Miles Romans-Hopcraft, known professionally as Wu-Lu, is a musician 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 ...

, South London. He has self-released one album and two EPs, and released his first album with

Warp Records Warp Records is a British independent record label that specialises in Electronic music, electronic, indie rock and experimental music. It was founded in Sheffield in 1989 by Steve Beckett, Robert Mitchell and Robert Gordon. It has released recor ...

, '' Loggerhead'', in 2022. His music covers a wide variety of genres, including several types of

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- ...

and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

, though he is most commonly associated with

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

Early life

Miles Romans-Hopcraft was born on 8 January 1990 in

, South London, and raised there. His mother, Hopal Romans, is a lecturer and

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of Concert dance, dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly stron ...

r, and an alum of the Alvin Ailey American Dance School. His father, Robin Hopcraft, is a trumpeter and co-founder of the London

reggae fusion Reggae fusion is a Music_genre#Subtypes, fusion genre of reggae that mixes reggae and/or dancehall with other genres, such as pop music, pop, rock music, rock, hip hop music, hip-hop/rap, Contemporary R&B, R&B, jazz, funk, soul music, soul, disco ...

band Soothsayers. Romans-Hopcraft has a twin brother, Ben, who plays in the bands

Childhood A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

, Warmduscher, and Insecure Men. Both twins guested with their father's band as preteens, with Miles playing bass which is his primary instrument. Romans-Hopcraft listened to a large variety of music genres growing up, finding music from his parents, skateboard and

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

culture, and

video game soundtrack Video game music (VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to the s ...

s. These genres included

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by ...

pop-punk Pop-punk (also punk-pop, alternatively spelled without the hyphen) is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop music, pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop s ...

, and underground electronic genres such as

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) ...

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house and jungle production methods, but also incorporates elements from ...

broken beat Broken beat (sometimes referred to as "bruk") is an electronic dance music genre that emerged in the late 1990s and is characterized by syncopated beats and frenetic, choppy rhythms, often alongside female vocals and elements inspired by 1970s ja ...

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 ...

, and

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...

. He discovered an interest in

turntablism Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating new music, sound effects, mixes and other creative sounds and beats, typically by using two or more Phonograph, turntables and a cross fader-equipped DJ mixer. The mixer is plugged into ...

and sampling after watching the documentary film '' Scratch'', starting to DJ himself at age 13. He also produced beats with a

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

, sampling records which his mother gifted him. Romans-Hopcraft's first musical projects were as a

producer under the name TJ Mileage and as one half of an atmospheric hip hop duo called Monster Playground. He eventually settled on the name Wu-Lu, which he says reminded him of the

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

word for water, "wuha", taking it because he didn't want to be "confined to any shape." As a teenager, Romans-Hopcraft spent a lot of his time at a local skate park, picking up on the personalities of the older punks who frequented there. He said they took him under their wing, having an "'I don't give a shit' attitude" but "always look ngout for the youngsters." When he enrolled at the Brixton music and media school Raw Material, he took that attitude with him, tutoring other students in music production. After leaving the school, he worked at Alford House, a youth club in

Kennington Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between th ...

Career

Romans-Hopcraft self-released his debut album as Wu-Lu, ''Ginga'', in 2015. He also self-released two EPs, 2018's ''N.A.I.S.'' and 2019's ''S.U.F.O.S.'' On 21 November 2021,

announced their signing of Wu-Lu and released his single "Broken Homes". On 4 May 2022, he announced his debut album with Warp, '' Loggerhead'', which included "Broken Homes" and four other singles. The album was released on 8 July to a positive reception, receiving an 83/100 average score from

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. It was nominated for Best Punk Record at the 2023 Libera Awards and Best Independent Album at the 2023 AIM Independent Music Awards. On 4 April 2024, Romans-Hopcraft announced his third EP, ''Learning to Swim on Empty'', and released its lead single, "Daylight Song". The EP features contributions from poet and artist Rohan Ayinde and author Caleb Femi. The second single, a dub-influenced song called "Sinner", was released on 1 May. The EP was released on 17 May by Warp. It uses a recurring motif of water, drowning, and floating, with Romans-Hopcraft saying "Life throws us in the water all the time but always know that it's a myth that we can't swim – keep pushing."

Personal life

Romans-Hopcraft lives in a Brixton flat with his brother Ben, around the corner from where he was born. He has multiple tattoos, including one of an

executioner An executioner, also known as a hangman or headsman, is an official who effects a sentence of capital punishment on a condemned person. Scope and job The executioner was usually presented with a warrant authorizing or ordering him to ...

and one of

Goku Son Goku is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Dragon Ball'' manga series created by Akira Toriyama. He is based on Sun Wukong (known as ''Son Gokū'' in Japan and the Monkey King in the West), a main character of the cl ...

on his lower leg.

Style

Wu-Lu is known to cover numerous musical styles through his work, and has been called "genre-agnostic". Songs of his have been described with such disparate genres as

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

, dub,

trip hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

screamo Screamo (also referred to as skramz) is a subgenre of emo that emerged in the early 1990s and emphasizes "willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics".Jason Heller, "Feast of Reason". ''Denver Westword'', June 20, 2002 Access date: June 15, 2 ...

, heavy metal,

drill A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a drill bit for making holes, or a screwdriver bit for securing fasteners. Historically, they were powered by hand, and later mains power, but cordless b ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, garage,

art punk Art punk, or artcore, is a subgenre of punk rock in which artists go beyond the genre's rudimentary garage rock and are considered more sophisticated than their peers. These groups still generated punk's aesthetic of being simple, offensive, and ...

, abstract hip hop,

skate punk Skate punk (also known as skatecore and skate rock) is a skateboarding, skater subculture and punk rock Music genre, subgenre that developed in the 1980s. Originally a form of hardcore punk that had been closely associated with skate culture, sk ...

downtempo Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may ...

lofi hip hop Lofi hip hop (also typeset as lo-fi, short for "low fidelity") is a style of lo-fi music that combines hip hop music, hip hop beats with elements of chill-out music, chill-out. The name refers to the unpolished, low fidelity production techniques ...

, textural

, and

plunderphonics Plunderphonics is a music genre in which tracks are constructed by sampling (music), sampling recognizable musical works. The term was Neologism, coined by composer John Oswald (composer), John Oswald in 1985 in his essay "Plunderphonics, or Aud ...

. Wu-Lu said he didn't know what genre to refer to ''Loggerhead'' as, suggesting that "maybe the name Wu-Lu will become a genre in itself." He has often been connected to the South London jazz scene, due in part to his collaborations with jazz musicians

Nubya Garcia Nubya Nyasha Garcia (born 1991) is a British jazz musician, Saxophone, saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Early life and education Garcia was born in 1991 in Camden Town, London, the youngest of four siblings, to a Guyanese people, Guyanese ...

and Zara McFarlane. His lyrics touch on subjects including

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

gentrification Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...

, economic inequality, and

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

. He described his personal connection with these issues by calling his hometown of Brixton

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

being turned into

white sugar White sugar, also called table sugar, granulated sugar, or regular sugar, is a commonly used type of sugar, made either of beet sugar or cane sugar, which has undergone a refining process. It is nearly pure sucrose. Description The refini ...

, where "all the nutrients and joy are being refined out of it into something that is unhealthy." Wu-Lu's music has been noted for an adherence to the punk ethos he grew up with, sharing punk musicians' compulsion to

speak truth to power The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Religious Society of Friends (''Quaker)-founded'' organization working for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. AFSC was founded in 1917 as a combined effort by Am ...

Influences

Growing up, Romans-Hopcraft listened to artists such as

Angie Stone Angela Laverne Stone (née Brown; December 18, 1961 – March 1, 2025) was an American singer-songwriter, rapper, actress, and record producer. With a career spanning over four decades, she has been credited with revolutionizing the sound of Ol ...

and genres including

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

, dub,

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (food), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: Arts and ent ...

, rare groove, and

Afrobeat Afrobeat (also known as Afrofunk) is a West African music genre, fusing influences from Nigerian (such as Yoruba) and Ghanaian (such as highlife) music, with American funk, jazz, and soul influences. With a focus on chanted vocals, complex i ...

. When he got older, he got into heavy metal. He has also called

DJ Shadow Joshua Paul Davis (born June 29, 1972 in San Jose, California, San Jose, California), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American DJ and record producer. His debut studio album, ''Endtroducing.....,'' was released in 1996. He uses l ...

's 1996 album '' Endtroducing.....'' a "seminal discovery", and mentioned love for

Mica Levi Micaela Rachel "Mica" Levi (born February 1987), also known by their stage name Micachu, is an English musician, composer, producer, singer, and songwriter. Levi studied composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, but left without a ...

Slauson Malone Standing on the Corner is an American avant-garde music collective led by Gio Escobar. Emerging from the New York underground art and music scene, they have been referred to as a post-genre band and praised for their use and blends of differe ...

, Sorry,

Pink Siifu Livingston Lemorie Matthews, known professionally as Pink Siifu, and occasionally iiye, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter from Cincinnati, Ohio, and Birmingham, Alabama. Life and career Matthews acquired an appreciation for music from ...

, and London's

, and guitar music scenes.

Accolades

Discography

Albums

* ''Ginga'' (2015, self-released) * '' Loggerhead'' (2022,

)

EPs

* ''N.A.I.S.'' (2018, self-released) * ''S.U.F.O.S.'' (2019, self-released) * ''Learning to Swim on Empty'' (2024, Warp)

Singles

References

{{Reflist Living people 20th-century births Singers from the London Borough of Lambeth People from Brixton Warp (record label) artists 21st-century English bass guitarists 21st-century English male singers English punk rock singers English punk rock bass guitarists