Jimmy Screech

MC, rapper and producer Jimmy Screech is bringing british bashment back to the streets of south London. With a bit of help from his friend Rodney Smith, aka Roots Manuva, Jimmy is going to bring a happy mix of reggae, rap and hip-hop to the mainstream, delivering a very London take on a sound entrenched in a rich, mixed, musical heritage.

Try to categorise Jimmy Screech, though, and you won’t get very far. Yes, it's easy to hear that he wears some of his influences on his sleeve (Tipper Irie, Public Enemy, the Wailers, Jay-Z, Bob Dylan), and he is thankful artists such as Sean Paul have made contemporary dancehall go global. But Jimmy is fresh, unique and driven to succeed. "When I was a kid," he says, "the only music I heard playing on my estate was reggae and hip-hop. It used to bounce off the concrete and resonate all around -- I guess that's why my sound has such deep roots in both genres."

Jimmy – who was first discovered by Roots Manuva in 2005 -- and has since toured with him, as well as with artists as diverse as Ghostface Killah, the Dub Pistols and US hip-hop group Ugly Duckling in the past 12 months -- explains that the scene he grew up in will always be essential to his music going forward. He explains: "In the 80s and 90s, when Manchester had the Stone Roses and all of those kind of people, we had Tipper Irie, we had Top Cat, we had Smiley Culture -- the dub-reggae dancehall scene was vibrant. There were so many artists coming up and artists that we listened to every single day. We listened on the radio, we'd go to all-dayers, see artists like Maxi Priest. They go around the world but they still come back. That's why I think south London has history, has heritage. I still work with Tipper Irie -- he sourced a track for me. Not only have we got the history but the older guys aren't forgetting about the younger guys. They're trying to bring us in."

For more information on Jimmy Screech visit his website, myspace oder facebook page.