Geko

Hodifa Abdalla Elshabli, known professionally as Geko, was born on June 15, 1997, in Manchester, England. Of Libyan and Algerian heritage, Geko began rapping at the age of eight. By 13, he signed with K Koke’s UK music collective U.S.G., becoming the youngest member and later releasing the EP ‘Heartless’ and the mixtape ‘Voice Of The Future’. He notably recorded a session for Charlie Sloth’s ‘Fire in the Booth’ on BBC Radio 1 at 14, also as the youngest artist to do so. In 2014, at 16, he left U.S.G. to establish his own label, OneTape Records, through which he released the EP ‘Baba’ in 2015. His career progressed with a series of independent singles and performances, including at the Wireless Festival in 2016.

In 2017, Geko released his debut album, ‘LionHeart,’ with Sony Music, which received attention for its diverse sound blending pop with international influences. This was followed by ‘The LionHeart Tour’ across England. He continued to release singles, such as “Bipolar” with Sneakbo and “Ronaldo”, a track that paid homage to Cristiano Ronaldo. His song “Yo Darlin'”, a collaboration with NSG, was certified Gold by the BPI. His mainstream breakthrough occurred in 2018 after signing with 3 Beat Productions, leading to successful singles like “6:30” featuring NSG, which peaked at number 56 on the UK Singles Chart and was certified Gold by the BPI, and “Will Smith” featuring Not3s.

His album ’22’, released in 2019, featured collaborations with artists including French Montana on “New Money”, which became Geko’s highest-charting single at number 49, and Stefflon Don, Deno, and Dappy on “Link Up”. This album solidified his reputation for creating versatile and genre-bending music. Throughout 2020 and 2021, Geko released further singles such as “Tantrum” and “Woi Oi” featuring Ms Banks and BackRoad Gee, and continued to be featured on tracks by other artists, demonstrating his ongoing presence in the British music scene. In 2019, he also modeled for Napapijri at Scotts Menswear.