Hoodz Underground

Sheffield the city of steel! Home of Meadowhall, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday football clubs plus, the Hoodz Underground, a Hip Hop collective that was formed in 1993 and consist of 8 members who have represented the steel city up and down the UK. The Hoodz have been together for over ten years. It was all started when former band member J Rugged and MC Mr Man aka Peter Williams (R.I.P) had a dream to put together a group of the best MC's in the city who where hungry to represent.

In Sheffield during the early 90s there was a need for some kind of hip hop collective because the clubs in the city centre would only be playing hardcore acid house music, cheesy pop, ragga and swing; very rarely would you hear any hip hop. Hoodz Underground were like their own community within the black community in Sheffield that where always making noise for some hip hop in the clubs. There were three places that played a massive part in the development of the Hoodz Underground at this stage. The Hub, SCR (Sheffield Community Radio), and the streets where they hung around. The Hub is a youth centre in Sheffield that has been around for over 35 years that mainly works with Black Caribbean young people citywide. During the 1990's the centre would be filled in the evenings with young people from all over the city and this was where the group had their meetings, practiced and held dances. Round about 1994 the Hoodz put on a hip hop jam at the Hub that was organised by J Rugged. He brought down acts like Scientist of Sound from London and Mr 45 from Nottingham. SCR (Sheffield Community Radio) was a pirate radio that lasted for 11 years and ran 7 nights a week. SCR was something that brought the entire community together. People tuned in from all over the Sheffield plus it also reached neighbouring towns like Barnsley and Rotherham. J Rugged had a slot on the station and the Hoodz used to go up after he played his set and freestyle to all hours of the morning sometimes even battling each other. The group used to diss each other so badly live on air that it made them all go home and write lyrics religiously all week for the next show. If anyone failed to turn up to the station the following week it was like the whole show would be dedicated towards dissin' that individual MC for not representing. One band member can even remember forgetting about a radio show and turning the radio on at home only to hear everyone on there rhyming, dissin him, so he quickly phoned a taxi and went straight up there to defend his honour. This may have seemed like madness but it helped the group to develop their lyrical skills plus have a laugh at the same times with all the listeners. The hip hop scene in Sheffield is wicked but the Hoodz believed that they all missed out on something special roundabout the early and mid 80's, of a massive hip hop movement in the city. There were several breaking crews that were representing Sheffield like Smack 19, Hip Hop Rockers, Positive Force Steel City Breakers, and Hip Hop Juniors. Joni Atcha's brother was a breaker in Hip Hop Juniors and he used to come home telling him stories about all the battles that were going on. Plus club nights like the Limit (Spring Street) where also representing. Some band members can remember seeing Smack 19 on Calendar news (Yorkshire Regional news) in 1984. When the Hoodz and their generation all started going to clubs it was all Acid House, Hard Core and Ragga Rave music. But there has been a massive change in Sheffield over the past 10 years and Hip Hop is back strong. A lot of thanks have to go out to the nights like Phonetics and the Tuesday Club. By being an 'outside of London' act the Hoodz have experienced some politics within the UK Hip Hop scene, which has held them back over the years from receiving the recognition they truly deserve. Many knowledgeable people within the scene do strongly believe that the Hoodz Underground are the best hip hop act outside of London and up there with the UK's best acts. If hip hop is good then it doesn't matter where it's coming from, and if this scene is ever going to blow up how long will it last if people are only listening to acts from one city? The Hoodz Underground have a lot of respect for people like Disorda because Disorda supports music based on its all-round quality. He has supported the Hoodz for years, where they featured on his 'May Mind The Gap' mix tapes way back in 1996 and 1997 and are currently featured on the latest 'UK Hustlers' mix tape. But being based in the North of England there is a scene all around with the nights like Phonetics-Sheffield, C'mon Feet in Manchester and Off the Hook in Derby.