Hijack were a British hip hop group, hailing from

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

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 ...

, featuring Kamanchi Sly, DJ Supreme, DJ Undercover, Ulysses, Agent Fritz and Agent Clueso. Their first

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 ...

, "Style Wars" (

Music of Life Music of Life is a British independent hip hop and dance music label formed in 1986 by two influential DJ remixers Froggy and Simon Harris, managed by Chris France. Following several successful productions, one of which reached No. 3 in the U ...

, 1988) caught the attention of the

British hip hop British hip hop, also known as UK hip hop or UK rap, is a genre of music, and a culture that covers a variety of styles of hip hop music made in the United Kingdom. It is generally classified as one of a number of styles of R&B/Hip-Hop. Britis ...

community. Their next release, "Hold No Hostage"/"Doomsday of Rap" (Music of Life, 1989) became an underground

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

across Europe, bringing them to the attention of

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

rapper Ice-T.

Overview

Ice-T signed the group to his own Rhyme Syndicate

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

, and they recorded and released the single "The Badman is Robbin'" (Rhyme Syndicate, 1989). The track reached #56 in 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 ...

. The group's debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, ''The Horns of Jericho'' (Rhyme Syndicate, 1991), was recorded around the same time. Hijack also released the single "Style Wars - Style Warriors Revenge" back on the Music of Life label while they were waiting for their album to be released but

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(who had a distribution deal with Rhyme Syndicate) did not release the album in the

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''The Horns of Jericho'' (1991-1994)

In 1991, ''The Horns of Jericho'' was released, but not in the U.S. The group released the single "Daddy Rich" which was popular in the UK. The music video for "Daddy Rich" was shot in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Breakup

Because Warner Brothers did not release the album to the US market, Hijack soon parted company with the label then later split due to musical differences and went their separate ways. DJ Supreme founded Backbone Records, whilst Kamanchi Sly and DJ Undercover founded Reservoir Records and recorded as Mr Pink and Mr Blonde for a short period. Sly also appeared on Nicolas Dresti's singles "Tha Wildstyle" and "Tha Horns of Jericho". Nicolas assumed the name of DJ Supreme in 1996 which he used until 1998. Kamanchi Sly changed his name to Unknown MC and had

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

success with his brother, DJ Pied Piper.

DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies were a UK garage collaboration between producer and DJ Pied Piper and the emcees MC DT (responsible for the line "we're loving it, loving it, loving it"), Melody, Sharky P and the Unknown MC (Kamanc ...

' single "

Do You Really Like It? "Do You Really Like It?" is a song by UK garage music group DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies. The single went to number one on the UK Singles Chart in June 2001. The song has sold over 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom according to ...

" (Relentless Records, 2001) reached number one in the UK. Since then, Kamanchi Sly released two EPs in 2004. DJ Supreme attended the Scratchcon 2000 seminar in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, which was hosted by

DJ Qbert Richard Quitevis (born October 7, 1969) known by his stage name DJ Qbert or Qbert, is an American turntablist and composer. He was awarded America's Best DJ in 2010, was DMC USA Champion 1991 (solo) and achieved titles as DMC World Champion in ...

. Supreme is an active DJ on the

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circuit and continues to work in

record production A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

. His most recent project included the making of his semi-biographical

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, ''The Turntable Trixters'', which chronicles the history of Hijack. The film was recently screened by the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

and a

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is available. Hijack have re-formed and released a single in 2016 under Reservoir Records entitled "Doing What We Wonna Do". Alongside this, Kamanchi Sly has also released some solo music via his channel on YouTube.

Discography

* ''Style Wars'' (Music of Life Records, 1988) * ''Hold No Hostage / Doomsday of Rap'' (Music of Life Records, 1989) * ''The Badman Is Robbin'' (Rhyme Syndicate Records, 1990) * ''Style Warriors Revenge'' (Music of Life Records, 1990) * ''Daddy Rich'' (Rhyme Syndicate Records, 1991) * ''The Horns of Jericho'' (Rhyme Syndicate Records, 1991) * ''The Original Horns of Jericho / Instrumental Movie Soundtrack'' (Reservoir Records, 1997) * ''The Horns of Jericho 25th Anniversary Release'' (BackBone Records, 2015)

References

External links

* * Allmusic.com - Discography {{Authority control English hip hop groups Musical groups from London