Plan B Tickets

Known to his mother as Benjamin Paul Ballance-Drew, Plan B is a rapper, actor and songwriter from East London. He has always been heavily involved in the UK grime/hip hop scene, and released his first single, “Kidz” in 2005 on his own Pet Cemetery label, before securing a contract with 679 Recordings. In May 2006, Hip Hop Magazine included a free mix tape called It's Time for Plan B, with one of its issues, which led to an appearance on Later...With Jools Holland a few months later, where Plan B performed “Mama (Loves A Crackhead)”, his first UK Top 40 hit. His first album, Who Needs Actions When You Got Words (2006) went straight into the UK album charts at No.30, and produced the additional single “No More Eatin'”. 

After substantial time touring festivals and producing more EPs and mix tapes in 2007-08, as well as contributing to other records by Professor Green, Example and Killa Kela, amongst others, Plan B then appeared in the film Adulthood (2008) and contributed to the movie's soundtrack. In 2009, he also appeared in Harry Brown and had his first UK Top 10 hit with “End Credits”, before releasing his second album, the soul-led The Defamation Of Strickland Banks, a narrative record, telling the story of Plan B's alter ego, Banks, an up-and-coming soul singer who is accused of rape by an obsessive fan. The album was a huge success, and the lead single, “Stay Too Long”, reached No.9 in the UK. 

In 2011, Plan B won the Best British Male award at the BRITS, and continued his 18-month long tour in support of Defamation... Also in 2011, he signed up to promote both Hewlett Packard computers and Bulmer's Cider. A musical film version of The Defamation of Strickland Banks is in the works, with several trailers already uploaded to YouTube, although a completion date is yet to be announced.

For his third album, Plan B intended returning to his hip-hop roots (though retaining the character of Strickland Banks), but his record company were not keen and refused to finance production, forcing Plan B to go back to his own label. Other filming commitments have delayed the release of the album, The Ballad of Belmarsh, although it is expected to be out by mid-2012, supported by festival slots and club gigs. Material from this album is also expected to be contributing towards the elusive 'Strickland Banks' film.