Roni Size & Reprazent (stylised as Roni Size / Reprazent) are a British

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

group fronted by

Roni Size Ryan Owen Granville Williams (born 29 October 1969), better known by his stage name Roni Size, is an English DJ and record producer. He came to prominence in 1997 as the founder and frontman of Roni Size & Reprazent, a drum and bass collective. ...

. Their debut album ''

New Forms ''New Forms'' is the debut studio album by British drum and bass group Roni Size & Reprazent. It was released on 23 June 1997 through Talkin' Loud, and later re-released by Mercury Records and Universal Music Group. The album was released to cr ...

'' won the

Mercury Music 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 ...

in 1997. Their follow-up album '' In the Mode'' featured artists including

Rahzel Rozell Manely Brown (born October 6, 1964) is an American beatboxer and rapper, formerly a member of the Roots. Rahzel is known for an ability to sing or rap while simultaneously beatboxing, as evidenced in his performances of "Iron Man" and h ...

Zack de la Rocha Zacharias Manuel de la Rocha (born January 12, 1970) is an American musician, rapper, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He is best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Rage Against the Machine. Through both Rage Against ...

Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to Rage) was an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1991. It consisted of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim ...

and

Method Man Clifford Smith, Jr. (born March 2, 1971), known professionally as Method Man, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. He is a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan, and is half of the hip hop duo Method Man & R ...

History

In April 1997, Roni Size & Reprazent had their live debut at

Tribal Gathering Tribal Gathering is the original British electronic dance music festival that between 1993 and 2004 catered for different types of dance music cultures such as techno, house and drum & bass. After 18 years, Tribal Gathering returns in 2023 for ...

. Roni Size created the group to perform live tracks he had been working on in the studio. The group included Full Cycle record label members Roni Size, Krust, Die, DJ Suv, operating 'banks of equipment'; as well as Dynamite MC (vocals), Onallee (vocals), Si John (bass) and

Clive Deamer Clive Deamer is an English drummer and percussionist who has been the drummer for the jazz band Get the Blessing since 2000. He has worked with acts including Radiohead, Portishead (band), Portishead, Jeff Beck, Alison Moyet, Siouxsie Sioux, Roni ...

(drums) taking centre stage. The group's debut studio album, ''

'', was released on 23 June 1997, with singles featuring the vocals of

Onallee Onallee (also known as Tracey Bowen) is a British vocalist and songwriter best known for being part of Reprazent, a British drum and bass act formed by Roni Size. In 2016, she produced an audio visual performance called ''Futurism 3.0'' with D P ...

including "Brown Paper Bag", "Heroes", "Share the Fall" and "Watching Windows". The album went five times

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

, won the

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 ...

, and Roni Size returned to the studio to concentrate on his output for V and Full Cycle and Dope Dragon. On 9 October 2000, Roni Size & Reprazent released their follow-up second studio album, '' In the Mode'', released with singles "Who Told You", "Dirty Beats" and "Lucky Pressure".

''New Forms'' (deluxe), 2008–2013

Roni Size resurrected Reprazent in 2008 with the release of a deluxe edition of ''New Forms'' on

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...

, but in September 2008 announced his intention to disband the act following a third album. The band started 2009 with a tour of Australia as part of the Good Vibrations Festival. Following on from this, Roni Size and Reprazent returned to North America for the first time in seven years as one of the headliners at the 2009

Ultra Music Festival Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is an annual outdoor electronic music Music festival, festival that takes place in March in Miami, Florida. The festival was founded in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes. It was first held on Miami Beach, but bes ...

in Miami. They then went on to perform at

Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...

,Evelyn McDonnell:
Coachella: Roni Size and Reprazent bring back their beat
'

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

Music Blog, 16 April 2009 appearing as the final act of the festival. In September 2009, Roni Size & Reprazent played a gig with an orchestra and choir to mark the re-opening of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

’s

Colston Hall Bristol Beacon, previously Colston Hall, is a concert hall and Grade II listed building on Colston Street, Bristol, England. It is owned by Bristol City Council. Since 2011, it has been managed by Bristol Music Trust. The hall opened as a con ...

, collaborating with the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

’s Nature's Great Events composer, William Goodchild. In addition to older material, the band played material from a forthcoming Roni Size & Reprazent album.

Live shows, 2014–present

The band reformed circa 2014, with original members Roni Size,

Dynamite MC Dynamite MC (born Dominic Smith, 7 October 1973) is an English rapper and MC. He originally gained prominence in jungle/drum and bass, working with Roni Size & Reprazent, but has also released hip hop material. Career He started his MCing ca ...

, Onallee and Si John (bass). Additional artists included Yuval Gabay (

Soul Coughing Soul Coughing is an American alternative rock band composed of vocalist/guitarist Mike Doughty (also known as M. Doughty), keyboardist/sampler Mark Degli Antoni, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and drummer Yuval Gabay. They developed a devout fa ...

), D Product, Jay Wilcox and Pete Josef. Roni Size & Reprazent toured several large festivals in Europe including

Bestival Bestival was a four-day music festival held in the south of England. The name Bestival is a portmanteau of the words best and festival. It had been held annually in the late summer since 2004 at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. In 2017 the festi ...

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

, Lovebox,

Exit Exit(s) may refer to: Architecture and engineering * Door * Portal (architecture), an opening in the walls of a structure * Emergency exit * Overwing exit, a type of emergency exit on an airplane * Exit ramp, a feature of a road interchange A ...

and Rock Herk. They were amongst the nominations for best dance act from the UK Festival Awards. Also in 2015, a recording of the 2009 collaboration with William Goodchild & The Emerald Ensemble was released. In 2017, a new reissue of ''New Forms'' was released including more material (the CD version consisted of four discs).

Musical style

The group's music has been described as "meticulously crafted break-beats that, when slowed down, revealed themselves as hip-hop beats". The most popular track, “Brown Paper Bag”, was praised in ''

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 ...

'' as a “masterpiece: an essay in hyper-kinetic pace, it piles up teetering stacks of instrumental layers, their cumulative weight triggering each step in a constant cycle of demolition and reconstruction of its latticework of melody, rhythm and mood". Much of the acclaim centred on Size's melding of the propulsive

jungle jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅgala'' ...

beats accompanied by live drums and

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

. The band consists of Williams (compositions/programming), DJ Krust,

(vocals),

and

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

Bahamadia Antonia D. Reed (born April 22, 1966), known professionally as Bahamadia, is an American Hip hop music, hip hop artist and singer. Bahamadia released her debut album, ''Kollage (album), Kollage'', in 1996, followed by the independently released ...

(a former protégée of

Gang Starr Gang Starr was an American Hip-hop, hip hop duo, consisting of Houston-born record producer DJ Premier and Boston-based rapper Guru (rapper), Guru. Gang Starr was at its height from 1989 to 2003, and is considered a widely influential MC-and-pr ...

). Reprazent's drum and bass is equally blended from

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- ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

and

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

Members

Current

(Ryan Williams) – programming/production/keyboards *

(Tracey Bowen) – vocals *

(Dominic Smith) – raps *Si John – electric and upright bass *D Product (Dave Maso, Dave Amso) – synthesiser *Jay Wilcox – keyboards

Former

* DJ Die (Daniel Kausman) – programming/production *DJ Suv (Paul Southey) – programming/production *

Krust Kirk Thompson (born 26 July 1968), better known by his stage name Krust, is an English drum and bass producer, DJ and co-owner of the Full Cycle record label. Beyond his roles in the music industry, Thompson is also responsible for two busines ...

(Kirk Thompson) – programming/production *

– drums (now with

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

& Portishead) *Rob Merrill – drums (

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol, England, by Robert Del Naja, Robert "3D" Del Naja, Daddy G, Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, Tricky (musician), Adrian "Tricky" Thaws and Andrew Vowles, Andrew "Mushroom" ...

) * Yuval Gabay – drums (

) *Pete Josef – guitar

Discography

Studio albums * ''

'' (1997) * '' In the Mode'' (2000)

Awards and nominations

{, class="wikitable sortable" , - ! Year ! Association ! Category ! Nominee / Work ! Result ! class="unsortable" , , - , 1997 ,

, Mercury Album of the Year , ''

'' , , , - , 1997 ,

MOBO Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and Ba ...

, Best Jungle Act , Roni Size & Reprazent , , , -

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roni Size and Reprazent British drum and bass music groups English musical trios Musical groups from Bristol Mercury Records artists Talkin' Loud artists Universal Music Group artists