Roni Size & Reprazent (stylised as Roni Size / Reprazent) are a British

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

group fronted by

Roni Size Ryan Owen Granville Williams (born 29 October 1969), better known by his stage name Roni Size, is an English DJ and record producer. He came to prominence in 1997 as the founder and frontman of Roni Size & Reprazent, a drum and bass collective. ...

. Their debut album ''

New Forms ''New Forms'' is the debut studio album by British drum and bass group Roni Size & Reprazent. It was originally released on 23 June 1997 through Talkin' Loud, and later re-released by Mercury Records and Universal Music Group. The album was re ...

'' won the

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

in 1997. Their follow-up album '' In the Møde'' featured artists including

Rahzel Rozell Manely Brown (born October 6, 1964) is an American beatboxer and rapper, formerly a member of the Roots. Rahzel is known for an ability to sing or rap while simultaneously beatboxing, as evidenced in his performances of "Iron Man" and h ...

Zack de la Rocha Zacharias Manuel de la Rocha (born January 12, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, and political activist. He is best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Rage Against the Machine. Through both Rage Against ...

Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to simply Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commer ...

and

Method Man Clifford Smith, Jr. (born March 2, 1971), better known by his stage name Method Man, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is known as a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He is also half of ...

History

In April 1997, ''Roni Size & Reprazent'' had their live debut at

Tribal Gathering Tribal Gathering is the original British electronic dance music festival that between 1993 and 2004 catered for different types of dance music cultures such as techno, house and drum & bass. After 18 years, Tribal Gathering returns in 2023 for a ...

. Roni Size created the group to perform live tracks he had been working on in the studio. The group included Full Cycle record label members Roni Size, Krust and Die, operating 'banks of equipment'; as well as Dynamite MC (vocals), Onallee (vocals), Si John (bass) and Clive Deamer (drums) taking centre centre stage. The group's debut studio album, ''

'', was released on 23 June 1997, with singles featuring the vocals of Onallee including "Brown Paper Bag", "Heroes", "Share the Fall" and "Watching Windows". The album went five times

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

, won the

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

, and Roni Size returned to the studio to

concentrate A concentrate is a form of substance that has had the majority of its base component (in the case of a liquid: the solvent) removed. Typically, this will be the removal of water from a solution or suspension, such as the removal of water from fru ...

on his output for V and Full Cycle and Dope Dragon. On 9 October 2000, ''Roni Size & Reprazent'' released their follow-up second studio album, '' In the Møde'', released with singles "Who Told You", "Dirty Beats" and "Lucky Pressure".

''New Forms'' (deluxe), 2008–2013

Roni Size resurrected Reprazent in 2008 with the release of a deluxe edition of ''New Forms'' on Universal, but in September 2008 announced his intention to disband the act following a third album. The band started 2009 with a tour of Australia as part of the Good Vibrations Festival. Following on from this, Roni Size and Reprazent returned to North America for the first time in seven years as one of the headliners at the 2009

Ultra Music Festival Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is an annual outdoor electronic music festival that takes place during March in Miami, Florida, United States. The festival was founded in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes. It was first held on Miami Beac ...

in Miami. They then went on to perform at

Coachella Coachella may refer to: * Coachella, California * Coachella Canal, in California * Coachella (festival), an annual music and arts festival in California * "Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind "Coachella – Woodstock In My Mind" is a song by Ame ...

,Evelyn McDonnell:
Coachella: Roni Size and Reprazent bring back their beat
'

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

Music Blog, 16 April 2009 appearing as the final act of the festival. In September 2009, ''Roni Size & Reprazent'' played a gig with an orchestra and choir to mark the re-opening of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

’s

Colston Hall Bristol Beacon, previously known as Colston Hall, is a concert hall and Grade II listed building on Colston Street, Bristol, England. It is owned by Bristol City Council. Since 2011, management of the hall has been the direct responsibility of ...

, collaborating with the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

’s Nature's Great Events composer, William Goodchild. In addition to older material, the band played material from a forthcoming ''Roni Size & Reprazent'' album.

Live shows, 2014–present

The band reformed circa 2014, with original members Roni Size, Dynamite MC, Onallee and Si John (bass). Additional artists included

Yuval Gabay Soul Coughing was an American alternative rock band composed of vocalist/guitarist Mike Doughty (also known as M. Doughty), keyboardist/sampler Mark Degli Antoni, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and drummer Yuval Gabay. Soul Coughing developed ...

(

Soul Coughing Soul Coughing was an American alternative rock band composed of vocalist/guitarist Mike Doughty (also known as M. Doughty), keyboardist/sampler Mark Degli Antoni, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and drummer Yuval Gabay. Soul Coughing developed ...

), D Product, Jay Wilcox and Pete Josef. ''Roni Size & Reprazent'' toured serval large festivals in Europe including

Bestival Bestival was a four-day music festival held in the south of England. It had been held annually in the late summer since 2004 at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. In 2017 the festival relocated to the Lulworth Estate in Dorset. The event was orga ...

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonb ...

, Lovebox, Exit and Rock Herk. They were amongst the nominations for best dance act from the UK Festival Awards. Also in 2015, a recording of the 2009 collaboration with William Goodchild & The Emerald Ensemble was released. In 2017, a new reissue of ''New Forms'' was released including more material (the CD version consisted of four discs).

Musical style

The group's music has been described as "meticulously crafted break-beats that, when slowed down, revealed themselves as hip-hop beats". The most popular track, “Brown Paper Bag”, was praised in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' as a “masterpiece: an essay in hyper-kinetic pace, it piles up teetering stacks of instrumental layers, their cumulative weight triggering each step in a constant cycle of demolition and reconstruction of its latticework of melody, rhythm and mood". Much of the acclaim centred on Size's melding of the propulsive

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 ''ja� ...

beats accompanied by live drums and

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

. The band consists of Williams (compositions/programming),

DJ Krust Kirk Thompson (born 26 July 1968), better known by his stage name Krust, is an English drum and bass producer, DJ and co-owner of the Full Cycle record label. Beyond his roles in the music industry, Thompson is also responsible for two business ...

, Onallee (vocals), Dynamite MC and

rapper 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 ...

Bahamadia (a former protégée of

Gang Starr Gang Starr was an American hip hop duo, consisting of Texas record producer DJ Premier and Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: ...

). Reprazent's drum and bass is equally blended from hip hop, funk,

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

and

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air ...

Members

Current

(Ryan Williams) – programming/production/keyboards * Onallee (Tracey Bowen) – vocals * Dynamite MC (Dominic Smith) – raps *Si John – electric and upright bass *D Product (Dave Maso, Dave Amso) – synthesiser *Jay Wilcox – keyboards

Former

DJ Die Daniel Robert Kausman, (born 13 October 1972), better known by his stage name DJ Die, is an English DJ and music producer. He was a founder of drum and bass label Full Cycle Recordings and a member of Roni Size & Reprazent (1997 Mercury Prize w ...

(Daniel Kausman) – programming/production *DJ Suv (Paul Southey) – programming/production * Krust (Kirk Thompson) – programming/production *Clive Deamer – drums (now with Radiohead & Portishead) *Rob Merrill – drums (

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album '' Blue Lines'' was rele ...

) *

– drums (

) *Pete Josef – guitar

Awards and nominations

{, class="wikitable sortable" , - ! Year ! Association ! Category ! Nominee / Work ! Result ! class="unsortable" , , - , 1997 ,

, Mercury Album of the Year , ''

'' , , , - , 1997 ,

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 ...

, Best Jungle Act , Roni Size & Reprazent , , , -

Discography

Studio albums * ''

'' (1997) * '' In the Møde'' (2000)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roni Size and Reprazent British drum and bass music groups British musical trios Musical groups from Bristol Mercury Records artists Talkin' Loud artists Universal Music Group artists