The song ‘Life Cut Short’ has the sound of a classic grime track from the early 2010s. Birmingham rapper Shadow worked with Depzman’s mum Alison Cope and Depzman’s old crew to write the track, turning stories about his life into lyrics. It tells his story of life, death and lost potential to deliver the anti-knife message in an emotional way.

Shadow said “I pretty much solely listened to Depz’s music for weeks in the run up to writing the track….I had to put my own style to one side and try to emulate Depz as much as I could.”

We processed 6 hours of Depzman's music and combined it with 3 days of new studio recording sessions with another Birmingham rapper of a similar age to Depzman when he died. Formant shifting and double tracking were used on the vocal to recreate his voice as it had sounded.

Joshua Ribera AKA Depzman was a well-known Birmingham grime rapper on the cusp of stardom, but his life was cut short after he was stabbed to death. His mother Alison Cope set up The Joshua Ribera Foundation in his name to combat knife crime through education and by sharing his story.

The UK is facing a knife crime epidemic, since Depz’s death there have been over 1,877 more knife killings. Young people are the main victims and perpetrators of knife crime – and they weren’t listening to traditional anti-knife campaigns. We needed a way to cut through, infiltrate culture, and get our message heard.

Depzman still has a passionate fanbase in the grime community so a new track from him was sure to set the grime community on fire. ‘Life Cut Short’ was released on the 10-year anniversary of his funeral on YouTube and seeded organically across streaming platforms.

SBTV is a British music media company founded by Jamal Edwards, focussing on freestyle rap and music videos, specifically Grime, a popular genre of UK rap. It has launched some of the world’s biggest British artists including Stormzy, Ed Sheeran, Skepta, Dave and Jessie J. Depzman was one of the rising stars of the channel before his death, so they were the ideal partner to resurrect him.

• Total reach of 188 million impressions

• 6 million plays in the first 2 weeks across YouTube, TikTok and Spotify

• Ranking #11 on YouTube’s trending videos

• Shared by musicians like Skepta and Jaykae

• Played on BBC radio

• Featured on BBC News, ITV, Channel 4, The Sun and the Daily Mail

• Featured on the BBC’s primetime evening show: The One Show

• Shown to 30,000 school kids in youth violence workshops

• Picked up by the UK prison network & shown to inmates in 65 prisons

Right now it’s emotional

Let me take you back to the start

Before the days when I was on music, before I started writing bars

Before the night when everything ended and it tore my family apart

Before the night we went to remember bro and I died to a blade in the heart

Before the night we went to remember bro and I died to a blade in the heart

See growing up it weren’t easy, because there weren’t many kids like me

And when the kids at school had parties not 1 time did they invite me, never did like me

I felt like I was never included that’s why I was always fighting - at 8 man I got excluded

I was that kid from Birms twists and turns but mum never left my side

She cared for me and was there for me to pick me up every time

And every day I did music just to express what I felt inside

Every time I went hard with the bars cause I knew it could change my life

Yeah I remember when I picked up the pen and right there that’s when everything changed

Sitting in my room billin up a tune went to record and it sounded flames

Stopped time wasting and started working

Stepped in the booth and I started learning

Puttin in time with the bars, grinding hard and the tables they started turning

And then I joined Invasion man roll up and we shut down sets

From Birmingham to Ibiza we were like where will we shutdown next

Done my ting on Lord of The Mics yeah you know that I spun around heads

Got bare love from the galdem because they all had fun round Depz

I could see everything was changing didn’t care ‘bout the haters hating

Living life to the full me and my team out in Ibiza raving

Sun was blazing

Around the time when I did my SB

I knew I was doing my mum proud fans all gassed up just cause they met me

Yeah my album dropped at Number 1 and I wish that I coulda done more

‘Cause now we come to the part of the story where everything was cut short

See I shoulda been at the top right now with the mandem selling out tours

But it all got taken away by a knife, don’t know let me tell you more

It was 1 year to the day that we lost bro and we gathered there in his memory,

Performed my tunes for the last time

I didn’t know that it would be the end of me

I never filled my potential or got to be the things I was meant to be

I got into a petty fight he gets a knife and then went for me

And now I look down as my mum cries cause a memories all that’s left of me

I wish that I could just hold her hand, all she wanted was the best for me

Now all she’s got is my videos and my old clothes to remember me

Just know that I’m always by your side and I feel your presence next to me

Cause life ain’t never been a game just think of the pain that my fam endured

All the potential wasted man could have been with the fans on tour

But it all got taken away that night yeah all of my plans got floored

I did so much in my short time I never got the chance to do more

Now there’s so many people out there living with a piece of their heart left void

I just hope that things can change I don’t wanna see another fam destroyed

Because we only get one life and once we’re gone we just can’t return

Fact of the matter is normally it’s too late by the time we learn

Because the day I died it ruined the lives of over 100 more

You better think twice when you pack the knife and go to walk out the door

Because the day I died it ruined the lives of over 100 more

You better think twice when you pack the knife and go to walk out the door - Depz