Manchester Sampled: Black Josh & Biome

From The Smiths to The Stone Roses, via Take That and N-Trance, the history of the Manchester music scene is famously illustrious and well documented - but what's going on now? What exactly is Manchester music nowadays?

By Ben Brown | 4 December 2017

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We’ve created a new series – Manchester Sampled – which explores the Manchester music scene, by getting well-known producers and artists to create their own unique tracks – using the works from existing Manchester-based artists.

Our first episode features none other than Black Josh and Biome. Hailing from South Manchester, Black Josh is seen by many to be one of the most electrifying hip-hop artists to emerge from the UK. Starting off with his crew Ape Cult at 17, he’s since produced some belting albums and joined Levelz – A Mancunian collective of MCs, producers and creatives, where everyone in the group have their own specific skills and connections. Josh is your man when it comes to demonstrating an adeptness across a range of tempos and styles, while Biome is renowned for his deep dubstep tracks.

Manchester Sampled sees Josh and Biome head on down to Piccadilly Records and choose some vinyls from some fantastic Manchester artists. Down at the Levelz studio, the two get to work sampling and constructing their track (with a little help from close collaborator Mennis) completely from scratch – using the vinyl’s they chose that day. Once the vocals were laid, they ended up with something altogether quite special…

The 5 vinyls they chose were: