Straight outta Dorset…
Probably the most high profile survivor of the Swanage Hip Hop wars of the late eighties, Johnny Rench shifted his power base from his native Poole to the Wild West country frontier towns of Keynsham, Radstock and eventually Midsomer ‘Murder’ Norton. He kept moving, kept one step ahead of his enemies and kept producing his own raw, savage neo-primal brand of hip hop and rap.
There were those who felt he’d run to MSN for safety. How wrong they would prove to be. Known as the Baghdad of the West the whole area was a no go zone for the authorities and had, for years, been treated as a private fiefdom by the colossus of rap MC RTA and his vicious BA3 crew, whose thuggery was the stuff of legend. The fact that Johnny is still out there doing it while RTA is more likely to be found putting on his slippers in front of reruns of Howard’s Way, tells its own story.
Today, Johnny’s music has hardened like the scars of past battles, is rich with history and yet still speaks to a new generation of disaffected youth. Straight out of Dorset … right into your face.
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