Tuesday 2 August 2022 12:57 PM Jamal Edwards, 31, died from a cardiac arrest after 4am cocaine and drinking ... trends now
Music entrepreneur Jamal Edwards died from a cardiac arrest after a late night cocaine and drinking session where he became paranoid and began throwing objects around the room before falling unconscious, an inquest heard today.
Three small snap bags containing the remnants of white powder were found on the 31-year-old son of Loose Women panellist Brenda Edwards after he collapsed at his west London home in February this year, the hearing was told.
Assistant West London Coroner Ivor Collett today ruled that Mr Edwards died after a cardiac arrest brought on by taking cocaine and drinking alcohol.
His heartbroken mother, Brenda, described him as 'a beautiful and selfless person' in a statement read to the inquest. Earlier this year she said she wanted his death to 'help drive more conversation about the unpredictability of recreational drugs'.
The DJ and founder of online R&B/Hip-Hop platform SB.TV had returned to his home in Acton after 4am after playing a set in north London before he sat up drinking with a friend, Nick Hopper, who was living in an annex of the house.
Mr Hopper said that 'he appeared to be his normal self' and they 'began to chat, smoke some weed and drink' - but his famous friend then spoke about the pressure he was under.
After a while Mr Edwards became erratic and paranoid and began throwing objects around the room before collapsing, the inquest was told. Despite the best efforts of Mr Hopper and later his uncle, Rodney Artman, as well as paramedics, Mr Edwards did not wake up and was declared dead at 10.36am on Sunday February 20.
The last photo of Jamal, DJ'ing days before he died at home. An inquest heard he had been drinking and had taken cocaine
Brenda Edwards, the Loose Women star Brenda Edwards (pictured together on the show in November 2021), said she and his family and friends are all devastated
Jamal with close friend Ed Sheeran, who was also bereft after the music mogul's death
Brenda Edwards revealed the cause of her son's death was related to drugs earlier this year
Jamal was 15 when his mother Brenda bought him extra special Christmas present – a £200 video camera.
YouTube had just been launched and Jamal, who like most teenagers spent hours in his bedroom online, decided to upload some footage of foxes in his back garden. 'I thought I was Steve Irwin,' he said in an interview with MailOnline.
A young Ed Sheeran appears on SBTV in 2010 in a clip that now has 11m views on YouTube alone
But when the footage got 1,000 views, he realised he was on to something.
He went out on to the estate and made some clips of his friends, most of whom were into grime – the music style now defined by stars such as Dizzee Rascal and Skepta.
'Back then, there was no place to showcase our sort of spitting and rapping, so I thought, OK, I want to create that platform,' he said. He took his own rap moniker 'Smokey Barz' to coin his brand name and SBTV was born.
Jamal began his Topman career as a shop assistant but at the same time started hanging out at the BBC, sneaking into raves and messaging record labels to beg for interview time with their artists. His big break came three years later when he secured his first non-grime interview with Kelly Rowland.
From that, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Trey Songz and countless other A-listers followed. In 2011, he was invited to 10 Downing Street to interview the prime minister after being appointed a Spirit of London Awards ambassador.
Jamal was still hands-on with both filming and
