The Brotherhood

The rap collective the Brotherhood originated in Edgware, situated in north London, England, during the mid-1980s. Considerable time elapsed before the ensemble refined itself into the compact trio behind the pioneering 1996 album Elementalz. Shyloc, Spice and DJ Mr Dexter emerged as the sole survivors from the original eight-piece lineup, which had already secured underground recognition via three singles and an EP, one of which was the well-known ‘I Might Smoke A Spliff But I Don’t Sniff’.

A contract with Virgin Records arrived in 1994 through Bite It! Records, the subsidiary imprint run by producer Trevor Jackson (the Underdog). Bite It! had previously attracted widespread admiration for its innovative packaging and visual identity, qualities extended to Elementalz through the contributions of avant garde photographer David McKean. Jackson retained overall production control, drawing on earlier work with U2, Shara Nelson and Massive Attack. Release of the album nevertheless encountered a six-month delay after the death of Marts Andrups, manager for both Jackson and the Brotherhood.

‘Alphabetic Response’ and ‘One Shot’ appeared as the two singles extracted from Elementalz. The record also incorporated contributions from Brian Auger as well as samples sourced from UK acts such as King Crimson and Soft Machine. Even prior to its appearance, mainstream outlets and hip-hop publications alike hailed Elementalz as the arrival of UK rap as a mature force, an assessment borne out by tracks including ‘Going Underground’ (not the Jam song) and the agenda-setting ‘British Accent Pride’.