Born on the 4th of March, 1982 (same day as Bobby Womack!). I grew up in a sleepy Cotswold village and often hid-out in a derelict barn playing old 45s on a decrepit gramophone. Before leaving primary school I'd already bought my first 7 rap single, Vanilla Ice's 'Ice, Ice Baby'. My dad got me into hip-hop age 8 after buying a dodgy looking cassette called House Hits 88 in a petrol station. The tape included forgotten classics by Salt n Pepa and Kid n Play plus Coldcuts, Doctor in The House. Repeated rewinds of the later proved to be a formative influence, resulting in an obsession with sampling.
Later on I had lessons in Piano and Guitar, however I gave up both after realising I hated practicing. Luckily, my Uncle allowed me to use his studio and produce my first track at the age of 13, it was shockingly bad. As a result I got a job and saved up for an Atari ST1000, a rubbish albeit MIDI compatible keyboard and a cracked copy of Cubase Version 1.0.
Then I practiced and practiced and practiced, making hundreds of dubious dance tracks in the process. Over the course of my teenage years I also began DJ-ing. However my first gig was for a stupid girls birthday party and I was forced to play Shania Twain - it was a shameful night. At eighteen I went to University where I finally got a decent computer and a better copy of Cubase. By my third year I'd set up a specialist rap show on campus radio, rocked the Students Union and met Example (who I intially thought was a arsehole...the feeling was mutual). Soon beats were produced, lyrics spat and studio time booked. An unlikely friendship and musical partnership was born and the rest is history...
Here's some videos. See if you can spot all my cameos. Oh and a live bit. I'm not in that much.
