Bristol underground scene: History and Key Facts

The Bristol underground scene is a cultural movement in Bristol, England, beginning in the early 1980s. The scene was born out of a lack of mainstream clubs catering to hip hop music's emergence, with street and underground parties a mainstay. Many DJ crews formed in the early '80s playing hip hop, house and soul in disused venues with sound systems were borrowed from the reggae scene: City Rockers, 2 Bad, 2 Tuff, KC Rock, UD4, FBI, Dirty Den, Juice Crew, Rene & Bacus, Soul Twins, Fresh 4 and Bristol ultimate DJ Masters The Wild Bunch. These names were the precursors to the more well-known ones that came from this scene. It is characterized by musicians and graffiti artists. The city's multiculturalism, political activism, and the art movements of reggae, punk, hip hop, hippies and new age influenced the scene.

Bristol has been particularly associated with the trip hop music genre.

The Bristol scene strongly links music and visual art, particularly graffiti art. A founding member of the band Massive Attack, Robert Del Naja, originally a graffiti artist, and local graffiti artist Banksy have gone on to produce album covers and artworks. Inkie, collaborator alongside Banksy, also participated in Bristol's pop-culture scene.

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