Alan Johnson (13)

He was one of the founding members of one of the most recognised, pioneering hardcore hip hop groups in the early 1990's UK music scene. The background is interesting. Hardnoise were a six strong outfit which formed in 1988 by art students and they only released a handful of songs commercially (Untitled, Serve Tea Then Murder and Mice in The Pressance of the Lion). These songs were all hits within the underground circuit and were big in Europe. Their multi-genre music crossed over onto alternate platforms including Rave, Jungle, House and Drum and Bass clubs. Their music was heavily sampled in the early 90's rave scene by multiple artists including electronic and dance music band The Prodigy. Hardnoise were influential in establishing the UK hardcore sound known as Britcore (a term which German fans have given to early UK hardcore hip hop) alongside other prominent groups such as Hijack, Blade, Son Of Noise and Gunshot. Sadly three of the members from Hardnoise have passed away over the years which now leave three remaining (DJ AJ, DJ Son and DJ Mada) AJ's other love of Graphic Design has seen him design for John Lewis Partnership, Pandora UK, Jay Quan (Hip Hop Historian and writer for LL Cool J's Rock The Bells), Rakim from Eric B and Rakim fame, Public Enemy, Tony Spreadlove - The Academy Group (02 Forum) and EPMD to name a few.