Big Dada is a British independent record label imprint distributed by

Ninja Tune Ninja Tune is an independent record label based in London, with a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1990 by musicians Matt Black and Jonathan More, known collectively as Coldcut. The label was established as an outlet for Col ...

. It was started by reputed hip hop

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Will Ashon Will Ashon (born 1969) is an English writer and novelist, former music journalist and founder of the Big Dada imprint of Ninja Tune records. Ashon was educated at Countesthorpe Community College and Balliol College, Oxford. In the mid-1990s he ...

in 1997. It is best known for marketing of prominent

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 ...

artist

Roots Manuva Rodney Hylton Smith, better known by his stage name Roots Manuva (born 9 September 1972), is a British rapper and producer. Since his debut in 1994, he has produced numerous albums and singles on the label Big Dada, achieving commercial succ ...

, poet and playwright

Kae Tempest Kae Tempest (formerly Kate Tempest) is an English spoken word performer, poet, recording artist, novelist and playwright. At the age of 16, Tempest was accepted into the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. In 2013, he w ...

grime Grime may refer to: * Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust Music * Grime music, a genre of music * ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity * "Grime", a 2023 song by Macklemore from ''Ben'' * "Grime", a 2024 song by Kittie from ''Fire ...

pioneer

Wiley Wiley may refer to: Locations *Wiley, Colorado, a U.S. town *Wiley, Georgia, an U.S. unincorporated community * Wiley, Pleasants County, West Virginia, U.S. * Wiley-Kaserne, a district of the city of Neu-Ulm, Germany People *Wiley (musician), ...

, rapper and designer DELS and

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

winners

Speech Debelle Corynne Elliot (born 17 March 1983), better known as Speech Debelle, is a British hip hop, British rapper formerly signed to the Big Dada record label. She was the winner of the 2009 Mercury Prize for her debut album ''Speech Therapy (album), Sp ...

and

Young Fathers Young Fathers are a Scottish Progressive rap, progressive hip hop group formed in Edinburgh in 2008. Their second EP, ''Tape Two'' (2013), won the Scottish Album of the Year Award. In 2014, they won the Barclaycard Mercury Prize, Mercury Prize ...

History

Big Dada's first release was Alpha Prhyme's 12-inch single ''Misanthropic'', a collaboration between

Luke Vibert Luke Vibert (born 26 January 1973) is a British electronic musician and producer, also known for his work under several aliases such as Plug and Wagon Christ. Raised in Cornwall, Vibert began releasing projects in the 1990s across varied genre ...

and

Juice Aleem Juice Aleem is an English rapper. Biography After putting years of energy into the Birmingham hip hop scene, Juice's "Ghetto Grammer" freestyle rap sessions started featuring such other future stars as Ty, Skinnyman and MPHO. In 1996 Will Ash ...

in 1997.Swash, Rosie (8 June 2009)
Label of love: Big Dada - Music - The Guardian
. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. Retrieved on 2012-03-25. Over the following years, the label has released over one hundred and fifty records and garnered considerable critical acclaim, being described by

Observer Music Monthly ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

as "the very best underground hip hop label".Mulholland, Garry (1 February 2004)
'Dead Dogs Two' by cLOUDDEAD - OMM - The Observer
. ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

''. Retrieved on 2012-03-25. In 2007, Big Dada released the compilation ''Well Deep'' to celebrate their tenth anniversary.

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

said the label was "not only a platform for the British urban underground but also attracts some of the most progressive wordsmiths and beat-scientists in the whole world... Big Dada are still pushing things forward." As the quote suggests, Big Dada is not exclusively a label for British acts. Their roster has also featured contributions from American hip hop artists including

Bigg Jus Justin Ingleton, better known by his stage name Bigg Jus, is an American rapper and record producer. He was a member of Company Flow along with El-P and Mr. Len. He is also one half of the duo Nephlim Modulation Systems with Orko Eloheim. Histo ...

Busdriver Regan Farquhar (born February 12, 1978), better known by his stage name Busdriver (sometimes stylized in all caps), is an American rapper and producer from Los Angeles. He has collaborated with rappers such as Myka 9, R.A.P. Ferreira, Nocando ...

, and

Mike Ladd Mike Ladd is an American alternative hip-hop artist. Based in Paris, France, ''The Guardian'' once described him as "the king of the hip-hop concept." Early life Mike Ladd was born in Boston, Massachusetts. As a child, he lived in India and Zimb ...

, as well as

French hip hop French hip hop or French rap (, ), is the hip hop music style developed in Francophonie, French-speaking countries. France is the second largest hip-hop market in the world after the United States. History Beginning of French hip hop: the 70s ...

group TTC. They also released debut albums by both

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is a co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer; a member of the supergroup LSD (group), ...

and

Spank Rock Naeem Juwan Hanks, better known by his stage name Spank Rock, is an American rapper and songwriter from Baltimore. He rose to fame with his 2006 album '' YoYoYoYoYo'', which was produced by former group member Alex Epton ( XXXChange). A harbinge ...

, as well as the comeback album from grime legend

, who was so pleased with the record deal they offered that he recorded "50/50" in tribute.Chick, Stevie (26 October 2007)
Stevie Chick on Big Dada Records - Music - The Guardian
. ''The Guardian''. Retrieved on 2012-03-25. On 8 September 2009,

won the 2009

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

for her debut album ''

Speech Therapy Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, suc ...

'' produced by

Wayne Lotek Wayne may refer to: People with the given name and surname * Wayne (given name) * Wayne (surname) Geographical Places with name ''Wayne'' may take their name from a person with that surname; the most famous such person was Gen. "Mad" Antho ...

. It is the label's third nomination, after

's ''

Run Come Save Me ''Run Come Save Me'' is the second studio album by English hip hop musician Roots Manuva. It was released on Big Dada in 2001. Critical reception John Bush of AllMusic wrote, "Roots Manuva handled every type of song with flowing confidence and ...

'' in 2002 and Ty's '' Upwards'' in 2003. On 30 October 2014,

won the 2014

for their debut album ''

Dead Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sho ...

''. It was the label's joint fourth nomination alongside Everybody Down by

and second Mercury Prize winning album. Roots Manuva, one of the label's best-known artists, signed a new deal with the label in 2011. In the 2007 documentary for the label ''Well Deep'', he said, "It's been a lovely relationship over the years... Big Dada's unique and it will always be unique because it's a philosophy, y'know? It's unique because it dares to stick its neck out and it's run by people who genuinely love music. It's not just a record label, it's a movement." In 2021 Big Dada relaunched "as a label run by Black, POC & Minority Ethnic people for Black, POC & Minority Ethnic artists."

Roster (current)

* Congo Natty *

Hype Williams Harold "Hype" Williams (born August 1, 1970) is an American music video and film director, film producer, and screenwriter. Early life Williams was born in Queens. He is of mixed African-American and Honduran descent. He attended Adelphi Univ ...

* Lyzza *

* King Geedorah *

Onyx Collective Onyx Collective is a content brand owned and operated by Disney Entertainment, which primarily consists of projects from creators of color and other underrepresented groups. The brand was first launched on May 17, 2021, with several projects un ...

* Rahill *PVA *

Sampa the Great Sampa Tembo (born August 9, 1993), known professionally as Sampa the Great, is a Zambian singer, rapper, and songwriter. Between 2014 and 2020, she was based in Australia. Note: this source was an agency for the artist. Her debut solo album, ' ...

* Two Fingers *Visionist *WEN * Yaya Bey *

Roster (alumni)

* Anti-Pop Consortium *Baishe Kings *

*Bang On! *

Cadence Weapon Roland "Rollie" Pemberton, better known by his stage name Cadence Weapon, is a Canadian-American rapper based in Toronto, Ontario. Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Pemberton released his first album, '' Breaking Kayfabe'', in 2005 with posit ...

*Cell Broco *

cLOUDDEAD Clouddead (styled as cLOUDDEAD) was an American experimental hip hop group, consisting of Doseone (Adam Drucker), Why? (Yoni Wolf) and Odd Nosdam (David Madson). The group's name came from a nonsensical knock-knock joke Drucker's sister told h ...

* Darq E Freaker * DELS *

* Dobie *Elan Tamara *FARAI *Gamma *Infesticons *

Infinite Livez Big Dada is a British Record label#Imprint, independent record label imprint distributed by Ninja Tune. It was started by reputed hip hop journalist Will Ashon in 1997. It is best known for marketing of prominent British hip hop artist Roots Man ...

*Jammer *

K-The-I??? Kiki Ceac, better known by his stage name K-the-I???, is an American rapper and producer based in Los Angeles, California and currently signed to Fake Four Inc. History K-the-I??? began recording in 2002. He released several small-issue records ...

*Kai Whiston *Kail *Kutmah *Lotek Hifi *Majesticons *New Flesh *NMS / Bigg Jus / Orko Eloheim * Offshore *Paris Suit Yourself *Part 2 * Roseau *

Run the Jewels Run the Jewels, also known by the initials RTJ, is an American hip-hop Supergroup (music), superduo, composed of Brooklyn-based rapper and producer El-P and Atlanta-based rapper Killer Mike. They released their critically acclaimed Run the Jewe ...

(

Killer Mike Michael Santiago Render (born April 20, 1975), better known by his stage name Killer Mike, is an American rapper, singer and activist. He made his recording debut on Outkast's fourth album ''Stankonia'' (2000), and guest appeared on the duo's Gr ...

El-P Jaime Stuart Meline (born March 2, 1975), better known by the stage name El-P (shortened from his previous stage name El Producto), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Starting his career as a member of Company Flow, he has ...

) * Samuel *

*Sticky *

Thavius Beck Thavius Beck (born July 31, 1979) is an American record producer and rapper. He has been a member of Global Phlowtations and Lab Waste. He has also put out solo releases under the moniker Adlib. He is a certified trainer of Ableton Live. Biograph ...

Thunderheist Thunderheist was an electronic music duo from Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec in Canada. Thunderheist was made up of producer Graham Bertie (Grahmzilla) and Omolola Isis Salam (Isis). The two began collaborating before they had ever met in ...

* Tre Mission *TTC * Ty *Visions *XRABIT +DMG$

Compilation discography

* ''Black Whole Styles'' (1998) * ''SOUND01: A Big Dada Sampler'' (2001) * ''Extra Yard: The Bouncement Revolution'' (2002) * ''Well Deep: Ten Years of Big Dada Recordings'' (2007)

References

External links