It all began in 1991 at a club night called
Rage at Heaven. The rave scene had emerged from acid house and was
building its own identity, with pioneer Djs such as Fabio and
Grooverider mixing cutting edge sounds with vintage funk and reggae and
playing tracks like Carl Craig’s seminal ‘Bugs In The Attic’ at 45rpm
instead of 33. The vibe was explosive, the adrenalin was pumping.
This is where well-travelled Walsall born B boy
Goldie
– a name he got while customising gold teeth – ended up when just from a
few years in New York and Miami, taken by his new girlfriend
Kemistry and her flatmate, known as
DJ Storm.
Rage puzzled him the first time, blew his mind the second and there was no turning back:
Goldie
the UK B Boy who was hanging out with Nellee Hooper and 3 D pre Massive
Attack, gold teeth maker, respected breakdancer and renowned Grafitti
artist (his first brush with fame was taking part in ‘Bombin’, the
definite documentary about the 80s grafitti scene) had found his purpose
in life. He was going to make music, and his music was going to be
played at clubs like Rage.
Soon,
Goldie met Mark and Dego – AKA
4 Hero – from
Reinforced Records,
the reference label of the emerging scene. In exchange of artwork and
logo design, he got into their legendary Dollis Hill studio. Under their
guidance,
Goldie did not only capture the vibe of the
music he had heard out, but he added his own touch, inspired by his
passion for hip hop, an insatiable musical curiosity. getting the
ultimate kick of watching and hearing
Grooverider play his first ever track,
Goldie grew in confidence and made his first official release for Reinforced, ‘Darkrider’ in 1992, under the
Rufige Kru moniker. Thanks to the expertise he had picked up and his meeting with like-minded producers such as
Doc Scott, Goldie was finding his own sound.
His passion and determination were rewarded the following year, and
his third Reinforced release. With its dark atmosphere, steely
breakbeats and restless vibe, ‘Terminator’ introduced what was to become
a must in jungle production, timestretching. All the DJs followed the
path of
Grooverider, who instantly played the track
when it was given to him. ‘Terminator’ brought a fresh, darker edge to
the scene. Jungle had reached another level.
Through his own
Metalheadz imprint set up shortly after,
Goldie
showcased early releases by some of the most crucial jungle artists;
from Doc Scott, Photek and Peshay to Dillinja, J Majik and Optical. The
Metalheadz weekly residency at London’s legendary jazz club The Blue
Note captured the essence of the music to a packed and enthusiastic
audience and became a must.
Goldie landed a contract with
Pete Tong’s
offshoot FFRR, part of London Records, and released the sumptuous
Timeless, a twisted hymn to urban Britain. Hailed unanimously, the album
sold over 250,000 copies, comforting a charismatic, passionate and
inspired
Goldie as the spokerperson of the hippest scene of the times.
Fame kept rising beyond music. While turning into a bona fide
celebrity with acting in cult and mainstream films, taking part of high
profile TV shows, and becoming a fixture in the gossip columns,
Goldie
never ever lost touch with his jungle roots and was often spotted in
the middle of the dancefloor at his own club nights, or paying respects
to
Grooverider or
Randall. Nothing has
captured better his attachment to the music than his sporadic return to
the ‘Rufige Kru’ moniker for more uncompromising slices of vinyl, such
as ‘Beachdrifta’ backed by a ‘Stormtroopaz’ VIP mix for the relaunch of
Metalheadz in 2001. for the last few years,
Goldie has DJed all over the world, still one of the highest profile ambassador of drum and bass.
For
Goldie, turning into ‘Rufige Kru’ is capturing
the essence of what makes him so passionate about music: a dark,
unsettling, gutsy sound going back to the roots of jungle, made even
more potent through state of the art studio production. In 2006,
Goldie
enrolled young and gifted producer Heist (AKA Strider) to help him
deliver his ultimate tribute to the scene that captured his heart and
soul over fifteen years ago: a Rufige Kru album, ‘Malice In Wonderland’
the first artist album ever for Metalheadz. Get ready for a treat
GOLDIE WILL BE PLAYING THE TOWER OF DESTINY FRIDAY NIGHT
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