Courtney Freckleton, a British rapper of Jamaican descent, was born in Harlesden, in northwest London, on January 17, 1990. After his brother was killed in a gang war in 2008, he was sentenced five years later to eighteen months in prison for cannabis possession. A member of several rap collectives in his neighborhood, he released his first mixtape, From Church Road to Hollywood, in 2012. Three more followed through 2017, the year he released his debut album on the XL Recordings label, One Foot Out, featuring his first charting single (on the R&B charts), “High Roller”. The album, which peaked at No. 4 on the UK sales charts, was followed by a film titled Crop Circle and the album of the same name, which peaked at No. 5 in April 2018 and featured Dave, Skrapz, Yung Fume, SL, Ray BLK, and Haile from the group WSTRN. The single “I See You Shining”, taken from the album, peaked at No. 37. The following year, the previously unreleased track “Pride” peaked at No. 41. Nines followed up with the albums Crabs in a Bucket (2020), Crop Circle 2 (2023), and Crop Circle 3 (2023), which included the hit “Toxic”, featuring Bad Boy Chiller Crew. After the release of Quit While You're Ahead in 2024, he returned two years later with Lost Tapes, which peaked at No. 14 in the UK.
