Radio LBB: Hip Hop Shaped My Life

Growing up in Highbury, North London, I was slap bang in the middle of what was the heart and soul of one of the most vibrant and energetic music scenes of the last 40 years. Hip Hop was not a genre, unlike Jungle or latterly Grime or Dubstep, that we in the UK could claim to have spawned. In the mid to late 1990’s and early 2000’s UK Hip Hop artists did however fervently and beautifully put their own stamp on the genre. I was lucky enough to live my whole life on the doorstep of a thriving and burgeoning scene. I walked the same streets as my favourite musicians and would regularly see them in our local corner shop.

There were a few of us equally obsessed with this music and we would go to each other's houses and have battles as we attempted to learn how to scratch and juggle. We were mesmerised by the Scratch Perverts for example. Things progressed and we spent many evenings DJing in local bars (when we were clearly still underage) attempting to outdo each other technically but also tear it up with recently purchased records we bought that week from MSM in Camden or Disque on Chapel Market (RIP to the both of them).

This is just a snapshot, but in short, because of this music, I had many formative musical experiences and discoveries in my teens that felt incredibly special and unique. It was a relatively small scene so you really felt you were part of it - and integral to it too as a punter and consumer.

Having this fairly niche taste got me and my friends into making mixtapes. This in turn developed into discovering more and different bits of recording equipment, which then led onto teaching ourselves how to make music using computers. Without this journey, I’m certain I would not do what I do today. I make a living doing what I adore. Making music and creating sounds from scratch. Being able to manipulate audio to produce exactly what you imagine and hear in your head is a wonderful thing - and in large part thanks to these wonderfully raw and talented artists I grew up on.