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Heartless Crew
OriginLondon, England
GenresUK garage, grime, R&B, dancehall, hip hop, jungle
Years active1992–2010, 2016–present
LabelsEast West Records, Bush Bash Records
MembersMC Bushkin
MC Mighty Moe
DJ Fonti
Websiteheartlesscrew.com

The Heartless Crew are a UK garage crew from North London. The group has been credited for paving the way for grime music, alongside So Solid Crew and Pay As U Go.[1][2][3]

Its original members are MCs Bushkin and Mighty Moe and DJ Fonti.[4][1][5]

Career

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Bushkin and Fonti are of West Indian heritage, whilst Mighty Moe's mother is Palestinian and his father is from Iraq.[5]

The group were established in 1992 when Bushkin and Fonti met at North London's Holloway Boys School.[1][6][2][5] Fonti would meet up with Mighty Moe at college. Originally, the crew had more members.[7] The crew has stated their inspirations include Rory from Stonelove, Shabba Ranks, KRS-One, Stevie Hyper D, Inspector Longman and New Dimensions sound system, Sky Juice - Metro Media, Buju Banton, R. Kelly, DJ Brockie and MC Det.[1][4] They started off playing at house parties and small clubs, moving through to a residency at Chimes nightclub in Hackney in 1996.[1][6] Their first performance at Chimes nightclub was in 1994. Prior to becoming a UK garage crew, the collective ran a mobile sound system, where they would play various genres such as hip hop, R&B and ragga, before eventually specialising in UK garage due to their popularity in the genre.[4][6]

By 1998, they had joined the pirate radio station Mission 90.6 FM,[8][1] pioneering a mix of R&B, hip-hop, jungle and dancehall derived sounds, taking its cues straight from the Jamaican sound system tradition, while adding fresh and modern elements from UK garage. They also featured on London pirates Freek FM 101.8 and Y2K FM 90.6.[9] In 2001, Heartless Crew had a notable clash with fellow UKG crew Pay As U Go.[1]

In 2002, they signed to BBC Radio 1Xtra, where they presented their Sunday evening programme.[5][10] They also released a debut compilation album, Heartless Crew presents Crisp Biscuit Vol 1 on the East West record label, closely followed by their debut single, "The Heartless Theme a.k.a 'The Superglue Riddim'".[1][10] The single reached number 21 on the UK Singles Chart in May 2002.[11] The music video for "The Heartless Theme" was directed by Andy Hylton.[12] The crew were nominated at the MOBO Awards in 2002.[5] They left 1Xtra in 2006.[citation needed]

It was announced in 2010 that the Heartless Crew split up, to pursue solo careers whilst still remaining friends.[3][10][13] MC Bushkin and DJ Fonti went on to present the F.A.B. (Fonti & Bushkin) show together on Rinse FM on Friday evenings between 7-9pm, however they left the station in late 2012/early 2013, with Bushkin pursuing a career as a recording artist.[citation needed] MC Bushkin announced he was quitting MCing in 2014.[3][10]

In 2016, the trio returned as a group, headlining the sold out Garage Nation Festival to critical acclaim online.[14] They have since appeared at Notting Hill Carnival, headlined the o2 Academy in Leicester and performed as special guests at Eskimo Dance in Bristol. They were also set to appear at Birmingham's notorious club night 0231 at Rainbow Venues and alongside Kurupt FM at a sold out Brixton Academy show before the end of the year. In 2017, they continued performing at in demand events, appearing at the Snowbombing festival in Austria and at Annie Mac's Lost & Found Festival in Malta.[15]

Discography

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Albums

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Singles

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Year Single Peak chart positions Album
UK
[11]
2002 "The Heartless Theme" 21 Heartless Crew presents Crisp Biscuit Vol 1
2003 "Why (Looking Back)" 50 Singles only
"Hearts in the Music" —
"—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h AnotherMan. "A Brief History of Grime, as Told by DJ Target". AnotherMan. Archived from the original on 13 September 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Pay As U Go Crawled So That Grime Could Walk". trenchtrenchtrench.com. Archived from the original on 14 June 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "MC Bushkin (Heartless Crew) Exclusive Interview". 16 February 2017. Archived from the original on 4 November 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  4. ^ a b c "UK Garage Music, Garage Audio, Garage News and Underground Garage MP3". 26 February 2001. Archived from the original on 26 February 2001. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Crew who opened the garage door - Telegraph". 30 September 2019. Archived from the original on 30 September 2019.
  6. ^ a b c "Heartless Crew Mixes! plus pictures, interviews, lyrics and more!". 14 October 2004. Archived from the original on 14 October 2004. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  7. ^ Geeneus with Heartless Crew, archived from the original on 28 August 2019, retrieved 4 November 2019
  8. ^ Grime Kids: The Inside Story of the Global Grime Takeover - By DJ Target - Publisher: Trapeze; Reprint edition (July 23, 2019) - ISBN 978-1409179535
  9. ^ Heartless Crew on London pirate radio
  10. ^ a b c d "After reunion, Heartless Crew's MC Bushkin to perform solo in Dubai". The National. 13 July 2016. Archived from the original on 4 November 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  11. ^ a b c Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 248. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  12. ^ "Andyhylton.com". Archived from the original on 23 May 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  13. ^ "Sidewinder Classics: A Set from 2005 Featuring Heartless Crew". Complex Networks. Archived from the original on 4 November 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  14. ^ "After reunion, Heartless Crew's MC Bushkin to perform solo in Dubai | the National". Archived from the original on 14 July 2016. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  15. ^ "Heartless Crew". Facebook.com.
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