Hip hop in Birmingham

The Birmingham Hip Hop scene developed in Birmingham, England in the 1980s.

hip hop, electro, breakdance and graffiti art culture spread rapidly in Birmingham and nearby Wolverhampton, Walsall and The Black Country.

A popular pirate radio station called 'Fresh F.M.' broadcast from Birmingham. The station played hip hop and breakdance records and inspired a rap crew called Jump who released two records, 'We Come to Jam' and 'Feel It', as early as 1985. One of their vocalists, 'Sure Shot', rapped on a breakfast show as early as 1980 and later went on to form 'The Audio Kings' and then 'The Black Prophetz'. Local station BRMB and national BBC Radio 1 also had hip hop shows.

Breakdance parties were commonplace, with street dancers 'battling' on small strips of linoleum or cardboard, entertaining and sometimes inconveniencing passers-by in places like the Pallasades shopping centre and the subways of the old Bull Ring.

In the early 1980s one of the largest community graffiti art "battles" took place next to the Bull Ring shopping centre in Birmingham, England. The City invited a selection of the UK's graffiti arists such as Goldie, Bristol's 3D (who went on to form Massive Attack), London's Mode from the Chrome Angels and Bronx Man Brim and his New York alter-ego Bio attending for good measure.

The Chanel 4 documentary 'Bombing' featured Wolverhampton and Birmingham quite heavily, with Cash Da Master givin an impromptu rap to Bronx Graffiti artist Brim and the cameras, clips from the Battle can be seen on the documentary also. The massive boards were errected with scaffolding in place to enable free movement of the artists.

When hip hop legend Afrika Bambaata visited Birmingham around the time of the Handsworth riots he inspired a wealth of new rappers and hip hop DJs such as Moorish Delta 7 Elements, Roc1, Mad Flow, Creative Habits, Lord Laing and DJ Sparra (twice winner of the DMC mixing championships).

Brothers and Sisters took place in the 'Coast to Coast' club in the old ATV television studios on Broad Street in the early 1990s. Then came Fungle Junk which took place for many years beneath House music club 'Fun', the night brought such acts as The Physconauts, Andrew Weatherall and the Scratch Perverts to the city.

The Medicine Bar (situated in the old Bird's Custard Factory) now continues the city's hip hop connection and is home to two of the longest running Funk and hip hop nights in the UK, Substance and Leftfoot, both having featured on BBC Radio 1. They fuse together major Acid Jazz, hip hop and funk artists from across the Globe.