Ian Cassar (born 20 February 1966), better known as Req (stylized as REQ), is an English DJ, record producer, and graffiti artist.

Career

In the words of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Sean Cooper, Req began in his native

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

as "one of the U.K.'s most respected graffiti artists." He began his graffiti work in 1984 after the

Beat Street ''Beat Street'' is a 1984 American drama dance film featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Set in the South Bronx, the film follows the lives of a pair of brothers and their group of friends, all of whom are devoted to var ...

film hyped his sense to the basic tenets of hip hop. Although he was a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

for many years without musical training, Req only began producing music of his own in the mid-1990s when he signed to

Skint Records Skint Records is a Brighton and Hove based dance music record label owned by JC Reid, Tim Jeffery and Damian Harris. It was created as a sublabel of Loaded Records, also founded by Reid and Jeffery. Along with Wall of Sound, the label was a l ...

, who issued his earliest releases. As a graffiti artist, he had previously been a member of the largely musical collective

Beats International Beats International were a British dance music band and hip-hop collective, formed in the late 1980s by Norman Cook (later in his career known as Fatboy Slim) based in Brighton, East Sussex, England, after his departure from the Housemartins. ...

. His debut album, '' One'', was critically acclaimed by such publications as ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...

'' and production duo

Coldcut Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, ...

. In 2015, '' Fact'' ranked the album at number 14 in their list of "The 50 Best

Trip-Hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic fusion of hip hop and electronica with slow tempos ...

Albums of All Time" and noted "his compositions didn't pander to the popularity of the growing trip-hop scene, instead dwelling in a noisy, near-ambient back room." His follow-up album, ''

Frequency Jams ''Frequency Jams'' is the second studio album by English experimental music, experimental electronic music, electronic producer Req, released in 1998 on Skint Records. As with his debut album, ''One (Req album), One'', ''Frequency Jams'' was recor ...

'' (1998), was made an "Album Pick" on AllMusic. He released ''Car Paint Scheme'' in 2000, and ''Sketchbook'' in 2002.

Discography

Studio albums

* '' One'' (1997) * ''

'' (1998) * ''Car Paint Scheme'' (2000) * ''Sketchbook'' (2002)

Compilation albums

* ''TDK'' (2019) * ''Tape Transport: 1994-2000'' (2019)

EPs

* ''Req's Garden'' (1995) * ''Miracles'' (1996) * ''Fantasy Roc'' (1996) * ''Split Series #7'' (1999) * ''Daily Beats 1'' (1999) * ''Daily Beats 2'' (1999) * ''Daily Beats 3'' (1999) * ''Deqjam'' (2000) * ''Calypso Dark'' (2020)

Singles

* "Breakin' at the Seams" b/w "Concentrate and Believe" (2000)

References

External links

* {{Discogs artist, REQ, Req 1966 births Living people People from Brighton English record producers English dance musicians English DJs Graffiti artists