Hijack (band)

Hijack were a hip hop group from Brixton in London, featuring Kamanchi Sly, DJ Supreme, DJ Undercover, Ulysses, Agent Fritz and Agent Clueso. Their first single, "Style Wars" (Music of Life, 1988 caught the attention of the British hip hop community and laid much of the ground work for what was to come from the scene over the next few years. Their next release, "Hold No Hostage/Doomsday of Rap" (Music of Life, 1989) became an underground hit across Europe, bringing them to the attention of West Coast rapper Ice T.

Ice T signed the group to his own Rhyme Syndicate Records label, and they recorded and released the single "The Badman is Robbin'" (Rhyme Syndicate Records, 1989). The group's debut album - "The Horns of Jericho" (Rhyme Syndicate Records, 1991) - was recorded around the same time, but Warner Brothers (who had a distribution deal with Rhyme Syndicate Records) deemed Hijack's British hardcore hip hop style and British accents too different for US audiences. Hence, the album was never released in the US, although the company released the album to the foreign market to great critical acclaim.

Following this upset, the group split up and went their separate ways. DJ Supreme founded Backbone Records, whilst Kamanchi Sly and DJ Undercover founded Reservoir Records and recorded as Mr Pink and Mr Blond for a short while dropping two 12"s and a hard to find Hijack DVD, before Kamanchi Sly changed his name to Unknown MC and had chart success with his brother DJ Pied Piper, who also was a member of Hijack as one of the "agents", as DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies. Their single "Do You Really Like It" (??, 2001) reach number 1 in the UK charts.

Since then, Kamanchi Sly has come back to the British hip hop scene, releasing two EPs in 2004 and with an album - "The Holy Grail" - due from Catalyst Recordings in 2005. The album is still to drop when this is written in march of 2008. Kamanchi Sly though have produced one of Mike Glc's latest album that's out right now.

DJ Supreme has become recognised for his innovations in scratching by the Turntablist community worldwide, this was highlighted by his attendance to the Scratchcon 2000 seminar in San Fransico. Hosted by DJ Qbert, Supreme was invited to speak about his work alongside other world class scratch DJs.

Supreme is actively DJing on the European club circuit and continues to work in music production today. His most recent projects include the making of his Semi-bio documentary film The Turntable Trixters which chronicles the history of Hijack. The film was recently screen by the British Film Institute and billed as an urban arts classic. This DVD is available now but different from the one above that Reservoir Records released.

All artists have released far more projects than the discography below states.

Discography

Hijack

* "The Horns of Jericho" (Rhyme Syndicate Records, 1991)
* "The Original Horns of Jericho / Instrumental Movie Soundtrack" (Reservoir Records, 1997)

* " New LP currently being recorded for 2008. More details will follow soon" DJ Supreme

* "Stolen Beats and Ripped Off Scratches" (Music of Life, 1992)
* "Stylewars 2002" (BMG, Germany, 2002)
* "Hiphop.ch The Jam Mix CD" (Muve Recordings, Switzerland 2004)
* "Turntable Trixters HIJACK 1986-92' DVD" (Aman Music, 2005)

Kamanchi Sly

* "The Holy Grail" (Catalyst Recordings, 2005 - forthcoming)

External links

* [http://www.djsupreme.com DJ Supreme Official Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/djsupremeuk DJ Supreme Official Myspace Profile]
* [http://www.britishhiphop.co.uk The original UK Hip Hop History]
* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alan.stuart/music/sin2000p.html Snippet about DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies]
* [http://www.ukhh.com/features/interviews/hijack/hijack.html Interview with DJ Supreme from Hijack]
* [http://www.nu-skratch.com Nu-Skratch - producer of the Turntable Trixters DVD]