So Solid Crew

Growing up together on a tough estate in Battersea, South London, So Solid Crew formed as a collective of MCs and producers united by the burgeoning underground 2-step garage craze - a form of dance and hip hop music based around jungle, drum'n'bass and urban styles. Full of street attitude, the 30-strong crew took gangsta rap's snarl and swagger and techno's rapid beats to showcase their talents on their pirate radio show So Solid Sundays, before group members Oxide & Neutrino broke into the mainstream with their huge Number 1 hit Bound 4 Da Reload. Debut single 21 Seconds repeated that success, topping the UK charts and becoming an anthem for the scene, as album They Don't Know (2001) hit Number 6 and single Haters made it to Number 8. Troubled by lawsuits and violence at their gigs, the group became a magnet for controversy and was dubbed "the most dangerous band since the Sex Pistols" by an increasingly hysterical tabloid press, resulting in a ban from playing by many venues across Britain. They returned with the Top 10 single Broken Silence, but when the album 2nd Verse (2003) flopped, the band splintered away to concentrate on solo projects. Their influence lives on in the grime scene and the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Tinie Tempah and N-Dubz.