🎙️ We’re now over the halfway mark with our current Future Frequencies cohort 🙌
Here’s some of the latest pictures from the workshops as the young participants continue building their skills in radio, podcasting, presenting, and production.
Big shout to everyone involved so far, the creativity, confidence and energy in these sessions has been incredible to witness 🔥
Lead Tutor @mr_dex
In collaboration with @theapex_project & Camden Council ✨
#FutureFrequencies #ItchRadio #TheApexProject #RadioWorkshop #CreativeYouth
🚀 Ready to step behind the mic?
The Apex Project & Itch Radio CIC present Future Frequencies, FREE Radio & Podcasting Workshops for ages 14–26!
🎧 Learn how to:
• Use real radio studio equipment
• Record & edit audio
• Present live with confidence
• Create and launch your own show
📍 Thursdays @ Itch Radio, Map Studio Café (NW5)
📍 Saturdays @ The Apex Project, Unit C7 (NW3)
🗓 9th April – 30th May
⏰ Thurs 6–8PM | Sat 12–2PM
No experience needed — just bring your creativity.
📲 Scan the QR code to register your interest or click the link in our profile.
#FutureFrequencies #YouthRadio #TheApexProject #CreativeMedia ItchRadio
Merlin, South London MC. Late 80s. Early UK Hip Hop first wave.
Before the scene had a name, Merlin was already on record.
Featured on "Megablast" and "Who's in the House" alongside Bomb the Bass, Beatmasters, and S'Express, he was one of the artists proving British MCs could cross over without losing their identity.
Solo work. His own lane. Part of the moment when UK Hip Hop moved from underground energy into public visibility.
He doesn't always make the lists. That's exactly why he's in the archive.
📷 Image & Content Sources:
/music-videos/merlin-merlin-uk-s-finest-ea3ae3m5
/downloads/audio/merlin-merlin-audio.html
/wiki/Merlin
#UKHipHop #Merlin #BritishHipHop #HipHopHistory #ItchRadio
Born in Brixton. Raised in Luton. Built on bars.
Genesis Elijah, is one of UK Hip Hop's most consistent independent voices. No major label. No shortcuts. Just lyricism, work rate, and decades of staying power.
MC, songwriter, singer, producer. His catalogue moves between hard-edged rap, reflective writing, and experimental sounds, but the identity at the centre never shifts.
From the CD-R era to the digital age, Elijah adapted without losing the directness that made him stand out in the first place. That kind of longevity isn't an accident; it's what happens when craft matters more than trend-chasing.
His story sits in a long lineage of UK artists who proved British Hip Hop could grow on its own terms. Place matters in this culture, but the story is always more layered than a postcode.
🎤 Genesis Elijah. Independent. Consistent. Certified.
Massive salute to Genesis Elijah.
#UKHipHop #GenesisElijah #BritishHipHop HipHopHistory #ItchRadio
Max LX and Dave VJ were more than radio DJs, they were early UK hip‑hop pioneers. From the Mastermind Roadshow to Hardrock Soul Movement, then to the KISS FM Rap Show in the early 90s, they helped shape London’s Hip Hop scene on air, on record, and in clubs. 📻📼
In an era when UK Hip‑Hop lived in youth centres, pirate radio, and underground tapes, their names were part of the fabric that held it together. A quiet legacy, but a foundational one.
Massive salute to Max LX and Dave VJ.
📷 Image & Content Sources:
Normski's Book: Man with the Golden Shutter
/hardrock-soul-movement-discography/
/dave-vj/
/2017/03/26/max-lx-dave-vj-kiss-fm-4-august-1993/
/artist/4917580-Max-LX?srsltid=AfmBOooU13tytBESGGOHAfGQGKxRppyhmgOMuLSd2DMOXkjRJDQ2_x4K
/artist/581581-Dave-VJ?srsltid=AfmBOoq09s26pOgOL_fVa1liFCnUVcnDWCVkemoD3wUg40G84d0JtFzY
/djs/dave-vj/
/groups/streetsounds/posts/6847068005332067/
#UKHipHop #MaxLXandDaveVJ #ItchRadio #KISSFMRapShow #HardrockSoulMovement
Reveal. Iranian-born. London-raised. One of the founding MCs of Poisonous Poets, and a name that deserves to be spoken alongside the architects of UK Hip Hop. 🎤
Born in Tehran in 1983, he came up in a city where Hip Hop was being remade from the ground up, through pirate radio, freestyle circles, and lyrical crews building something that was unmistakably British.
As a founding member of Poisonous Poets, alongside Lowkey, Tony D, Doc Brown, Stylah, Therapist, and DJ Snips, Reveal helped define a collective that stood for wordplay, live skill, and message-driven music over commercial shortcuts.
And in 2000, he won the UK Freestyle Knock-Out Battle Rap Championships. In an era where that meant everything, that credential said it all.
His story is how UK Hip Hop was actually built, face to face, bar for bar, through crews and culture, not marketing budgets.
This is the archive. This is the legacy.
📷 Image & Content Sources:
/artists/reveal/
/tonydpoison/status/1660636192428130304
/user/revealpoison
/RevealPoison
/reels/DWWf-XdiAjB/
/song/1597663892/poisonous-poetry-feat-doc-brown-reveal-tony-d-and-therapist/music-video
#UKHipHop #Reveal #PoisonousPoets #HipHopHistory #ItchRadio
When Manchester's rap scene was still finding its feet, Prince Kool was one of the people laying the foundation.
Born Robert McFarlane, he came out of South Manchester as a performer, battle rapper, and one of the founding forces behind Rock the House Crew.
In 1987, he's cited as the UK's first rap champion, a title that places him at exactly the moment British Hip Hop was becoming something real on its own terms, region by region.
His recorded footprint is lean: "Here Comes The Judge," on the Head Over Ears compilation via Play Hard Records. But vinyl was never the whole story. Prince Kool's legacy lives in the youth-centre battles, the local crews, the underground events, the community infrastructure that gave Manchester Hip Hop its identity long before anyone else was paying attention.
Manchester Hip Hop Archive names him among the city's foundational figures, and that framing is right. UK Hip Hop wasn't built nationally overnight. It was built locally, by people like him.
🗂️ Itch Radio | Archiving the artists who built the culture
📷 Image & Content Sources:
/music/5-classic-manchester-hip-hop-tracks/
#PrinceKool #ManchesterHipHop #UKHipHop #HipHopHistory #ItchRadio
Manchester, 1987. Before Madchester. Before MC Tunes went platinum. Before Voodoo Ray.
Hit Squad MCR were already there, building UK Hip Hop from youth clubs, pirate radio drops, and one limited 12" pressed in 1988.
Their crew orbited the people who became 808 State and A Guy Called Gerald. They fused breakbeats with early rave electronics. They rapped in Manchester dialect about Hulme estates, northern pride, and unity, and got almost none of the credit.
That 1988 Eastern Bloc record is one of the earliest indie rap vinyls from the north of England. MC Shine. Nicky Lockett (later MC Tunes).
Unsung. Foundational. Mancunian to the bone. 🐝 📷 Image & Content Sources: /discogs/808pages/sinpages/sinhitsq/sinhitsquad.htm /itm/364144629303 /live/1988/index.htm /artefact/453/808-State-A-Guy-Called-Gerald-MC-Tunes-Ruthless-Rap-Assassins-The-Boardwalk-Poster-1988
#HitSquadMCR #UKHipHop #ManchesterHipHop #ItchRadio #UKHipHopHistory
The last time I saw @tymusical was back in 2019 at a radio station interview we both did on @iliveradio . From the moment we connected, we shared a deep love for music — me being Jamaican and him being Nigerian — and that cultural connection made our conversations even more meaningful.
Ty was someone who always wanted to share knowledge, wisdom, and positivity. What I respected most about him was how genuinely he listened too. Even though I was younger, he always took the time to understand my mindset, encourage me, and show love in every conversation. That’s something I’ll always carry with me and truly miss about him.
Benedict Okwuchukwu Godwin Chijioke
(17 August 1972 – 7 May 2020), better known as Ty, was a legendary Nigerian-British rapper whose impact on UK hip-hop and spoken word culture will never be forgotten.
Ty released the albums Awkward (2001), Upwards (2003), Closer (2006), Special Kind of Fool (2010), and A Work of Heart (2018). His album Upwards was nominated for the Mercury Prize, and throughout his career he collaborated with incredible artists including Shortee Blitz, Drew Horley, Tony Allen, Roots Manuva, and De La Soul.
Rest in power, Ty. Your wisdom, kindness, and love for the culture still live on.
#brixton #somerleyton #tychijioke #tymusical #southlondon
