Genaside II

Last updated

Genaside II
Also known asGII
Origin Brixton, London, England
Genres
Years active
  • 1989–1991
  • 1995–2002
Labels
Past membersKris Bonez
Chilly Phats
Fragile Scotty
Jaz
James Da Shit
Killerman Archer

Genaside II were a British musical group active from 1989 to 2002 from the Brixton area of London, with a musical style spanning breakbeat hardcore, jungle, hip-hop, big beat, and trip hop. The band had a varying line-up, with the duo of Kris Bonez and Chilly Phatz at its core. [1]

Contents

They are best known for their influential 1991 single "Narra Mine", which made use of soulful female vocals, raw MCing, and Hardnoise's drum samples from "Mice in the Presence of the Lion". [2] [3] The single was a success in the hardcore scene, and a seminal contribution to the darker and heavier sound that preceded jungle and drum and bass. [1] Their contemporary Acen cited "Narra Mine" as one of the biggest rave anthems of the era, and Alexis Petridis described it as "hardcore's answer to Massive Attack's 'Unfinished Sympathy'." [4] [3] Rapper M.I.A. hailed "Narra Mine" as one of the songs that inspired her to pursue a career in music. [5]

After a brief split, Phatz and Bonez reunited in 1995 and were signed to Internal. Their debut album, 1996's New Life 4 Tha Hunted, featured guest appearances from the New Power Generation band, Eek-A-Mouse, Rose Windross and Wu-Tang Clan member Cappadonna and their affiliates Othorized F.A.M. Three of the album's songs were recorded at the Wu-Tang Clan's studios in Staten Island. Their following album, 1999's Ad Finité, incorporated orchestral, breakbeat, and operatic elements. It featured a guest appearance from Tricky, a longtime friend of the band, and was published on his label, Durban Poison. [6] [7] [8]

As one of Liam Howlett's favourite groups, he commissioned Genaside II for a remix of "Jericho" for The Prodigy's 1992 Fire/Jericho single, and their sound reportedly inspired the 1996 hit "Firestarter". The group would later support the Prodigy for some shows, including their 1997 outdoor festival at the Red Square in Moscow, where they played to an audience of 350,000 people. [3] [7] [9] Lee Pomeroy, who was a live bass player for Genaside II at the time, described the Red Square show as his first big break. [10]

Discography

Studio albums

Selected singles/EPs

References

  1. 1 2 Bush, John. "Genaside II Biography". AllMusic . Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  2. ↑ Warwick, Oli (19 November 2020). "Systems Overload: Britcore and the UK underground". International Orange.
  3. 1 2 3 Petridis, Alexis (27 August 2020). "The greatest hardcore rave tracks – ranked!". The Guardian . Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  4. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (January 2021). "Lunar personality: an interview with Acen - The Wire". The Wire . Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  5. ↑ Arulpragasam, Mathangi “Maya” (2007). "M.I.A." Red Bull Music Academy (Transcript). Interviewed by Benjamin Benstead. Red Bull GmbH.
  6. ↑ Bush, John. "Ad Finite Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
  7. 1 2 Simutis, David (24 February 2000). "Big Beat". Houston Press . Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  8. ↑ Galvin, Chris (August 1999). "Genaside: We're Not Jungle". djmixed.com. Archived from the original on 27 June 2003. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  9. ↑ Lawrence, Eddy (December 1997). "Rock 'n' Roll Czars - The Prodigy and Genaside II turn Red Square into Glasnostbury". Select . EMAP Metro.
  10. ↑ Davies, Claire (26 February 2014). "Lee Pomeroy: an insider's view of the session world". MusicRadar. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.