Kaliphz were a

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 ...

group, formed in

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

by 2-Phaan (real name Mush Khan) and Jabba da Hype (real name Jabbar Khan). They began as part of the

breakdancing Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in t ...

scene in the early 1980s before branching out into spoken word and

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

as other members joined the

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

. The group had a constantly shifting membership, and various name changes reflected this. The decline in fame and musical talent was due to the ever shifting members, Bert was the carrier of the group, as his lyrics and vocals were dearly needed, and proved to be the reason the group was successful. Kaliphz are most well known for a subsequent pop career as Kaleef, during which they recorded a record with

Prince Naseem Hamed Naseem Hamed (born 12 February 1974), nicknamed Prince Naseem and Naz, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2002.. Retrieved 25 February 2016. He held multiple featherweight world championships, including the WBO ti ...

and also a remix of

the Stranglers The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 19 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have origin ...

' "

Golden Brown "Golden Brown" is a song by the English rock band the Stranglers released as a 7-inch single on EMI's Liberty label in 1982, noted for its distinctive harpsichord instrumentation. It was the second single released from the band's sixth studio ...

History

Kaliphz were formed in

(a working class town in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

) by the

British Asian British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as Asian/Asian Bri ...

s 2-Phaan and Jabba da Hype. Inspired by a performance of the

Rock Steady Crew Rock Steady Crew is an American breaking and hip hop group which has become a franchise name for multiple groups in other locations. The group's 1983 international hit song " (Hey You) The Rock Steady Crew" (from the group's first studio album ...

they saw in 1982, the duo formed a breakdance and

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

crew called Dizzy Footwork, Dizzy footwork were formed and inspired by the Original Members of Dizzy Footwork Crew Mush, Zulf, and Peps childhood friends from the Wardleworth area of Rochdale. Kaliphz were ultimately born out of Dizzy footwork. Mush and Jabba also began to do rap based politically charged

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

performances under the name Nu Konshus Kaliphz. They were joined by Poet Saquib who managed the band for a short while, Chok the Phunky Polak, DJ XL, Sniffa Dog NAD and Sefton to form the first line up of what became the Kaliphz. In 1993, the

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

team of Martin Price and Nel Johnson a.k.a. 'FunkRegulators' arranged for the group to be signed to London Records and Payday records in the US. Funk Regulators recorded and produced the Kaliphz debut album along with a track for the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

to the film ''

Shopping Shopping is an activity in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the potential intent to purchase a suitable selection of them. A typology of shopper types has been developed by scho ...

''. The

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

, ''Seven Deadly Sins'' (Payday/FFRR, 1995) featured a strong political and anti-racist stance, and received moderate critical acclaim, but London Records were not satisfied with its sales. The group expanded with the addition of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

-based rapper Wiz (aka Oddball, real name Paul Edmeade) who had recently departed the group Breaking the Illusion. Following this, London's A&R man

Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as ''Essential Mix'' and ''Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio stre ...

suggested them to Jive Records, who paired the group with the

record producer 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 ...

Pete Waterman Peter Alan Waterman, (born 15 January 1947) is an English record producer, songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Water ...

. Under Waterman's influence, and

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 ...

pressure, the group changed their name again to Kaleef and moved their musical style in a more pop direction. This led to the recording of their second album, ''53rd State of Mind'' (Jive, 1997). Unhappy with the directions they were moving in, the group split shortly after the release of their second album. The band appeared 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 ...

with (as Kaliphz) "Walk Like a Champion" (Payday/FFRR, 1995) featuring boxer Prince Naseem Hamed, and (as Kaleef) "Golden Brown" (Jive, 1997) - a re-working of

The Stranglers The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 19 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have origin ...

song about drug use.

Discography

Albums

As Kaliphz: * ''Seven Deadly Sins'' (Payday/FFRR, 1995) As Kaleef: * ''53rd State of Mind'' (Jive, 1997)

Singles

References

External links

Mutiny Sounds' Kaliphz page

Discog's Kaliphz page
{{Authority control English hip hop groups Musical groups from Greater Manchester Music in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale