Brighton graffiti artist/producer Req in some respects embodies the
clichés of British underground club music: no formal musical
training whatsoever; a youth spent tagging, DJing, and breakdancing
in the wake of the first wave of hip-hop culture to hit the U.K.; a
knack for pushing received artistic sensibilities to their breaking
point and coming up with exciting new directions in the offing.
Req's music, however, is hardly clichéd, combining a warped,
abstract approach to sampled breaks with a knack for extracting a
haunting moodiness out of even the most minimal of electronic and
sampledelic soundscapes. One of the U.K.'s most respected graffiti
artists, Req began writing in 1984, after the Beat Street tour
hyped his senses to the basic tenets of hip-hop. Although he only
began making music by the time he was into his late twenties, Req's
years spent bedroom DJing refined his instinct for effective
composition, a skill which tends to compensate for his music's
somewhat limited sonic palette. Req's debut for esoteric beat-head
imprint Skint (home also to Fatboy Slim and Bentley Rhythm Ace) was
his Garden EP, four tracks of breathy down-tempo hip-hop similar to
the breakbeat abstractions of DJ Krush and DJ Cam. With stated
influences spanning from early Detroit techno and old-school
hip-hop, to the Black Dog, Req's tracks are more stylistically
rooted in the Mo'Wax/Cup of Tea camp, stripping hip-hop of its
extraneous elements and focusing on the bass, the beats, and the
atmosphere around them. Req:One, his debut Skint full-length (with
wraparound cover displaying a mural of his artwork), was released
in 1997, and was praised highly by everyone from Coldcut to The
Wire. ~ Sean Cooper
Brighton graffiti artist/producer Req in some respects embodies the
clichés of British underground club music: no formal musical
training whatsoever; a youth spent tagging, DJing, and breakdancing
in the wake of the first wave of hip-hop culture to hit the U.K.; a
knack for pushing received artistic sensibilities to their breaking
point and coming up with exciting new directions in the offing.
Req's music, however, is hardly clichéd, combining a warped,
abstract approach to sampled breaks with a knack for extracting a
haunting moodiness out of even the most minimal of electronic and
sampledelic soundscapes. One of the U.K.'s most respected graffiti
artists, Req began writing in 1984, after the Beat Street tour
hyped his senses to the basic tenets of hip-hop. Although he only
began making music by the time he was into his late twenties, Req's
years spent bedroom DJing refined his instinct for effective
composition, a skill which tends to compensate for his music's
somewhat limited sonic palette. Req's debut for esoteric beat-head
imprint Skint (home also to Fatboy Slim and Bentley Rhythm Ace) was
his Garden EP, four tracks of breathy down-tempo hip-hop similar to
the breakbeat abstractions of DJ Krush and DJ Cam. With stated
influences spanning from early Detroit techno and old-school
hip-hop, to the Black Dog, Req's tracks are more stylistically
rooted in the Mo'Wax/Cup of Tea camp, stripping hip-hop of its
extraneous elements and focusing on the bass, the beats, and the
atmosphere around them. Req:One, his debut Skint full-length (with
wraparound cover displaying a mural of his artwork), was released
in 1997, and was praised highly by everyone from Coldcut to The
Wire. ~ Sean Cooper 
