Ruff Sqwad, one of the seminal grime crews from the early part of last decade that was the original home of the likes of Rapid and Tinchy Stryder, have announced that they are to release a CD compilation of their instrumentals.
Entitled, accurately, White Label Classics, it gathers 22 of their instrumentals that were originally only self-released on white label and distributed to independent record shops. Most are rare gems now, given the limited vinyl runs they were originally released in. In Rapid’s words: "these are the anthems, the tunes people remember us by. The ones people have been asking for ever since."
The Ruff Sqwad sound – ominous, but woozily romantic and melodic – has since been hugely influential on successive waves of UK-based producers, both in grime and further afield within the realms of dubstep and bass-driven house. This compilation – released by No Hats No Hoods on 10th December – is the first time these instrumentals have all been gathered in one place. You can listen to ‘Pied Piper’ via the embed below.
The CD version comes with a 16 page booklet featuring photos and an interview with the crew’s core producers Rapid and Dirty Danger. You can read an excerpt from the sleeve notes concerning ‘Pied Piper’ below:
The earliest track on here is Pied Piper, when does that originate from?
Rapid: Ah, dates, I’m the worst with dates. I was probably Year 9 or 10 at school? 2002 I’d say. I was about 14 or 15. Dirty and me started making music about two days apart, using Fruity Loops 3. We had a parents’ evening, and my teacher said ‘he needs a PC, to be doing his homework and research’, and my dad was sort of embarrassed, so a week later he went out and bought me a Packard Bell.
Dirty Danger: I used to beg my dad, ‘come on please can I have a computer?’ – I just wanted to play games. And he finally got me a PC, and one of my brother’s friends had a copy of Fruity, so we just started messing about with it.
White Label Classics‘ tracklist runs as follows:
‘Anna’
‘Misty Cold’
‘Lethal Injection’
‘Pied Piper’
‘Functions on the Low’
‘Together’
‘Your Love Feels’
‘Tings in Boots’
‘Down’
‘Move 2 Dis’
‘Knight Rider’
‘An Ting’
‘Underground’
‘Burial’
‘Top 3 Selected’
‘Cheque’
‘Clio’
‘Xtra’
‘Good Old Days’
‘I’m From a Place’
‘Lonely People’ (CD ONLY) / ‘No Bass’ (DIGITAL ONLY)
‘Died in Your Arms’ (CD ONLY) / ‘Cleo Remix’ (DIGITAL ONLY)
