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Avelino and Wretch 32
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Music
Watch 5 classic Fire in the Booth freestyles
Charlie Sloth's series could help break the careers of upcoming MCs, or revitalise the reputation of scene veterans.
Written by Phillip Williams
3 min readPublished on
After nearly 10 years of service to BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra, Charlie Sloth has announced that he’s moving on after November 2018. Anyone with even a passing interest in UK rap will be well familiar with Charlie’s uncontainable passion and his trigger-happy attitude to those exploding bomb and breaking class sound effect buttons.
Having hosted the The 8th and The Rap Show, Charlie Sloth’s Fire in the Booth series has become somewhat legendary. These freestyles have had the potential to break the careers of upcoming MCs or revitalise the respect of elder legends in the scene, and over the years huge names like Drake, Stormzy and Big Shaq have delivered their bars over Charlie’s beat selections.
And so, in commemoration of the Fire in the Booth series, here are five freestyles which have stood the test of time.

1. K Koke

K Koke is arguably best known for his 2010 Fire in the Booth freestyle, which remains an absolute classic. The north west London rapper demolished three beats with his raw, passionate lyricism, failing to suppress the massive grin that keeps rising on his face.

2. Akala

Hardcore Akala fans out there might still debate which is the greatest of his four Fire in the Booth freestyles, but the second instalment is clearly a strong contender. Running through a wide range of deep and complex socio-political issues, a lesser MC might risk boring their audience with such deep content, but Akala performed with intense passion to stop those at the back of the classroom from nodding off. A testament to how important Fire in the Booth has been to some rapper’s careers, Akala performs a medley of his FitB freestyles as part of his live show.

3. Little Simz

“I feel like the industry doesn’t deserve me,” Little Simz rapped on her 2014 Fire in the Booth. While the mainstream often hasn’t recognised Simz’ talent, the rapper and multi-instrumentalist has cruised down her own path with cool confidence. After spitting over Notorious BIG’s 1997 track Kick in the Door, Simz – then 20-years-old – fluctuates to a new different with ease when Sloth drops the emotive beat for Gunplay’s emotive 2013 classic Bible on the Dash.

4. Wretch 32 & Avelino

At the time of writing, this one’s racked up over 11 million YouTube views on Charlie Sloth's account. The session kicks off with dextrous verse from Avelino, before Wretch 32’s spits a freestyle over The xx’s atmospheric track Intro which a visibly stunned Sloth declares “the hardest verse Fire in the Booth has ever had.” Six days after the freestyle was uploaded to YouTube, Avelino and Wretch 32 capitalised on the hype and dropped their joint mixtape, Young Fire, Old Flame.

5. AJ Tracey

You can’t argue with AJ’s first Fire in the Booth. The freestyle dropped early 2016, just after the West London MC’s breakthrough year and just before dropping his hit Thiago Silva with Dave. AJ is known to ride both grime rhythms and US-style trap beats with his agile flow, and this jaw-dropping performance provided proof, if any was needed, that he’s a serious contender in the game.
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