Born to Gambian and Senegalese parents on 23 November 1988, Alex Njie aka Lightnin is a grime MC and rapper from Plaistow, Newham, East London. Initially finding his feet as a performer aged eleven with performances on the playground at his secondary school Brampton Manor, he later joined forces with his friend Lil Nasty as part of his crew Straight From Hell.

With Lil Nasty hailing from a grime dynasty of successful siblings that included Marcus Nasty and MAK 10 of the hotly tipped N.A.S.T.Y. Crew, the brothers later absorbed Straight From Hell into their new subdivision, Younger N.A.S.T.Y. They debuted as a unit in summer 2004, before Lightnin’s voice had broken, teaming up with Crazy Titch’s youngers Kidz In The Hood to clash SLK for the first Lord of the Mics grime battle DVD.

After the N.A.S.T.Y. youngers merged into the main crew in 2005 following the departure of Kano, Lights took on a more prominent role in the main crew, appearing on the songs “In the Place”, “Nasty Bonanza” and “Nasty Time”. He was also embraced by Ruff Sqwad, who featured him on their 2005 song “Heat”, and appeared on YGC’s “Countdown Youngers” remix of their cult classic single.

By eighteen, Lightnin had matured into a versatile artist capable of conscious rap, and he found solo success with the Talay Riley-assisted street singles “Hard Life” (2006) and “Brother Love” (2007). The first of these spoke about street crime in their native Newham, while the second was a long-distance tribute to his two brothers, who were left in the Gambia when his family moved to London. Both songs reached the top ten chart on TV’s Channel U, which was ranked based on paid viewer votes.

Lightnin was closely involved with Ghetts, DJ Unique and videographer Risky Roadz' F**k Radio series of DVD sets between around 2006 and 2008, recorded at Unique’s house and featuring guests spanning London such as Wretch 32, Mercston, Devlin and Doller. It was at these sessions that the supergroup The Movement was formed, and Lightnin—who had Unique as his DJ at the time—was a founding member. He featured on one song on their debut mixtape Tempo Specialists (2006), “Darling Baby”, but is often left out of retellings of their history.

He released a solo mixtape, Young & Gifted, in 2008, which included “Brother Love” and a star-studded remix of “Hard Life” featuring Chip and Shifty Rydos. Other artists to appear on the project included Hitman Hyper, Ghetts, Scorcher, and Tinie Tempah. Some of its songs used recognised beats by the likes of Youngstar and Dem 2. Three years later, using the shortened stage name Lights, his single “Snapback” with Ghetts and Teddy Music was a minor success.

Nowadays he is associated with Pepstar’s No Stars recording studio, leaning more rap than grime. In 2018, he released the six-track Came Up EP. He has since released the singles “Don’t Try Me” featuring Tiny Boost and Kaos in 2020, “Bare Talk” featuring Suspect OTB in 2021, and “Ting I Like” featuring Levelle London in 2022. He was sampled by Unknown T and Talay’s brother Scribz Riley on their 2024 song “Hard Life”, and also appeared at a London Ruff Sqwad show in 2025 celebrating 20 years of Guns ‘n’ Roses.