Kano

1985–2003: early years

Kane Robinson, born in the London Borough of Newham, was born to Jamaican parents and raised by his mother, a PE teacher, first living on Manor Road and later in East Ham. He attended Langdon Secondary School. In his younger years he was a semi-professional footballer, representing Chelsea, West Ham United, Norwich City and Celtic by the age of thirteen, eventually abandoning his sporting ambitions in favour of a musical career. Robinson dabbled in composing using Cubase and a keyboard in his youth, and started MCing aged fourteen after his older brother Lee "Chopper" Robinson, an aspiring DJ, got a pair of turntables for his sixteenth birthday; the pair would record UK garage sets together on cassette tape and share them with friends, which earned Lee a residency on Canning Town pirate radio station Flava FM. Kano's school friend Sharky Major, founder of Nasty Crew, was also a resident on the station, and invited him to guest on the group's show as early as 2001; by 2002, he formally became a member of the crew. The station's transmissions were only available within the immediate East London area and listeners initially knew him solely through his voice before he began getting live bookings through the crew. Kano's second ever vinyl release, "Vice Versa (Boys Love Girls)", was recorded before he joined the crew and released via Jammer's label, Jahmek the World. He also contributed to various releases as a part of N.A.S.T.Y., including their…

In October 2011, Robinson made his acting debut in the Channel 4 drama Top Boy. His character, Sully, was originally written as an Asian drug dealer. Casting director Des Hamilton, director Yann Demange and writer Ronan Bennett were so impressed with his chemistry test with co-star Ashley Walters, causing the character to be rewritten. The original run of the show went for two seasons, before Channel 4 cancelled it in 2014. In 2017, it was announced that streaming platform Netflix would be reviving Top Boy, with Robinson reprising his role as Sully. The revival was, in part, due to the interest of Canadian rapper Drake, who was a fan of the original series and whose team co-produced the new episodes. The third and fourth series premiered on Netflix in September 2019 and March 2022, respectively. A fifth and final series was announced on 31 March 2022, and aired in September 2023. Robinson plays the lead role in The Kitchen, a dystopian action drama for Netflix directed by Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya, which premiered at the 67th London Film Festival on 15 October 2023.

Robinson is a supporter of Liverpool F.C. His first child was born in 2023.

Robinson has won various awards including MOBO Awards for Best Newcomer in 2005, Best Album in 2016, and Best Performance in a TV Show/Film in 2022. He also won an award at the first Channel U "Best of British" Awards. On New Year's Eve 2005, he was announced as one of "London's Heroes of 2005" by Mayor of London Ken Livingstone.