Blazin' Squad
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Blazin' Squad were an English
hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...
group. The group had six top ten hits, including "
Crossroads Crossroads is a junction where four roads meet. Crossroads, crossroad, cross road(s) or similar may also refer to: Film and television Films * ''Crossroads'' (1928 film), a 1928 Japanese film by Teinosuke Kinugasa * ''Cross Roads'' (film), a ...
", a cover version of the
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony Bone Thugs-n-Harmony (formerly known as B.O.N.E. Enterpri$e and also referred to as simply Bone Thugs or Bone) is an American hip hop group formed in 1991 in Cleveland, Ohio. Consisting of rappers Bizzy Bone, Wish Bone, Layzie Bone, Krayzie ...
original.


Career


''In The Beginning'': 2002

The band released a number of white label singles on the Weighty Plates label featuring remixes of the track "Standard Flow" from their album ''
In the Beginning In the Beginning may refer to: Biblical phrase * "In the beginning" (phrase), a phrase in the Bible verses of Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1 Books * ''In the Beginning'' (novel), a novel by Chaim Potok * ''In the Beginning'' (Peter Gossage book) * ...
''. "Standard Flow" was remixed by Ras Kwarme and Origin Unknown, with a version available featuring Jamaican dancehall musician
Elephant Man Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890) was an English man known for his severe physical deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "The Elephant Man", and then went to live at the London Hospital, ...
on guest vocals. Even though the releases were issued as underground white labels, "Standard Flow" sold enough copies to chart as Blazin' Squad's first Top 100 chart entry, peaking at number 78 on the chart of 17 August 2002 with three weeks in the countdown. For their official debut, the band released a cover of the
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Bone Thugs-n-Harmony (formerly known as B.O.N.E. Enterpri$e and also referred to as simply Bone Thugs or Bone) is an American hip hop group formed in 1991 in Cleveland, Ohio. Consisting of rappers Bizzy Bone, Wish Bone, Layzie Bone, Krayzie ...
song "
Crossroads Crossroads is a junction where four roads meet. Crossroads, crossroad, cross road(s) or similar may also refer to: Film and television Films * ''Crossroads'' (1928 film), a 1928 Japanese film by Teinosuke Kinugasa * ''Cross Roads'' (film), a ...
" for Warner Music's East West Records label. This single was the first to reach the UK Top 40, and debuted in the number one spot on the UK Singles Chart of 31 August 2002. The song was highly re-recorded and hardly contained any lyrics of the original. The single was heavily criticised by the media, some of whom claimed their rap skills were 'not to be taken seriously', and others sidelining them to a younger audience. Despite this, however, their debut album, ''
In the Beginning In the Beginning may refer to: Biblical phrase * "In the beginning" (phrase), a phrase in the Bible verses of Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1 Books * ''In the Beginning'' (novel), a novel by Chaim Potok * ''In the Beginning'' (Peter Gossage book) * ...
'' achieved gold status in the UK and spawned two further top ten hits, " Love on the Line" and double A-side single, " Reminisce/Where the Story Ends". The album was released to general critical censure. Jon O'Brien of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
called them the "self-proclaimed pioneers of '
chav "Chav" (), also "charver", "scally" and "roadman" in parts of England, is a British term, usually used in a pejorative way. The term is used to describe an anti-social lower-class youth dressed in sportswear. * * * * Julie Burchill descri ...
' culture".


''Now or Never'': 2003–2004

The group went on to achieve further chart success in 2003, with two further top five chart hits. "
We Just Be Dreamin' "We Just Be Dreamin' " is a song by ten piece hip-hop group Blazin' Squad Blazin' Squad were an English Hip hop music, hip hop group. The group had six top ten hits, including "Tha Crossroads, Crossroads", a cover version of the Bone Thugs-n- ...
" reached number three in July 2003, and "
Flip Reverse "Flip Reverse" is a song by ten-piece hip-hop group Blazin' Squad Blazin' Squad were an English Hip hop music, hip hop group. The group had six top ten hits, including "Tha Crossroads, Crossroads", a cover version of the Bone Thugs-n-Harmony ...
", which was co-written by former member Liam D'Souza reached number two in November. "Flip Reverse" was subsequently used to re-launch ''
Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...
'', with a special performance recorded outside the
BBC Television Centre Television Centre (TVC), formerly known as BBC Television Centre, is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, which was the headquarters of BBC Television from 1960 to 2013, when BBC Television moved to Broadcasting H ...
with 100 or so hooded back-up dancers. Despite the chart success of their singles, the group failed to match their success with their second album, '' Now or Never'', only peaking at #36 on the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
. A live recording of a concert in Liverpool was released on DVD for Christmas 2003 but failed to achieve any commercial success. It also failed to re-ignite the low sales of the album. "Here 4 One" was issued as the third single from ''Now or Never'' in early 2004, peaking at #6 on the UK Singles Chart, but sales failed to be strong enough to warrant a third album deal.


Friday Hill and ''Times Like These'': 2005–2006

In 2005, Strider, Flava and Kenzie signed a record deal with
Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...
records, and began recording an album under the name
Friday Hill Friday Hill is a housing estate in Chingford (in the London Borough of Waltham Forest; OS Grid Reference ), named after the hill of the same name, lying north of Chingford Hatch. It takes its name from a John Friday who held land there in the ...
, named after a location in their hometown in
Chingford Chingford is a suburban town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The centre of Chingford is north-east of Charing Cross, with Waltham Abbey to the north, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill to the east, Walt ...
. In October 2005, the group released their debut single, "Baby Goodbye", which reached #5 in the UK Singles Chart, selling over 80,000 copies. In February 2006, they released a second single, "One More Night Alone", which reached #13 on the UK Singles Chart. Their album, entitled '' Times Like These'', was also released in February 2006, but only peaked at #67 on the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
, leading them to be dropped from their label. In July 2006, Rocky-B, Reepa, Spike-E and Melo-D made an announcement that they were going to reform as Blazin' Squad, and record and release a new album under Peach Records. They released a single, " All Night Long", in August 2006, however, it only peaked at #54, which resulted in their record deal being scrapped and their disbandment.


''Greatest Hits'': 2009

In June 2009, Strider, Flava, Kenzie, Krazy and Rocky B announced they would be re-uniting as a five piece, and subsequently released their comeback single, "
Let's Start Again "Let's Start Again" is a song by the then five-piece hip-hop group Blazin' Squad, released as a single on 15 June 2009. Background In 2009, Strider, Flava, Kenzie, Krazy and Rocky B announced that they would be reuniting as a five-piece version o ...
". The single fared slightly better than the previous single but could only peak at #51 on the UK Singles Chart. Despite their record label wanting to drop them following the lack of success of the single, they had signed a binding contract to release an album. The label issued a Greatest Hits compilation via digital download and thereby ended the contract with the group.


Members

* James MacKenzie AKA " Kenzie" (2002–2004, 2005–2006, 2009) * Ollie Georgiou AKA "Freek" (2002–2004) * Marcel Somerville AKA "Rocky B" (2002–2004, 2006, 2009) * Chris McKeckney AKA "Melo-D" (2002–2004, 2006) * Stuart Baker AKA "Reepa" (2002–2004, 2006) * Lee Bailey AKA "Krazy" (2002–2004, 2009) * Sam Foulkes AKA "Spike-E" (2002–2004, 2006) * James Murray AKA "Flava" (2002–2004, 2005–2006, 2009) * Tom Beasley AKA "Tommy-B" (2002–2004) * Mustafa Omer AKA "Strider" (2002–2004, 2005–2006, 2009)


Discography


Albums


Singles


Blazin' Squad - Weighty Plates Singles

*''Weighty Plates Volume 1: Standard Flow Remixes'' (Number 78 in the UK Top 100, 2002) *''Weighty Plates Volume 2: Standard Flow Ras Kwame Mixes'' (with Ras Kwame and Elephant Man) *''Weighty Plates Volume 3: Standard Flow: Origin Unknown & DND Remixes''Weighty Plates Records 2002, cat no: PLATE 03T


Friday Hill Discography


Album


Singles


References


External links


Blazin' Squad
on
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2009 Interview & Feature on Music.Virgin.Com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blazin Squad English boy bands English hip-hop groups British contemporary R&B musical groups Musical groups from the London Borough of Waltham Forest Musical groups established in 2002 Musical groups disestablished in 2006 Sony Music Publishing artists 2002 establishments in England