London, UK · jungle · drum-and-bass

Shy FX

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Jungle royalty since the mid-'90s — ragga-inflected breakbeats and one of the genre's defining catalogues, 'Original Nuttah' eternal.

Shy FX is the London producer André Williams, one of the figures who helped shape jungle in the first half of the 1990s. His debut single, "Jungle Love," came out in 1992 on the Permission to Dance label, and after signing to Sound of the Underground he released "Original Nuttah" in 1994 with vocalist UK Apache, a ragga-toasted, chopped-breakbeat record that remains among the genre's most recognisable.

He continued through drum and bass's later phases with a run of collaborations, most enduringly with T Power. Their 2001 single "Shake Ur Body," featuring vocalist Di, reached number seven on the UK charts and pushed drum and bass toward a mainstream audience, a run that continued with the pair's 2002 album Set It Off on Pete Tong's FFRR label.

In 2005 Williams founded his own label, Digital Soundboy Recordings, releasing Diary of a Digital Sound Boy with T Power that same year. The label went on to put out records by a number of younger producers, extending Williams's reach in the genre beyond his own catalogue.

Away from his own name, he has produced tracks for Dizzee Rascal, including "Da Feelin" and "Can't Tek No More," and remixed Plan B's "She Said" and Naughty Boy, Wiley and Emeli Sandé's "Never Be Your Woman," both issued as the official single versions and landing in the UK top ten. His own records have stayed closer to reggae and soundsystem culture, favouring vocal-led, dancefloor tracks over pure technical programming.

In 2014 he teamed with Chase & Status, David Rodigan and MC Rage as the soundsystem Rebel Sound for the Red Bull Culture Clash, winning the event against Stone Love, Boy Better Know and A$AP Mob.

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