The Ruthless Rap Assassins 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 from

Hulme Hulme () is an inner city area and Ward (politics), electoral ward of Manchester, England, immediately south of Manchester city centre. It has a significant industrial heritage. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, the nam ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England. The group was formed by MC Kermit La Freak (later simply Kermit - real name Paul Leveridge) and brothers Dangerous Hinds (real name Anderson Hinds) and Dangerous C (real name Carson Hinds).

History

Kermit grew up in

Moss Side Moss Side is an Inner city, inner-city area of Manchester, England, south of the Manchester city centre, city centre, It had a population of 20,745 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census. Moss Side is bounded by Hulme to the north, Cho ...

, Manchester - where he learnt to play violin at the age of 6 - and was briefly a DJ under the name of 'DJ la Freak', whilst doing a psychology degree at

Manchester Polytechnic Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

. He joined the breakdance crew Broken Glass, who moved into making records with "Style of the Street" following a meeting with Manchester DJ and producer Greg Wilson. The song was recorded for the ''Street Sounds Electro UK'' ( Street Sounds, 1984) album, but the label owner Morgan Khan was impressed with their work and persuaded them to record more tunes for the album. In order to give the impression of a thriving

scene, the songs were recorded under a variety of aliases: in truth, of the seven tracks on the album, only one was not recorded by Broken Glass. Kermit met the Hinds brothers - at the time calling themselves the Dangerous 2 - and together they decided to form the Assassins, with Greg Wilson staying with them as a producer. Their first release was the single "We Don't Kare" (Murdertone, 1987), which had as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

a song by Kiss AMC - an all-female Manchester rap group that featured Christine "Kiss" Leveridge, Kermit's sister. They followed this with two singles entirely of their own, "The Meltdown Session" (Murdertone, 1988) and "The Drone Session EP" (Murdertone, 1989) - in between which, Dangerous C performed a rap for a B-side remix of

Kym Mazelle Kym Mazelle (born Kymberly Grigsby; August 10, 1960) is an American singer. She is regarded as a pioneer of house music in the United Kingdom and Europe. Her music combines R&B, soul, funk, house music, dance, and pop. She is credited as " Th ...

's "Useless (I Don't Need You Now)" (Syncopate, 1988). Following this, the group released ''Killer Album'' (Murdertone/EMI, 1990). The album was a mixture of social commentary ("Justice (Just Us)") and more comical tunes ("Jealous MC" or a high-octane cover of The Coaster's "

Yakety Yak "Yakety Yak" is a song written, produced, and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for the Coasters and released on Atco Records in 1958, spending seven weeks as #1 on the R&B charts and a week as number one on the Top 100 pop list. This ...

"). It yielded two minor

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

s in "Just Mellow" and "And It Wasn't A Dream" (a duet with Tracey Carmen). The album received critical praise - UK hip hop magazine ''

Hip Hop Connection ''Hip Hop Connection'' (''HHC'') was the longest running monthly periodical devoted entirely to hip hop culture. It was described by rapper Chuck D as "the best magazine in the world". History Under the editorship of Chris Hunt, the magazine p ...

'' (February 1991, No. 25) called it "the best rap album the UK had ever produced" - and even managed to get the single "And It Wasn't A Dream" (Murdertone/EMI, 1990) terrestrial television airplay. But despite making an impact within the scene, and getting crucial support from

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

the album failed to translate this into sales. This album was reissued with extra tracks by Original Dope/Cherry Red in October 2010. Trying again, the group went back to the studio to record their second album ''Th!nk, It Ain't Illegal Yet'', introducing live percussion from

Ged Lynch Ged Lynch (born 19 July 1968, Blackburn, England) is an English percussionist and composer. Lynch had early commercial success drumming with the Ruthless Rap Assassins. In 1989 he joined The Icicle Works. He joined Shaun Ryder and Bez in Bla ...

to their usual mix of social commentary ("No Tale, No Twist" told the story of life growing up in Manchester's urban slums, whilst "Down and Dirty" was a sex rhyme featuring "guest vocals" from Jealous MC). Again, the album was liked by the critics and the industry -

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

had Dangerous C on an edition of ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...

'' to demonstrate the techniques of sampling and plug the album - but again, this good reception was not reflected in sales. The group split up shortly afterwards. Soon after the Assassins' split, Kermit and Ged joined

Shaun Ryder Shaun William George Ryder (born 23 August 1962) is an English singer/songwriter and poet. As lead singer of Happy Mondays, he was a leading figure in the Madchester cultural scene during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1993, he formed Bla ...

to form the group

Black Grape Black Grape are an English rock band, featuring former members of Happy Mondays and Ruthless Rap Assassins. Their musical style fuses funk and electronic rock with electronic programming and samples. History Formation, first two albums an ...

and earned pop success with them, before leaving the band after suffering from

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

and being replaced by Psycho. Since then, Kermit has released records as Manmade and made guest appearances on other artists' songs, such as

Bentley Rhythm Ace Bentley Rhythm Ace (BRA) are a British electronic music duo formed in Birmingham in 1995, consisting of Mike Stokes and Richard March. Career The band was formed in Birmingham by Richard March, formerly with the group Pop Will Eat Itself, and ...

. His more recent project was Big Dog with Ged from Black Grape. Anderson Hinds left the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

and worked as a teacher - although in a 2000 interview, Kermit mentioned that the two of them were considering making more tunes together. Ged Lynch became a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

Discography

Albums

* ''The Killer Album'' (EMI, 1990) * ''Th!nk, It Ain't Illegal Yet'' (EMI, 1991) * ''The Killer Album - The 20th Anniversary Edition'' (EMI/Original Dope/Cherry Red, 2010))

Singles

*"Just Mellow" (1990) - UK No. 75 *"And It Wasn't a Dream" (1990) - UK No. 75

References

External links