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＃mcduke ＃ukhiphop ＃ukrap ＃ukvusarap
Originally a model and dancer, Duke began his music career at a DMC World Championships after show party, where the winner of the MC battle competition got on stage and boasted that he would beat any rapper who challenged him. Duke climbed on stage to take the challenge, and emerged victorious. The battle was witnessed by Derek Boland, who was acting as an A&R man for Music of Life records. He quickly arranged a meeting between Duke and Simon Harris, the head of the record label, where instead of bringing a demo tape, Duke rapped live in Harris’ office. Harris agreed to sign him.
Duke debuted with the track “Jus-Dis” on the compilation album Hard as Hell (Music of Life, 1987)- an album which also included Overlord X’s first track before he was later signed by Mango Records: in later years, Duke and X would develop a grudge that led to both producing music belittling each other. In 1988, Duke was support to Salt-N-Pepa on their UK tour.
A series of singles followed, with Duke finally pairing with longtime partner DJ Leader One on the single “Throw Your Hands in the Air” (Music of Life, 1989) and adding his name to the sleeve with Duke right up to their reincarnation as IC3 for the EPs Excalibur (Shut Up and Dance, 1992).
Duke and Leader One’s first album, Organised Rhyme (Music of Life, 1989),[6] was heavily featured on Music of Life’s 1989 Hustlers Convention album. It contained their most famous single, “I’m Riffin’ (English Rasta)” (Music of Life, 1989).[6] The single was popular amongst hip hop fans, and received airplay and often crops up on compilation albums.
More singles followed, as well as the follow-up album Return of the Dread-I (Music of Life, 1991),[6] but Duke parted company with Music of Life. Following this, he guested on other artists’ tracks, such as Phat Skillz’ “Dress Like Your Enemy”/”Phat Skillz” (Effect, 1992), before moving to the Shut Up and Dance record label for the IC3 project.
In the 1990s, he linked up with the Suburban Base record label to put out breakbeat and jungle tracks on his own record label Hard Disk.
An album for Shut Up and Dance never materialised, but Duke continued to guest on other artist’s tunes, such as Lisa Pin-Up, DJ Elvira & DJ Modelle’s “Another Jam” (Rock Hard Recordings, 2000). Following this, Duke disappeared from the limelight, although his track “I’m Riffin’ (English Rasta)” was sampled for C90’s dance hit “Miracle Maker (I’m Riffin)” (Twenty-Three Seven Recordings, 2001).
In 2007, he also appeared in UK hip hop artist Charlie Sloth’s song, “Can’t Forget About UK”. The song was a tribute to pioneering rappers from the UK.
Duke usually appeared at live events and in videos with his backing dancers Billy Boy and Seeker. Both featured on the front cover of the Organised Rhyme album.

#derekb #ukrap ukhiphop #ukvusarap

Dj Derek B UK Raps first superstar 1987! Born in Hammersmith, London, to Trinidadian nurse Jenny Boland, he was raised in Woodford. He attended Churchfields Junior School. When he was fifteen years old, he began DJing in a mobile unit around London, before joining local pirate radio stations such as Kiss FM and LWR and finally starting his own station, WBLS (not to be confused with the radio station of the same name in New York City).

He joined Simon Harris’ Music of Life record label, as the closest thing they had to an A&R man. When a planned compilation of US hip hop called Def Beats 1 (Music of Life, 1986) ran short of tracks, Boland stepped in to record a track called “Rock the Beat”. He co-produced the track with Harris, rapped on it under the pseudonym EZQ, and also did his own deejaying under the name “Derek B”. “Rock the Beat” (Music of Life, 1987) was released as a single, and was followed by three more – the most successful of which were “Goodgroove” (Music of Life, 1988), and “Bad Young Brother”, both of which reached No. 16 in the UK Singles Chart.[3] Derek B’s third and final UK chart entry was “We’ve Got the Juice”, which peaked at No. 56.

Derek B was the first UK rapper to achieve pop success, appearing on BBC Television’s Top of the Pops at a time when the only other rappers who had appeared were Break Machine and Doug E. Fresh. He received criticism for rapping under an assumed American accent, something which was popular in the early days of British hip-hop, but later abandoned by some artists. Following his chart success, Derek B was signed up to Rush Artist Management and released singles and the album, Bullet from a Gun (Tuff Audio, 1988). Derek B was also successful as a record producer and remixer, working with the Cookie Crew, Thrashpack, and Eric B and Rakim In 1988, he also helped to write the Liverpool F.C. anthem, “Anfield Rap”.

Liam Howlett from Prodigy is a Bboy from HiPHop culture! Liam Paul Paris Howlett was born on 21 August 1971 in Braintree, Essex, England. Howlett was trained in classical piano (from childhood). At the age of 14, he mixed songs recorded from the radio using the pause button on his cassette player. He was first influenced by hip hop music and culture when he began to attend school at Alec Hunter High School in Braintree. He learned breakdancing alongside his crew called the Pure City Breakers, and DJed in his first band Cut 2 Kill. After a fight at a gig in support of the band, Liam left Cut 2 Kill and started to write his own music.

#goldieartist #graffitiart #hiphop #drumandbass #junglemusic

Goldie is a legend in Hiphop and Jungle who started out as a bboy and graffiti writer before creating his drum and bass label Metalheadz. Born in Walsall, England, but raised in Wolverhampton, Goldie is of Jamaican and Scottish heritage. Goldie was a member of the breakdance crew Westside, based in the Whitmore Reans and Heath Town areas of Wolverhampton, in the 1980s. He later joined a breakdance crew called the Birmingham Bboys, and made his name as a graffiti artist in the West Midlands. His artwork around Birmingham and Wolverhampton was featured heavily in Dick Fontaine’s documentary Bombin’. He is mentioned for his graffiti in the book Spraycan Art by Henry Chalfant and James Prigoff, which contains several examples of his art. He moved to the United States owing to graffiti projects, and also started selling grills (gold teeth jewellery) in New York and Miami; he continued this business after his return to the UK in 1988. His nickname stems from “Goldielocks”, an earlier nickname given to him during his Bboys days and subsequently shortened when he no longer wore dreadlocks.