A former Arsenal youngster became an underground rapper following his release by the Gunners, even going as far as inventing his own genre. Shabazz Baidoo was born in Hackney and began his football career at Tottenham before joining Arsenal‘s famous Hale End academy. He represented the club at youth level but never played a senior game and was released as a teenager.
Baidoo ended up signing for Queens Park Rangers and was prematurely thrown into the senior squad during an injury crisis. He made his first-team debut under Ian Holloway at the age of 16 and went on to make 33 appearances, scoring four goals. He was capped by England at youth level and looked to have a promising career ahead of him.
However, he struggled for minutes under Holloway’s replacement, John Gregory, and was ultimately sent on loan to Gillingham. Baidoo failed to make a senior appearance for his temporary club and was released by QPR upon his return to Loftus Road.
From there, he played for a number of non-league clubs including Dagenham and Redbridge, Lewes, Croydon Athletic, Bishop’s Stortford and Wealdstone.
Baidoo’s last club was Biggleswade Town and he worked as a car salesman during his time on their books. He was released in 2014 but already had a thriving career to fall back on, having made a name for himself as a rapper.
During his playing days, he became a grime artist under the stage name Terminator and was renowned for his unique, lethargic flow and violent lyrics.
Baidoo went viral in late 2009 when he featured on YouTube channel SBTV, a platform showcasing up-and-coming musical talent. The video has been viewed over a million times and features Baidoo rapping in a car for around three minutes.
He moved away from the grime scene to create his own genre of rap music, known as darkside. It is characterised by slow, heavy beats and threatening lyrics which often cover violent topics.
Some of Baidoo’s techniques include rhyming words with themselves and holding one syllable for an extended amount of time. He has even been known to force words to rhyme with each other using some creative pronunciation.
Baidoo has featured on a number of music channels, including Link Up TV and GRM Daily, with many of his videos gaining hundreds of thousands of views.
He has released three albums under the Terminator name with his debut project, Darkside Pioneer, landing in 2013. He also dropped an EP, titled Friday the 13th, that same year.
Baidoo followed up with his sophomore project, Darkest Facts of Existence, in 2015 before releasing his third album, Darkest Facts, in 2019.
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