Hijack were a British

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, hailing from

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, 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 UK rap, also known as British hip hop or UK hip hop or British rap, is a music genre and culture that covers a variety of styles of hip hop music made in the United Kingdom. The development of UK rap was shaped by a distinct set of regional inf ...

community. 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 Tracy Lauren Marrow (born February 16, 1958), known professionally as Ice-T (or Ice T), is an American rapper and actor. He is active in both hip hop music, hip hop and heavy metal music, heavy metal. Ice-T began his career as an underground r ...

Overview

Ice-T signed the group to his own Rhyme Syndicate

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

, and they recorded and released the single "The Badman is Robbin'" (Rhyme Syndicate, 1989). The track reached #56 in the UK Singles Chart. The group's debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''The Horns of Jericho'' (Rhyme Syndicate, 1991), was recorded around the same time. Hijack also released the single "Style Wars - Style Warriors Revenge" back on the Music of Life label while they were waiting for their album to be released but Warner (who had a distribution deal with Rhyme Syndicate) did not release the album in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

''The Horns of Jericho'' (1991-1994)

In 1991, ''The Horns of Jericho'' was released, but not in the U.S. The group released the single "Daddy Rich" which was popular in the UK. The music video for "Daddy Rich" was shot in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Breakup

Because Warner Brothers did not release the album to the US market, Hijack soon parted company with the label then later split due to musical differences 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 Blonde for a short period. Sly also appeared on Nicolas Dresti's singles "Tha Wildstyle" and "Tha Horns of Jericho". Nicolas assumed the name of DJ Supreme in 1996 which he used until 1998. Kamanchi Sly changed his name to Unknown MC and had

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

success with his brother, DJ Pied Piper.

DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies were a UK garage collaboration between producer and DJ Pied Piper and the MCs DT (responsible for the line "we're loving it, loving it, loving it"), Melody, Sharky P and the Unknown MC (Kamanchi Sl ...

' single " Do You Really Like It?" (Relentless Records, 2001) reached number one in the UK. Since then, Kamanchi Sly released two

EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

in 2004. DJ Supreme attended the Scratchcon 2000 seminar in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, which was hosted by

DJ Qbert Richard Quitevis (born October 7, 1969) known by his stage name DJ Qbert or Qbert, is a Filipino American turntablist and composer who has heavily influenced the History of DJing. He was awarded America's Best DJ in 2010, was DMC USA Champio ...

. Supreme is an active DJ on the

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

circuit and continues to work in

record production A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

. His most recent project included the making of his semi-biographical

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

, ''The Turntable Trixters'', which chronicles the history of Hijack. The film was recently screened by the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

and a

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

is available. Hijack have re-formed and released a single in 2016 under Reservoir Records entitled "Doing What We Wonna Do". Alongside this, Kamanchi Sly has also released some solo music via his channel on YouTube.

Discography

* ''Style Wars'' (Music of Life Records, 1988) * ''Hold No Hostage / Doomsday of Rap'' (Music of Life Records, 1989) * ''The Badman Is Robbin'' (Rhyme Syndicate Records, 1990) * ''Style Warriors Revenge'' (Music of Life Records, 1990) * ''Daddy Rich'' (Rhyme Syndicate Records, 1991) * ''The Horns of Jericho'' (Rhyme Syndicate Records, 1991) * ''The Original Horns of Jericho / Instrumental Movie Soundtrack'' (Reservoir Records, 1997) * ''The Horns of Jericho 25th Anniversary Release'' (BackBone Records, 2015)

References

External links

* * Allmusic.com - Discography {{Authority control English hip-hop groups Musical groups from the London Borough of Lambeth