oh sorry yeah we being londoners but also probably the whole south-east of the country.
cities like Liverpool Manchester Birmingham Bristol all have west indian communities
so it's interesting that London is hardcore continuum central - is this just because London is by its very nature a gravitational point for creativity? that it has a higher population? or that any narrative of british culture is probably going to focus on London, not least because a lot of journos live in London?
These days it's much more interesting to find out about pirate radio in Hull, or reggae soundsystems in Huddersfield than London stuff.
Hackney Museum are planning an exhibition about black music in the borough and I am helping them with some bits.
I love London and don't want to live anywhere else, even now, but it's pretty dumb to ignore the contributions made to the culture by places like Bristol, Birmingham and Sheffield especially.
they made some good records (some early roni size stuff for instance) but they contributed absolutely nothing beyond that and it would be patronising tokenism to suggest otherwise imo
Birmingham was number 2 city in the UK for reggae soundsystems in the 70s and 80s.
Also I don't think you can ignore the role of places like Milton Keynes in 'ardkore.
ignore Milton Keynes