[12] He and Alexander-Sule formed Rizzle Kicks in 2008[11] after Stephens asked Alexander-Sule to sing on his mixtape 'Minor Breaches of Discipline';[10] Stephens had acquired the nickname "Green Rizla" at school after being accused of being part of a crew with that name, with that nickname later evolving into "Rizzle", and the "Kicks" part of the name coming from them both having just played a game of football.

[14] Between 2011 and 2014, Rizzle Kicks released eight singles that entered the UK Singles Chart ("Down with the Trumpets", "Heart Skips a Beat", "When I Was a Youngster", "Mama Do the Hump", "Traveller's Chant", "Lost Generation", "Skip to the Good Bit", and "Tell Her"), and two albums that entered the UK Albums Chart (Stereo Typical and Roaring 20s).

[16] The following year,[17] he featured on the remix of Meridian Dan's "German Whip",[18] which was released on 13 April,[19] and for which Stephens was credited as Rizzle Kicks.

[17] As "Wildhood", he released the 2015 singles "Double Dark" on 8 July and "Psycho Jam" on 30 October,[20] both of which featured on his extended play Vert on 16 March 2016.

[22] In July 2016, Stephens uploaded "SLBK" featuring Thunderbird Gerard to his Facebook page; its music video was compiled from old home recordings and footage taken at a Black Lives Matter march he attended earlier that month.

[29] Later that year, Stephens played Rob in the E4 drama series Glue;[30] its cast promoted the show with a 26 September 2014 appearance on Chatty Man.

[37] In December 2016,[38] Stephens appeared as Corporal Tonc,[39] a Rebel soldier in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,[38] on 29 December 2016, he appeared on Robot Wars; his robot Dee, a pink axlebot made in collaboration with the Terrorhurtz drivers, lost two of its fights by knockout but won the third by a split decision.

[48] On 11 October 2018, Stephens began presenting Don't Hate the Playaz, an ITV2 panel show which on first broadcast drew comparisons with Never Mind the Buzzcocks,[50] on which Stephens had twice appeared as half of Rizzle Kicks; first in December 2011 as guests,[51] and then on 4 November 2013 as hosts on an episode infamous for Huey Morgan losing his temper and throwing his coffee mug at the table.

[65] He used an August 2022 appearance on Fearne Cotton's "Happy Place" podcast to detail further struggles with body dysmorphia, anxiety, and drug addiction,[65] which he suffered with towards the end of his time with Rizzle Kicks, and throughout the making of Vert[66] as a consequence of depression, which was triggered by the death of his grandmother and the suicide of a close friend.

[67] His drug use included alcohol, "non-prescription ADHD medication",[68] cocaine,[69] and LSD; he attracted tabloid headlines in 2014 after using his Twitter account to enquire as to whether "anyone in London [could] help [him] get hold of any acid".

[6] In February 2021, Stephens was among one hundred public figures to sign an open letter to the BBC, organised by Yassmin Abdel-Magied and Mariam Khan, criticising what they called Emma Barnett's "strikingly hostile" interview of Zara Mohammed, the first woman and youngest person to be elected Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, and saying that her line of questioning perpetuated "damaging and prejudicial tropes" about Islam and Muslim women.