Hijack - The terrorist group
LokoOne
1,823 Posts
I'm sure the UK poasters on here would know Hijack and (hopefully) dig them...what do others think?
LokoOne
1,823 Posts
Comments
I recorded it to mini disc while visiting a friend in the UK. Probably pretended to like it more than I did.
Zero chance I'm listening earnestly to it now though. If someone prefaced it with a story about them coming on stage with UZIs before Ice-T on US tour, and then we only had to listen to one or two songs, and they were the ones with the best scratching, then I'm cool with it. That'd be fun. But as a current listen, I can't do it. There's a little bit of Tim Dog "is this for real?" shit in there though...
I do always say "th th th th the terrorist group" after anyone says "hijack." That's stuck with me.
Hardnoise - Untitled
Gunshot - Battle Creek Brawl
Son Of Noise - Keep It Going
Kobalt 60 - Concrete Show
Yes Euroman rap....
This.
Also, this:
I think one of the Hijack guys (or more) got invovled in the rave scene in the UK and there was a popular rave song around here in the mid 90s that sampled their 'pow, automatic, feel the panic gots to have it' (which at the time all us holier than thou bboys thought was sacriligeous)
My anedote- Around 95, me and my mate that put me onto Hijack (and made me a copy of his dub of their album) while digging found a copy of the album on vinyl, and since he had the money at the time he bought it. For years he would brag about the score and I always gave him shit about beating me to the punch . A few months ago he sold all his dj equipment and record collection but pulled the Hijack album out of the lot and gave it to me, so Ive been playing it on a reminicing tip. It has some dated moments but I think it still holds it own. The only thing I cringe at is the overt RS dick riding. From what I heard the LP never even got released in the US locally, so the story behind all that would be interesting.
If half of what was said about their live shows is true then they are one group I wish I could have seen live at their peak.
also, one of the dopest album covers
And also, don't forget the Demon Boyz. Warmed them up by playing classic tunes in Nighttown, Rotterdam in the mid '90's as they made a comeback and they still sounded as fresh as their first album.
Funny, I always thought all these Britcore groups were only recognized in the UK and in Northern Europe. What you describe happenend the same way with me in Hamburg, Northern Germany. Hijack was one of the first rap gruops I heard besides RUN DMC, Public Enemy and 2 Live Crew and they had an huge impact on me. As a 14 year old I was deeply impressed by the roughness and "hardcore attitude". Also loved the lightspeed cuts by Supreme. When the album came out I copped it on vinyl. Loved the cover artwork too. Easy to impress a teenager with gas masks and bowie knifes. I still hold the album dear while most of my other britcore records changed to the lower sections of thee Expedit. Around 1992-1996 Britcore was huge in Hamburg and other nothern cities. More than half of the groups on Hip Hop Jams where either from britain or were copying the sound. Moshpits where nothing unusual on rap concerts then. First time I heard Britcore was also celebrated in Australia.
I always was a huge fan of these dudes since I first heard Style Wars. This dropped just a bit after Public Enemy No1 came out, and they were accused of biting for using the Blow Your Head intro, but nobody could deny the pure ruggedness of that track.
There were so many urban myths about the group doing the rounds before the album came out. I had a dub of the album from my boy a good 2 years before it got released, but when it was finally released, a lot of the momentum was sadly lost. It was a real shame cos these guys were so hardcore and uncompromising, and one of the very few UK groups who a London crowd would actually show love to. The whole Britcore thing that followed did put off a lot of domestic UK hip hop fans, and there is definitely a link between it and harcore/jungle. A hell of a lot of MC's and producers jumped ship round about 91-93, something that seems to happen frequently in UK Hip Hop circles when a new sub-genre emerges.
My Hijack anecdote is once I was DJing a house party in Brighton round 94 where we had this conservatory set up as a DJ booth. I was in there doing my thing and this dude with a big blow out afro came in there and was bopping away behind me, throwing loads of hand gestures and just getting down. I was sure I had seen this dude before but couldn't put my finger on it until he came up to me and said in the most distinctive voice in the world "you know the Hijackers are in the house!" Holy shit, it was Kimanchi Sly! I was suddenly overcome with nerves because dude was in my top 10 period, and it might as well have been Chuck D giving me props. Anyway, I got it together, played probably one of the dopest sets I ever did, and chatted at length with dude. He then became a fairly regular fixture at parties I was DJing back then, and I remember him blagging me and a friend at the door of various clubs saying we were his two DJs, Undercover and Supreme. I fell off the radar a bit after this for a while and haven't seen him since, but he did release a couple of decent 12"s nearly 10 years ago (as well as doing that dodgy Pied Piper UK Garage anthem!).
i met supreme in zurich. nice guy.
co-sign on hardnoise... the instrumental at least
They also produced and wrote the rhymes for this - that's them mugging near the beginning of the vid. I remember speaking to Ronnie about it, and said to him, "You did that for the money, right?" They did, and they made a good few quid out of it too, but they also did it because they're Man United fans, which was a source of intense disappointment to me personally.
I found some of the lyrics unintentionally funny but the good always outweighed the bad for me.
Another favourite song of theirs is 'Daddy Rich' - one of those rap tracks where the r&b vocals fit the mood beautifully.
Don't go with strangers.
One song of the Lp that is more relevant to me these days than when I was a teenager is Dont Go With Strangers, as I have kids in my life now so when i hear the song recently it had a whole different feel to me...
It would make a great (and scary) PSA record to play to school kids to warn them about stranger danger. I can even picture the Hijack crew in full regalia attending schools and giving safety lectures...hehehe
And I love Kamanchi Sly like everyone else but always thought Ulysses could hold his own. Wonder what happened to him?
"I appear, disappear, reappear...where? On the chandelier!"
And also this.....
http://undergroundstrikesback.blogspot.com/2008/04/turntable-trixters.html