Heartless Crew

Last updated

Heartless Crew
Origin London, England
Genres UK garage, grime, R&B, dancehall, hip hop, jungle
Years active1992–2010, 2016–present
Labels East West Records, Bush Bash Records
MembersMC Bushkin
MC Mighty Moe
DJ Fonti
Website heartlesscrew.com

The Heartless Crew are a UK garage crew from North London. The group has been credited for paving the way for grime music, alongside So Solid Crew and Pay As U Go. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Its original members are MCs Bushkin and Mighty Moe and DJ Fonti. [4] [1] [5]

Career

Bushkin and Fonti are of West Indian heritage, whilst Mighty Moe's mother is Palestinian and his father is from Iraq. [5]

The group were established in 1992 when Bushkin and Fonti met at North London's Holloway Boys School. [1] [6] [2] [5] Fonti would meet up with Mighty Moe at college. Originally, the crew had more members. [7] The crew has stated their inspirations include Rory from Stonelove, Shabba Ranks, KRS-One, Stevie Hyper D, Inspector Longman and New Dimensions sound system, Sky Juice - Metro Media, Buju Banton, R. Kelly, DJ Brockie and MC Det. [1] [4] They started off playing at house parties and small clubs, moving through to a residency at Chimes nightclub in Hackney in 1996. [1] [6] Their first performance at Chimes nightclub was in 1994. Prior to becoming a UK garage crew, the collective ran a mobile sound system, where they would play various genres such as hip hop, R&B and ragga, before eventually specialising in UK garage due to their popularity in the genre. [4] [6]

By 1998, they had joined the pirate radio station Mission 90.6 FM, [8] [1] pioneering a mix of R&B, hip-hop, jungle and dancehall derived sounds, taking its cues straight from the Jamaican sound system tradition, while adding fresh and modern elements from UK garage. They also featured on London pirates Freek FM 101.8 and Y2K FM 90.6. [9] In 2001, Heartless Crew had an notable clash with fellow UKG crew Pay As U Go. [1]

In 2002, they signed to BBC Radio 1Xtra, where they presented their Sunday evening programme. [5] [10] They also released a debut compilation album, Heartless Crew presents Crisp Biscuit Vol 1 on the East West record label, closely followed by their debut single, "The Heartless Theme a.k.a 'The Superglue Riddim'". [1] [10] The single reached number 21 on the UK Singles Chart in May 2002. [11] The music video for "The Heartless Theme" was directed by Andy Hylton. [12] The crew were nominated at the MOBO Awards in 2002. [5] They left 1Xtra in 2006.[ citation needed ]

It was announced in 2010 that the Heartless Crew split up, to pursue solo careers whilst still remaining friends. [3] [10] [13] MC Bushkin and DJ Fonti went on to present the F.A.B. (Fonti & Bushkin) show together on Rinse FM on Friday evenings between 7-9pm, however they left the station in late 2012/early 2013, with Bushkin pursuing a career as a recording artist.[ citation needed ] MC Bushkin announced he was quitting MCing in 2014. [3] [10]

In 2016, the trio returned as a group, headlining the sold out Garage Nation Festival to critical acclaim online. [14] They have since appeared at Notting Hill Carnival, headlined the o2 Academy in Leicester and performed as special guests at Eskimo Dance in Bristol. They were also set to appear at Birmingham's notorious club night 0231 at Rainbow Venues and alongside Kurupt FM at a sold out Brixton Academy show before the end of the year. In 2017, they continued performing at in demand events, appearing at the Snowbombing festival in Austria and at Annie Mac's Lost & Found Festival in Malta. [15]

Discography

Albums

Singles

YearSinglePeak chart positionsAlbum
UK
[11]
2002"The Heartless Theme"21Heartless Crew presents Crisp Biscuit Vol 1
2003"Why (Looking Back)"50Singles only
"Hearts in the Music"—
"—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released.

Related Research Articles

Grime is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) that emerged in London in the early 2000s. It developed out of the earlier UK dance style UK garage, and draws influences from jungle, dancehall, and hip hop. The style is typified by rapid, syncopated breakbeats, generally around 140 beats per minute, and often features an aggressive or jagged electronic sound. Emceeing is a significant element of the style, and lyrics often revolve around gritty depictions of urban life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiley (musician)</span> British rapper (born 1979)

Richard Kylea Cowie Jr. MBE, better known by his stage name Wiley, is a British grime MC, rapper, songwriter, DJ and record producer from Bow, London. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and most successful artists from the UK.

Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken beat, grime, and drum and bass. In the United Kingdom, the origins of the genre can be traced back to the growth of the Jamaican sound system party scene in the early 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plastician</span> Musical artist

Chris Reed, also known as Plastician, is an electronic musician from Thornton Heath in the London Borough of Croydon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rinse FM</span> London-based radio station, critical in the emergence of dubstep and grime

Rinse FM is a London-based community radio station, licensed for "young people living and/or working within the central, east and south London areas". It plays garage, grime, dubstep, house, jungle, UK funky and other dance music genres popular in the United Kingdom.

Bassline is a music genre closely related to UK garage that originated in South Yorkshire and the West Midlands in the early 2000s. Stylistically it comprises a four-to-the-floor rhythm normally at around 135–142 beats per minute and a strong emphasis on bass, similar to that of its precursor speed garage, with chopped up vocal samples and a pop music aesthetic.

<i>Heartless Crew Presents Crisp Biscuit Vol 1</i> 2002 compilation album by Heartless Crew

Heartless Crew Presents Crisp Biscuit Vol 1 is a compilation album by the Heartless Crew, released in 2002 featuring the MC members of Heartless Crew toasting on several of the tracks.

DJ Cameo is an English DJ and former host of "Pirate Sessions", a now-defunct Sunday afternoon grime show on the digital UK radio station BBC 1Xtra. He later hosted the Tuesday night UKG show, but on 4 November 2015 it was announced that he would be replaced by a new DJ called Jamz Supernova who would be playing R&B. The music Cameo produces varies from 2-step vocals, to 4x4, to grime, and sublow. In 2004, Cameo was voted winner of the "Best Newcomer" Award for the garage scene's 2004 Peoples Choice Awards held in London. Cameo also received two back to back awards on behalf of Uptown Records, winner of best record shop.

Logan Sama is an English Grime DJ from Brentwood, Essex. He has appeared regularly throughout his career on radio stations Rinse, Kiss 100 and BBC Radio 1. He also runs the record labels Adamantium Music, Earth616 and KeepinItGrimy through which he has released projects for artists and producers across vinyl and digital formats. He also founded KeepinItGrimy, a brand entirely focused on Grime activity.

So Solid Crew are a British UK garage and hip hop collective originating from Battersea, London, which achieved wide success in the early 2000s. The group consisted of many members, the most notable being Asher D, Lisa Maffia, Harvey and Romeo. So Solid have been credited for being pioneers in the UK music scene. By turning UK garage from a dancey-genre to one that was darker and more MC-oriented, and gaining mainstream success, they inspired London youth to experiment with their own darker sounds, leading to what would become known as grime music.

BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been code named "Network X" during the consultation period. At the time, the station was listed as "1 Xtra BBC" on many electronic programming guides. The station broadcasts from the 8th floor of Broadcasting House, shared with Radio 1 and the Asian Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Novelist (musician)</span> Musical artist

Kwadwo Quentin Kankam, better known by his stage name Novelist, is a British grime MC and record producer from Lewisham in South London. He was a founding member of the Square crew and was nominated for Best Grime Act at the 2014 MOBO Awards. He has been called the "new face of grime" and was described as "the poster child for the first generation of real grime kids" by DJ Logan Sama.

UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. It is defined by percussive, shuffled rhythms with syncopated hi-hats, cymbals, and snares, and may include either 4/4 house kick patterns or more irregular "2-step" rhythms. Garage tracks also commonly feature 'chopped up' and time-stretched or pitch-shifted vocal samples complementing the underlying rhythmic structure at a tempo usually around 130 BPM.

Cadell Ramsey, better known by his stage name GHSTLY XXVII and formerly as Ghostly, is an English grime MC and producer from Acton, West London. He has appeared on BBC Radio 1Xtra, as well as pirate radio stations such as Deja Vu FM, Mode FM and Rinse FM.

Anthony George Harris, better known by his stage name President T, is a British grime artist from North London. President T was born in Birmingham, but moved to Tottenham, North London when he was 3 years old. He is known for his distinct style of delivery, offbeat rhyming patterns, and flow.

Pay As U Go or Pay As U Go Cartel were a UK garage crew formed in 2000. In 2002, the collective achieved a No. 13 UK hit with "Champagne Dance". After Pay As U Go disbanded, Wiley went on to form the grime crew Roll Deep with fellow Pay As U Go members. Roll Deep would eventually include prominent artists such as Dizzee Rascal, Tinchy Stryder and Skepta.

London Underground FM was a mid-1990s to early-2000s pirate radio station in London.

Shaun Barker, known by the stage name Bruza, is a British grime MC and rapper from Walthamstow, East London.

The Heatwave is a dancehall sound system and production crew from London. They have performed at clubs and festivals worldwide since 2003, and produced and released music since 2004.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 AnotherMan. "A Brief History of Grime, as Told by DJ Target". AnotherMan. Archived from the original on 13 September 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Pay As U Go Crawled So That Grime Could Walk". trenchtrenchtrench.com. Archived from the original on 14 June 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 "MC Bushkin (Heartless Crew) Exclusive Interview". 16 February 2017. Archived from the original on 4 November 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 "UK Garage Music, Garage Audio, Garage News and Underground Garage MP3". 26 February 2001. Archived from the original on 26 February 2001. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Crew who opened the garage door - Telegraph". 30 September 2019. Archived from the original on 30 September 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 "Heartless Crew Mixes! plus pictures, interviews, lyrics and more!". 14 October 2004. Archived from the original on 14 October 2004. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  7. ↑ Geeneus with Heartless Crew, archived from the original on 28 August 2019, retrieved 4 November 2019
  8. ↑ Grime Kids: The Inside Story of the Global Grime Takeover - By DJ Target - Publisher: Trapeze; Reprint edition (July 23, 2019) - ISBN   978-1409179535
  9. ↑ Heartless Crew on London pirate radio
  10. 1 2 3 4 "After reunion, Heartless Crew's MC Bushkin to perform solo in Dubai". The National. 13 July 2016. Archived from the original on 4 November 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  11. 1 2 3 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 248. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  12. ↑ "Andyhylton.com". Archived from the original on 23 May 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  13. ↑ "Sidewinder Classics: A Set from 2005 Featuring Heartless Crew". Complex Networks . Archived from the original on 4 November 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  14. ↑ "After reunion, Heartless Crew's MC Bushkin to perform solo in Dubai | the National". Archived from the original on 14 July 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  15. ↑ "Heartless Crew". Facebook.com.
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.