Skinnyman

Born Alex Holland in Leeds, Skinnyman is one of the few British emcees that needs almost no introduction. Moving as a kid to Finsbury Park, North London, Skinny found a melting pot of cultures suddenly on his doorstep and immersed himself in the musical culture of reggae and dancehall. Highly influenced by Leroy, Chas and fast tongue-talking Papa San, he was introduced to rap at a very early age. While watching the first rappers such as Electro Ascension, Wiggy Wiggy, Grandmaster Melle Mel and Furious Five, he immediately realised he had been built for that. When he was about 7, he had to do a school play and decided to write his own script for his part. He built himself a Rubik”s cube, put on a Rubik”s cube costume and did a rap about the Rubik”s cube and the mathematical structures of it. That was the first time he was onstage doing a rap. Thank to his distinctive voice, Skinny easily progressed through open mic battles and consistently won titles around London. After becoming a founding member of The Bury Crew, in the early 90”s skinnyman moved on to establish by himself the seminal Mud Family alongside Mongo and Chester P with whom he released lots of EPs. These included the underground hits “Itchy Town” and “Lash Suttin”, a reworking of Redman”s “Smash Something”. One of the best Hip Hop crews in England whether on vinyl, on stage freestyling or battling other MCs