan has been in a relationship with Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall since 2020.
He is a regular on Big Brother Late and Live and is set to release an autobiography this year called, Avoidance, Drugs, Heartbreak, and Dogs.
Meanwhile, Harley has been turning his attention to acting and notably appeared in Unforgotten in 2015.
