MC Tunes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
MC Tunes (born Nicky Lockett, 1970) is a British rapper from Moss Side, Manchester, who worked with 808 State on the 1990 album, The North At Its Heights (ZTT Records). The album was a moderate success, reaching #26 in the UK Albums Chart, and also saw European and Japanese releases. It spawned three UK singles that entered the UK Singles Chart: "The Only Rhyme That Bites" (ZTT, 1990) reached number 10, "Tunes Splits The Atom" (ZTT, 1990) reached number 18 and "Primary Rhyming" (ZTT, 1990) reached number 67 - this was also the first of the singles to have the 'vs 808 State' wording removed from the cover.
In 1992, Tunes recorded the single "Digital Bad Boy/Could You Understand" (Juice Box, 1992) with A Guy Called Gerald (Gerald Simpson, also from 808 State).
Following the stalling of his solo career, Tunes formed the group Dust Junkys in 1995, with Sam Brox on guitar, Steve OJ on bass guitar, Mykey Wilson on drums and Ganiyu Pierre Gasper on turntables. The band struggled to be signed, and instead concentrated on gigging in the Manchester area, building anaudience for their mix of British hip hop and Rock music.
Whilst gigging with the Dust Junkys, Tunes returned to work with 808 State in 1996 on a new track, "Pump", taken from their album Thermo Kings (Warner). It was due to be released as a single, but this never happened. A few years after this, the Dust Junkys were signed to Polydor and released their first single "What Time Is It?" (1997), reaching number 39 in the UK chart. Three more singles and the album Done and Dusted followed and they toured with Black Grape in 1997 as their support act, but despite reasonable popularity there were disputes with the record label and the group were dropped. Done and Dusted was reissued as a special edition with the remix album Dub and Dusted in 1998, and the band also played the Glastonbury Festival in the same year.
More recently, Tunes has guested on the single "Porn Star" (Fuel Records, 2001) by the Pornstarz and "Adrenaline" from the Alabama 3 album, Outlaw (One Little Indian, 2005). He still regularly gigs in Manchester, and in 2003 the Dust Junkys played a reunion gig at The Roadhouse in Manchester.
Fatboy Slim sampled the track "Beatbox Wash" for "Gangster Trippin" on the You've Come a Long Way, Baby album.
Besides music, in 2007 Tunes played himself in the independent feature film, Diary of a Bad Lad.
Tunes still lives in Collyhurst, North Manchester.
Contents |
[edit] Discography
[edit] MC Tunes
- The North at Its Heights (ZTT, 1990)
- The Only Rhyme That Bites (ZTT, 1990)
- Tunes Splits the Atom (ZTT, 1990)
- Primary Rhyming (ZTT, 1990)
[edit] Dust Junkys
- Done and Dusted (Polydor, 1997)
- Done and Dusted Special Edition/Dub and Dusted (Polydor, 1998)
[edit] External links
- ZTT Records official site
- ZTT Records official store
- Ian Peel: Warriors of pop, 21 years of ZTT Record Collector, September 2004 (copy at Zang Tuum Tumb and all that) Article about ZTT's history, contains info on MC Tunes
- Heroes of UK Hip Hop's MC Tunes page
- Review of the Dust Junkys at the 1998 Glastonbury Festival
