The Heartless Crew are a

UK garage 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 ...

crew from North

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The group has been credited for paving the way for

grime Grime may refer to: * Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust * Grime (music genre), a genre of music * ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity * ''Grime'' (video game), a 2021 Metroidvania video game * "Grime", a 2022 song by Dallas Wood ...

music, alongside

So Solid Crew So Solid Crew are a British UK garage and hip hop collective originating from the area on and surrounding the Winstanley and York Road Estates in Battersea, London which achieved wide success in the early 2000s. The group consisted of many m ...

and

Pay As U Go 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 ...

. Its original members are MCs Bushkin and Mighty Moe and DJ Fonti.

Career

Bushkin and Fonti are of

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

heritage, whilst Mighty Moe's mother is Palestinian and his father is from Iraq. The group were established in 1992 when Bushkin and Fonti met at North London's Holloway Boys School. Fonti would meet up with Mighty Moe at college. Originally, the crew had more members. The crew has stated their inspirations include Rory from Stonelove,

Shabba Ranks Shabba Ranks (born Rexton Rawlston Fernando Gordon; 17 January 1966) is a Jamaican dancehall musician. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was one of the most popular Jamaican musicians in the world. Throughout his prominence in his home cou ...

KRS-One Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from New York City. He rose to prominence as part of ...

, Stevie Hyper D, Inspector Longman and New Dimensions sound system, Sky Juice - Metro Media,

Buju Banton Mark Anthony Myrie (born 15 July 1973),Larkin, Colin (1998) "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books, professionally known by his stage name Buju Banton, is a Jamaican reggae dancehall musician. He is considered to be one of the most ...

, R. Kelly, DJ Brockie and MC Det. They started off playing at house parties and small clubs, moving through to a residency at Chimes nightclub in Hackney in 1996. 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 Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music. Similar to hip hop, sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music. Wayne Sm ...

, before eventually specialising in UK garage due to their popularity in the genre. By 1998, they had joined the

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...

station Mission 90.6 FM, pioneering a mix of R&B, hip-hop,

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...

and

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

derived sounds, taking its cues straight from the

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n sound system tradition, while adding fresh and modern elements from

. They also featured on London pirates Freek FM 101.8 and Y2K FM 90.6. In 2001, Heartless Crew had an notable clash with fellow UKG crew

. In 2002, they signed to

BBC Radio 1Xtra 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 cod ...

, where they presented their Sunday evening programme. They also released a debut

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

, '' Heartless Crew presents Crisp Biscuit Vol 1'' on the East West record label, closely followed by their debut

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, "The Heartless Theme a.k.a 'The Superglue Riddim'". The single reached number 21 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in May 2002. The music video for "The Heartless Theme" was

directed Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

by Andy Hylton. The crew were nominated at the

MOBO Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and Af ...

in 2002. They left 1Xtra in 2006. It was announced in 2010 that the Heartless Crew split up, to pursue solo careers whilst still remaining friends. MC Bushkin and DJ Fonti went on to present the F.A.B. (Fonti & Bushkin) show together on

Rinse FM 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 popula ...

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. MC Bushkin announced he was quitting MCing in 2014. In 2016, the trio returned as a group, headlining the sold out Garage Nation Festival to critical acclaim online. They have since appeared at

Notting Hill Carnival The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean festival event that has taken place in London since 1966

, 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 Ricardo Emmanuel Brown (born November 23, 1972), better known by his stage name Kurupt, is an American rapper and record producer who aided gangsta rap's rise via 1990s verses helping set lasting trends. He is one half of the rap duo Tha Dogg P ...

at a sold out

Brixton Academy Brixton Academy (originally known as the Astoria Variety Cinema, previously known as Carling Academy Brixton, currently named O2 Academy Brixton as part of a sponsorship deal with the O2 brand) is a mid-sized concert venue located in South Wes ...

show before the end of the year. In 2017, they continued performing at in demand events, appearing at the

Snowbombing Snowbombing is a ski resort festival, held annually in the spring at the Austrian ski resort of Mayrhofen. History The event has been run since 2000 when it was first held at the French resort of Risoul as an après-ski nightclub promotional exe ...

festival in Austria and at Annie Mac's Lost & Found Festival in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Discography

Albums

* '' Heartless Crew presents Crisp Biscuit Vol 1'' (May 2002) - #10 UK Compilation Album Chart

Singles

References

External links

''Heartless Crew''
(BBC Radio 1Xtra) {{Authority control English dance music groups Musical groups from London English hip hop groups UK garage groups British musical trios Musical groups established in 1992 Musical groups disestablished in 2010 Musical groups reestablished in 2016 East West Records artists