| So Solid Crew | |
|---|---|
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | UK Garage, grime, hardcore hip hop |
| Years active | 1998–2004, 2010- |
| Labels | Independiente Limited Relentless Records Ltd. |
| Associated acts | Ms. Dynamite, Beenie Man |
| Members | |
| Lisa Maffia MC Romeo MegamanAsher D Carl Morgan Oxide & Neutrino Michael Harvey SNiPER (Anthony Melas) |
|
So Solid Crew is an electronic and urban musical collective from South London, England, whose hits include "Oh No (Sentimental Things)" and "21 Seconds", the latter reaching number one in the UK Singles Chart in August 2001. Another hit, "They Don't Know", reached number three in November 2001 and "Haters" got to number eight in January 2002. "Ride Wid Us" was less successful (UK number 19 in April 2002). They released a single, "Broken Silence" which spoke out about government prejudice which they felt they had faced.[1]
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Before breaking into the mainstream market, SSC had been involved with many pirate radio stations in London, such as Supreme FM and Delight FM (103.0 MHz). It was at Delight where they made their name, occupying most of the Sunday schedule, the so-called "So Solid Sundays". From around lunchtime until 10pm, there were shows from different members, where the various SSC DJs would play 2-step garage tracks. At times the SSC emcees would rap on top of the tracks for up to two hours each session. On Christmas Day in 2001, SSC performed their last Sunday show on the station.
The SSC's first album They Don't Know was released in October 2001, followed by a remix album entitled Fuck It in December 2001. SSC had tracks on the UK garage CD series Pure Garage.
In 2002 they were the subject of the Channel 4 television documentary This Is So Solid directed and narrated by David Upshal. This was later released on DVD by Universal along with a live performance.
Oxide & Neutrino released singles but before joining SSC. They released an album entitled Execute and the singles "Only Wanna Know U Cos Ure Famous / Dem Girlz", "Up Middle Finger" and "Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty)" (which samples the theme music from the BBC hospital drama television series Casualty).
Members Michael Harvey, MC Romeo, and Lisa Maffia have all appeared on Channel 4 celebrity reality show The Games. Harvey has gone solo and is producing tracks such as "We Ride" with Doom Man, Swiss, JME & Skepta. SSC MC Asher D has gone on to have an acting career appearing in 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin', Bullet Boy and Life and Lyrics, while still making independent mixtapes and albums in the Grime and UK hiphop scene. Member Swiss released "Cry" featuring Sharifa. Trigger is now working with UK based producer Clyde Ward on his solo project JAX and features in UK based band The Fallen's debut album track "Maybe".
Five of the Crew have appeared on BBC Two comedy panel game show Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Harvey was first to appear in 2001, followed by Megaman and MC Romeo in 2003, then Lisa Maffia and Asher D in 2004. Maffia appeared for the second time in 2009 and is the only Crew member to appear more than once.
An associate of the band, Carl Morgan, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder in October 2005.[2] Subsequently, group member Megaman was found not guilty at the Old Bailey on 28 September 2006 after a retrial.[3]
In 2010, the group released a new song, titled "Since You Went Away". They performed it on the UK Celebrity Big Brother's Big Mouth, and the track was officially released on 18 January 2010. It peaked at 82 in its first week of release in the UK charts.
So Solid also recorded a Radio 1 Live Lounge session which was aired early February 2010 as part of BBC's 1Xtra homegrown season. The album was released in early summer 2010.
| Year | Album | UK Albums Chart[10] |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | They Don't Know | 6 |
| 2003 | 2nd Verse | 70 |
| Year | Song | UK [10] |
Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | "Oh No (Sentimental Things)/Dilemma" | - | They Don't Know |
| 2001 | "21 Seconds" | 1 | |
| "They Don't Know" | 3 | ||
| "Haters" | 8 | ||
| 2002 | "Ride Wid Us" | 19 | |
| 2003 | "Broken Silence" | 9 | 2nd Verse |
| 2004 | "So Grimey" | 62 | |
| 2010 | "Since You Went Away" | 82 |