Roni Size / Reprazent

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Roni Size / Reprazent is a British drum and bass group formed around the producer Roni Size, in everyday life Ryan Williams, from Bristol. He founded the group so that he could also play live the tracks he made in the studio. The first live performance followed in April 1997 at the Tribal Gathering festival. The group included members of his label Full Cycle, among them Krust, DJ Die and DJ Suv, who stood behind their equipment, with the singer Onallee, the MC Dynamite MC, the bassist Si John and the drummer Clive Deamer on stage.

Music and breakthrough

The debut album New Forms was released in June 1997. Singles came out with Onallee's voice, such as Brown Paper Bag, Heroes, Share the Fall and Watching Windows. The album went five times platinum and in 1997 won the Mercury Prize, a special recognition for a dance group. In 2000 In the Mode followed, with guests such as Rahzel, Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine and Method Man. In later years the group played at major festivals, including Glastonbury and Coachella, and together with an orchestra and choir at the reopening of Colston Hall in Bristol.

Influence

The group's hallmark is that drum and bass is also played live. Alongside the driving jungle rhythms we hear real drums and an upright bass, and the music blends influences from hip-hop, funk, soul and house. The Guardian called Brown Paper Bag a masterpiece that piles up layers of melody and rhythm and then breaks them down again. With this album an electronic style moved from the underground into the mainstream of British pop music.

Listening

• 
  Brown Paper Bag · Roni Size / Reprazent, 1997
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 1997New Forms
• 2000In the Møde
• 2008New Forms²

See also

• Jungle and drum and bass