As the pioneering south London radio station turns ten, founder James Browning looks back at ten landmark moments from its lifespan
When Aniefiok Ekpoudom wrote his landmark chronology of rap in modern Britain in 2023, he dedicated the second chapter to Cecil Morris’ People’s Community Radio in Handsworth, Birmingham. It was the birth of pirate radio: a musical intervention, Ekpoudom writes, embedded in communities ostracised from the mainstream. Many of them were Windrush migrants long treated as second-class citizens, and residents of council estates increasingly lost between the cracks of gentrification. Pirate radio foregrounded the arrival of countless genres unique to Britain – jungle, garage, grime, UK rap in all its forms – and, today, telling this lineage would be incomplete without mentioning South London radio station Balamii.
“I grew up on pirate radio, it influenced me massively,” says Balamii founder James Browning who has almost singlehandedly steered the station through various evolutions over its ten-year journey. “Our tagline is ‘From south London to the world.’ I think there’s something aspirational in that, about sending that joy outwards.”
Over the years, Balamii has not only cemented itself as a hub for London’s rich creative pool, with Dave and Central Cee’s appearance on Victory Lap in 2023 becoming one of the most celebrated UK rap moments in recent memory, but it has also pioneered key innovations on the radio format itself. In 2020, Balamii became an early adopter of the ‘nu radio’ pivot to video content, churning out clips on social media to reinvent radio for the digital age. Back in 2014, however, Balamii started life as something different entirely: a mobile app delivering tracklist sets directly to people’s phones.
“In the beginning it was just me going round London clubs asking people if I could record their sets,” says Browning. “One of the first sets I recorded was Novelist in November 2014 at Alibi in Dalston. Nov has since gone on to become a prominent part of Balamii, and his brother, Prem, and his mum, Positive Dee, have both also gone on to have regular shows here. Although the app no longer exists, the foundations of Balamii were built through going around London with that little handheld recorder.”
By 2016, however, Balamii version one was struggling to stay afloat. “The app wasn’t making any money, and I had to figure out how to keep things moving,” says Browning of a pivot that would soon become fundamental to the Balamii we know today. “That’s when I realised we could survive if we switched to a subs model – something pirate radio stations had relied on for years.”
“I pieced everything together bit-by-bit – literally,” he reminisces. “The studio was built from scratch with wood from the timber yard round the corner. The studio window is plexiglass plastic that I found in a skip. All the equipment in the beginning was borrowed from friends. I even designed both of the logos on Microsoft Word. There was no long-term financial plan.”
Balamii’s rep has grown steadily since then, but these financial concerns remained a looming presence behind the scenes. Even as the station began picking up hundreds of thousands of views online, spawning live events and even an offshoot in New York from 2017 to 2019, the numbers weren’t quite adding up. “It’s only been in the last five to six months that things have started to catch up to the work that everyone has put in,” he explains. “At some point years ago, I made the decision that this was my thing. There was no plan B.”
Despite these struggles, Browning remains proud of the community platform that he’s built. “What started as a niche project based on tracklists and IDing music evolved into something much bigger – a real platform for underground artists to be heard,” he sums up. “I built this platform as a place for people to better their own circumstances.”
As for the name? That comes from the jukebox that Browning’s dad kept in the house growing up. “It was always on at birthdays and Christmases, I grew up with it as a constant soundtrack,” he explains. “Originally, I wanted to name the platform Bal-Ami.com, but some jukebox enthusiast had already taken the domain. So, I just added another ‘I’ to the end and bought Balamii.com instead.”
Below, in honour of its tenth birthday, Balamii founder James looks back at ten landmark moments from the station’s legendary journey.
James Browning: As part of our “Out The Blue” series – highlighting singers and songwriters – Greentea Peng performs “Loving Kind”, her first-ever video on Youtube.
James Browning: Dave and Central Cee were guests in the Balamii booth for a very special episode of Victory Lap with Kibo, Len, Niko B, Rushy, Kirbs, BXKS and JayG. The show was seen by hundreds of millions worldwide, and became one of UK rap’s stand-out moments of 2023.
Browning: A then-unknown Jayda G played Balamii’s first Birthday at YAM Records with Brian Not Brian and DJ Sotofett way back in January 2016. It became one of our most listened-to radio shows.
Browning: Celeste played our Winter Series, held at Ghost Notes Peckham in February 2019, one of her last gigs as a relative unknown. The line-up also featured Kwake Bass, Ill Considered, Hector Plimmer, Where Pathways Meet, The Expansions, Brothers Testament and Sunken. The event was free entry thanks to funding from the Arts Council. Over 2000 people attended the series.
James: Pozer became one of the breakout UK rap stars of 2024. His show on Balamii with JS x YD, Kairo Keyz, 163Margs and RYZ for REUP LDN was seen by millions worldwide.
James: Just before Christmas 2024, M Huncho passed by the booth with Just Banco, TYK, Kilo Jugg, Gdup, Figs0, Treez0 and Quincy Tellem.
Browning: A special 60-minute set from Catching Cairo. This one really changed things for her.
Browning: Novelist dropped by for two hours of self-produced and self-released tracks 100 per cent made by himself. There were tons of new and unreleased material from one of London’s true sonic pioneers.
Browning: A then-unknown Jaybaloo levelled up in the booth.
Browning: And finally, Ashbeck going over Nines’ “CR” instrumental on an episode of Victory Lap.
Take a look at the gallery above for some flicks from Balamii’s ten-year journey.