After a fruitless stint on a major imprint, the Manchester, England hip-hop collective Kaleef achieved visibility late in 1996 by scoring a UK Top 40 single on an independent outlet. Originally inked to London Records in 1993 under the spelling Kaliphz—a designation signifying “King” or “Messenger” in Arabic—the outfit coalesced when 2Phaaan (pronounced Du-farn) and Jabba Da Hype (aka The Alien) witnessed the Rocksteady Crew’s appearance at the Runcorn Ideal Homes Exhibition in 1982, drawing them into the surrounding breakdancing and graffiti scenes. That same year the pair established the breakdance unit Dizzy Footwork, which soon incorporated Hogweed; the resulting trio later expanded with the additions of Chokadoodle and SniffaDawg to finalize the roster. Supporting them were the production collective Funk Regulators, the junior rap crew the Underhogs, the all-female dance ensemble the Berserkers, the mixed-race outfit Freaks Of Nature, and the freestyle artist Paraphinalia. Press interest surged around the group’s largely Asian heritage, and their London contract was widely reported to have carried a substantial advance. Nevertheless, the debut album Seven Deadly Sins failed to register commercially, mirroring the fate of its accompanying singles. Once London lost faith, prospects appeared dim until BBC Radio 1’s Pete Tong—an early champion—introduced the act to Unity Records, the Manchester independent founded by Pete Waterman of Stock, Aitken And Waterman. At Waterman’s Church studio in Manchester they cut a demo reinterpretation of the Stranglers’ 1982 hit “Golden Brown,” with Twice Born’s rap overlay underscoring the perils of heroin—an ironic gloss, since the Stranglers had long denied that the original track served as a paean to the substance.
