Juice Aleem Biography

late 80's - early 90's

Already a fierce freestyler and member of several Birmingham groups such as ReRun Juice had a deeply ingrained reputation since the early 90's. As evident at Rap events as breakdance, Graffitti and Reggae soundsystems Aleem was highly influenced and influencial in these scenes before they seemed to split into different directions. This also occured at the same time as Rerun split with good friend and co-creator Step-One returning to the U.S. to live.

mid 90's

This left Juice as a soloist once more and a little unsure of where to go. A good place was found through Mayhem of the BC legends Urban South who lead him to the Producer Slim Redz (who was a childhood friend of Step-One). A series of sessions over the next few years and an invite to London by Ebu - Blackitude had the result of the both of them meeting Lord Redeem at several freestyle competitions. Aleem and Redeem faced off several times with some debate as to who had actually won which competitions. This rivalry kept them all in the loop and Redeem asked Juice to be involved in the birth of the Ghetto Grammar movement.

95 was around the time of the London and UK Hip Hop scenes having a change of the guard and the faces that turned up at the Ghetto Grammar sessions turned into some of the leaders of this new school: Fallacy, Ty, Mpho Skeef, Skinnyman, Ebu-Blackitude and many others came through this whole freestyle/open mic scene.

95- 96

Juice continues to work with Redeem as they take Ghetto Grammar from its roots in Vauxhall to schools, colleges and youth centres all over London. The connection of Aleem, Blackitude and Redeem was the begining of the Gamma/Shadowless collective.

96

Music journalist Will Ashon on starting with his new Nijatune backed label Big Dada speaks to his many contacts and plans a roster. Bandit of Birmingham stalwarts MSI/Asylum informs Will of Juice when Will is stuck with who can truly represent the ethos of the label. Ashon is impressed with the Slim Redz produced music and agrees to have Aleem on board. The results of this is the first release of the now iconic record label.

'Misanthropic' came out in 1997 under the pseudonym of Alpha Prhyme. Produced by electronica meister Luke Vibert, Misanthropic showed a brand new way or relating alternative rhyme science to the masses and is possibly the first ever release from a Hip Hop label to be the first release on the label from the alias of a relatively unknown artist.

Unthinkable for many but a necessary for Juice. Critical acclaim on the first strike this set the precedent for Big Dada records

Though now living back in Birmingham Juice was asked for more works. 1998s 'Nanotech Pilots' with New Flesh for Old head thinker Part 2 was the begining of a long term working relationship. Having met sometime in the early 90s at various Graffitti functions they had swore to work on music in the future. Both of them ending up on Big Dada was no mere coincidence. Gaining an even greater momentum this time around and acclaim from many magazines and radio Djs the E.P (also featuring Mad Flow) turned the tide as Big Dada gained popularity in places many artists had a time even trying to enter.

The collaborations of Juice and Part 2 and also with his Shadowless bretheren brought more classics in existence in the shape of New Flesh for Old's (Juice had become a floating member) debut album 'Equilibrium' and the Gamma album 'Permenament'.

Both albums gained a great surge national and international interest and big ups. The Gamma album had the UK favourite 'Black Atlantean', called 'a left field Black pride anthem'. Equilibrium gained fans from even further afield as people claimed it wasnt even of this world and helped to start some of the first proper Big Dada European tours. These tours took in the UK and a vast amount of Western and central Europe.

2000

2002 The highly emulated, influencial and pretty commercially succesful album 'Understanding' by the newly re-named New Flesh (for old) steps things up to an even higher degree. Till this time there had been no-one able to marry all the disparate styles of black music in the UK so well. New Flesh managed to bring Straight Hip Hop beats and rhymes to worlds of Drum & Bass, Jazz, Soul, Soca, Dancehall and the then up and coming vocal Garage/2step scene. Gaining many plaudits from people such Ras Kwame, Westwood, magazines such as Vibe, Touch, HHC, Blues & Soul and even gained the second of their URB magazine top 100 artist to look for spots.

This is pre to the UK's so called 'Urb*n' music scene sold as one commodity that New Flesh put these strains together in a blatant but cohesive way.

The album also once again showed how inspired by both the future and the past New Flesh were with guest spots from Ty, Anti-pop Consortiums Beans, Gift of Gab, Blackitude and Hip Hop Pioneer and legend The Ramm:Ell:Zee

Its around this time Juice began to really cement his profile as a writer, lyricist and performer. This growing light called many to get the 'Feat. Juice Aleem' stamp.

Some of the people that called include French groups Readymade and Telepopmusik (who Juice toured with), Hexstatic (with the modern classic tune and video 'Distorted Minds', DSP, Unity Gain Theory, Free*Land, Evil Nine and many others.

Hip Hop, Rap, Poetry, Black culture and performance workshops are still given by Juice in the Ghetto Grammar vein.

2004

Tours with groups such as Free*Land and Evil Nine has taken Juice as far a field as the US, Australia and Canada while still keeping in tune with his Big Dada and Shadowless camps and hitting places as diverse as Azerbijian with DJ A LA Fu and New Flesh's Toastie Taylor. This was the first and biggest outside Hip Hop event they had had in the country and it took two days of around 20,000 people coming to really show how much these boys could rock the house.

2006 onwards

New Flesh release their third album 'Universaly Dirty'. As more groups had caught up the sounds it had less of an impact this time around. Despite this the album was still placed as the best Hip Hop release for the year in many publications. The worldwide impact seemed to be greater than the UK one this time around.

As a regular Compere and host for Ninjatune and their events Aleem ended up working with the daddies of the label, Coldcut and touring extensively with them for a number of years. Russia, China, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Korea, Thailand and Ukraine have all been blessed with Juice as front man and energy conductor.

July 2009

This year sees the release of Juice's first solo album. well, his first officially released album.

'Jerusalaam Come' is the fruition of these years of writing, travelling teaching and studying this artform and how to deliver it. Heartfelt and meaningful while maintaining the element of fun and adventure this album is a great reflection of the man. At times difficult but always highly skilful, knowlegable and musical this album marks a new direction for artists. Artists who have seen and done it but still wide eyed and interesting. A vastly diverse artist who has worked with all types of music from Breakbeat to live Classical he never looses sight of the Hip Hop ethics of reality and a true expression of self.

Enjoy