Reprazent
Reprazent is a British drum and bass act formed by Roni Size. Their debut album New Forms won the Mercury Music Prize in 1997.[1] Their follow-up album In the Møde featured artists including Rahzel, Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine and Method Man.
Roni Size resurrected Reprazent in 2008 with the release of a deluxe edition of New Forms on Universal,[2] but in September 2008 announced his intention to disband the act following a third album.[3]
Reprazent's music has been described as containing “meticulously crafted break-beats that, when slowed down, revealed themselves as hip-hop beats”.[4] The most popular track, “Brown Paper Bag”, was praised in the Guardian as a “masterpiece: an essay in hyperkinetic pace, it piles up teetering stacks of instrumental layers, their cumulative weight triggering each step in a constant cycle of demolition and reconstruction of its latticework of melody, rhythm and mood".[5]
The singles from New Forms featured the vocals of Onallee, whose call for the music in "Brown Paper Bag" is a signal that became widespread in rave culture.[6] The album went platinum and Roni Size returned to the studio to concentrate on his output for V and Full Cycle and Dope Dragon.
Reforming the band, complete with original members Dynamite MC, Onallee and the bassist Si John, alongside Yuval Gabay (Soul Coughing), D Product, Jay Wilcox and Pete Josef; Roni Size and Reprazent toured some of the biggest festivals in Europe including Bestival, Glastonbury, Lovebox (festival), Exit and Rock Herk. As a result, they were amongst the nominations for best dance act from the UK Festival Awards.
Members
- Roni Size - programming/production/keyboards
Current members
- Onallee - vocals
- Dynamite MC - raps
- Pete Josef - guitar
- Si John - electric & upright bass
- D Product - synthesiser
- Jay Wilcox - keyboards
- Yuval Gabay - drums
Former members
- DJ Die - programming/production
- DJ Suv - programming/production
- Krust - programming/production
- Clive Deamer - drums (now with Radiohead & Portishead)
- Rob Merrill - drums
Discography
- New Forms (1997)
- In the Møde (2000)
- New Forms² (2008)
References
- ↑ Hegarty, Khalil (13 May 2005). "Independence days". The Age. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
- ↑ McDonnell, Evelyn (17 April 2009). "Roni Size and Reprazent bring back their beat". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
- ↑ "Former Mercury Prize winner Roni Size to split up Reprazent". 15 September 2008. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
- ↑ Hesmondhalgh, David and Caspar Melville. “Urban Breakbeat Culture: Repercussions of Hip-Hop in the United Kingdom.” In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA, 86–110. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.
- ↑ Batey, Angus (21 February 2008). "Roni Size/Reprazent". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ↑ A Cardew: Resident Advisor Biography 21 January 2009