All of the members of N-Dubz attended school in St John's Wood (Quintin Kynaston School), and came together as a group under the management of Dino Contostavlos's father, Byron Contostavlos (formerly of Mungo Jerry), who died on 12 April 2007. Members Dino (Dappy) and Tula (Tulisa) are cousins. Each appeared on Channel 4's Dubplate Drama after they began to get noticed as a group. Performing as the Lickle Rinsers Crew, they released the singles "Bad Man Riddim" and "Life Is Getting Sicker by the Day", which became hits on English pirate radio stations.  Before their first single release, when they were known as NW1, they made a music video for the track "Everyday Of My Life" which received airplay on Channel U, they also recorded more demos as NW1 such as "Don't Feel Like Moving", "Girl On Road" and "Livin Broke". Their first single to be released was "You Better Not Waste My Time" available for download only until their 2006 self-released single, "I Swear", won them their first mainstream notice. It wasn't until 2007's "Feva Las Vegas" (also self-released) that the group appeared on the UK charts, peaking at #57.

After winning a MOBO for Best Newcomer, the group signed to Polydor Records and re-released their first single "You Better Not Waste My Time" on the label, which debuted at #26 on the UK singles chart. In mid 2007, Dappy released "Love for my Slums" with fellow UK artist Baker Troble. This song was number one on Channel U for many weeks, and was a big hit with the UK underground rap scene. Dappy appeared on the television show Never Mind The Buzzcocks on 29 November 2007, and wore a trademark floppy eared hat which Simon Amstell also sported as part of a gag. He appeared for a second time in late 2008.

N-Dubz have joined forces with the likes of Tinchy Stryder and Pixie Lott to record a charity song for War Child. The Noisettes, Chipmunk, MPHO, Ironik and Kid British have also signed up for the project under the name The Young Soul Rebels. The music stars will release 'I Got Soul', a rewritten version of The Killers's 'All These Things That I've Done', to raise money for marginalised children in war zones. Tulisa has admitted she felt privileged to record the charity song. "It's an issue that hasn't been looked at enough. And you know, even until I found out about this event, I didn't really know that much about it, and that's saying something you know. And the fact that I'm only finding out now is not really good enough. So that was every reason for me to get involved." She told BBC Newsbeat.

The group will be will be embarking on a Chistmas Party Tour from the November 17, 2009. They will visit 10 cities across the UK performing a couple of songs from their album "Uncle B" and some songs from their as-yet untitled second album as a taster for its release, as confirmed by their official MySpace page. The tour poster can also be viewed on their MySpace.