Re-upped and re-posted. Originally from 06.
Despite my starting out with Son Of Noise, this crew here was actually the first I’d heard of. Gunshot put out their first 12″ in 1990 called “Battle Creek Brawl”. Its incredibly rough sound by DJ White Child Rix and the fiery delivery by Alkaline, Mercury and Q-Roc was like nothing I’d heard before. I’ve read that it was their music, together with Hijack’s, that coined the idea and sound of “Britcore”. They certainly did for me. At the time I didn’t even know where and how to get hold of the singles that they were releasing, so I was stuck with a few hissy radio recordings (and the good thing was: with the crackling and the distortion they sounded even better!) A few years later, while Vinyl Solution was still their home label, French label Independance issued the group’s first singles as one Compilation. Instead of the cover for the compilation which I haven’t found, here are covers of the three 12″es included.
Battle Creek Brawl (1990)
Clear From Present Danger / Interception Squad (1991)
Crime Story / No Sell Out (1991)
Compilation Tracklist:
01 Clear From Present Danger (4:47)
02 Interception Squad (4:04)
03 No Sell Out (5:18)
04 Crime Story (4:49)
05 Battle Creek Brawl (4 Minute Warning) (4:42)
06 Battle Creek Brawl (Apocalypse Bass) (4:37)
07 Clear From Present Danger (Instrumental) (4:46)
08 Interception Squad (Instrumental) (4:03)
09 Battle Creek Brawl (Instrumental) (4:42)
10 No Sell Out (Instrumental) (5:18)
11 Crime Strory (Instrumental) (4:49)
12 Battle Creek Brawl (Apocapella) (3:21)
And, from the same year, here’s another collection of singles, aptly titled The Singles. Some of the tracks are the same, but others are not. (Thanks, Wasteland Drifter.)
01 – Clear From Present Danger
02 – Children Of A Dying Breed
03 – No Sell Out
04 – Killing Season
05 – Social Psychotics
06 – Nobody Move
07 – Crime Story
08 – Interception Squad
09 – Mind Of A Razor (Remix)
10 – Battle Creek Brawl
11 – Children Of A Dying Breed (Burial Mix)
12 – Killing Season (Murder Kiss Remix)
13 – Colour Code
14 – Gunshots History (The 94 Lick)
In 1993, Q-Roc had left the crew by then, they released their first album called Patriot Games. White Child Rix’ production had become more sophisticated with more multi-layered tracks and a very effective use of vocal samples to add some catchiness. The flows had slowed down a tad bit so they could actually perform their tracks live on stage and the whole thing made for an amazing album full of bangers.
[anecdote] I remember one time in school camp, when I was in charge of preparing breakfast and waking up the other kids… I laid the tables and then popped in 25 Gun Salute turned on full blast in a tiny chalet up in the mountains… Talking about an early start… When you hear it, you’ll know how much they hated my guts for the rest of that day. Well worth it, though. [/anecdote]
1 Manhunt (1:29)
2 25 Gun Salute (3:01)
3 Gunshot History (3:49)
4 Reign Of Terror (2:58)
5 World War 3 (4:19)
6 Radio ? (2:10)
7 Day Of The Jackals (3:42)
8 Underworld Crime Soldiers (0:59)
9 Bombing In Five Minutes (3:08)
10 Patriot Games (4:25)
11 Mind Of A Razor (4:02)
12 The Cholo (0:25)
13 Year 2000 (4:38)
14 Bullets Entering Chest (5:10)
Gunshot – Patriot Games (1994)
By 1997, they had finally put together another album called Twilight’s Last Gleaming. So the murky theme was continued. Content-wise, they’d relaxed a bit with their guns, battle, soldiers and blood theme and turned a bit more introspective. I seem to remember that the album was received with a somewhat lukewarm applause. And that may well have marked the moment where Gunshot was beyond their peak for their audience. I’d still contend that the album is slept-on and that it’s actually very solid and listenable. On this one, Barry Blue made a guest appearance before he’d join the group as a steady member on the next album.
01 Twilight
02 Maths And Stats
03 Millenium
04 Mask Of Phantasm
05 G. S. Vibe
06 Ghetto Heartbeat
07 Roots And Reality
08 Die Hard
09 True Fist
10 Gunshot Forever
11 The Silkmaker
12 Return Of The Gunshot
13 Kingpin
14 Untouchable ft. Barry Blue
15 Inner Space
16 Postcards From The Edge
Gunshot – Twilight’s Last Gleaming (1997)
In the year 2000, the crew dropped their latest and last album so far with International Rescue. Personally, I was a bit disappointed by it. While the production was solid and sometimes quite good, the MCs were lacking some of the drive and dopeness they displayed on Patriot Games. Some of the verses grate on my nerves, others I find just a bit forgettable, but that’s probably just me. Yet I’m afraid the only reason why this album didn’t disappear completely off the radar was the English Patient posse track with illustrous guests such as Blade, Task Force, Huntkillbury Finn, Icepick and MC Mello.
1. The Saga Continues… (Intro) (1:00)
2. International Rescue (3:54)
3. Shanghai Badbwoy (5:26)
4. Rinse Out (3:55)
5. Construct Destruct – Demo ‘91 (Skit) (0:38)
6. Pain (5:22)
7. Scream 3 (5:03)
8. Hail Mary (4:45)
9. Minus 10 ft. Huntkillbury Finn (4:11)
10. Bo Bo Bo! – Demo ‘90 (Skit) (0:36)
11. Everyday (3:35)
12. Pressure (5:19)
13. The Long Goodbye (4:11)
14. Badman Walkin’ (4:50)
15. The English Patient ft. Blade, Task Force, Lord Barry Blue,
Huntkillbury Finn, Icepick & MC Mello (5:02)
16. Whilst My Guitar Weeps (Outro) (0:35)
17. Shanghai Badbwoy (Remix) (4:40)
18. Weep Again (Encore) (1:16)
Gunshot – International Rescue (2000)
It’s quite safe to say that Gunshot will not release another album under that same name. (Is it?) Even their website gunshotuk.com was taken down.
To get back to the English Patient track with its analogy playing on UK Hip-Hop as the sick patient that needs treatment, it’s rather ironic that Gunshot as one of the pioneer crews that lament the state of UK rap didn’t quite survive into the 21st century while there’s now a host of MCs and DJs out there on the islands that seem to be doing increasingly better. Gunshot certainly broke down a few doors, but it was the generation following them that got a foot in. Well, except for old farts like Rodney P or Blade, perhaps…
MC Mercury’s Space
DJ White Child Rix’ Space
Barry Blue’s Space
Gunshot Discog
Gunshot on Wikipedia
Next up: Hijack
Peace, 9@home
7 August 2006 at 10:23 pm
‘Patriot Games’ is a dope album, yet not as good as the singles they released before hand (with all the good VS Gunshot singles being released on the imaginatively titled ‘The Singles’ which is missing from here ;-) ), ‘Twilights Last Gleaming’ is a good album but not as good as ‘Patriot…’ and ‘International Rescue’… well you covered that very politely.
They peaked too soon (i.e. at the beginning) and never really built on it artistically.
Alkaline has popped up on a couple of things in recent years but Mercury (thankfully) hasn’t because he became cack didn’t he?
Oh and I’ve got a signed copy of ‘Patriot Games’, which is a about as close to fame as I’ve ever got… (Sadly missing White Child Rix’s signature but you never know we might end up in the same retirement home someday and he can do the honours.)
15 June 2009 at 8:45 pm
I became cack did I? LOL
7 August 2006 at 11:04 pm
Mercury is the one with the window-shatteringly high-pitched voice, isn’t he? He’s actually the main reason why Intern. Rescue is a pain in the ear. Not all tracks are bad but I don’t think I’ve ever listened to it from beginning to end. However, I agree that Patriot Games is the dopest album they did. (I think I listened to this for weeks on end.)
And about that The Singles joint (which is the same as the French Compilation with a few other tracks added), do you have that one? I’d be interested to hear the other older stuff. It actually never occurred to me I’ve been missing out on a good handful of old singles…
Thanks for dropping by (and for linking me on yours, btw.)
15 June 2009 at 8:46 pm
Perhaps I over egged the squeaky voice a bit too much but all in all you need to listen to that album again. I think it was our best work at the time!
5 October 2009 at 3:02 pm
MC Mercury, will we ever see Gunshot together again? Is UK hip hop dead? There’s just nothing to match Gunshot or Hijack anymore.
27 October 2009 at 9:34 pm
Realistically, it’s unlikely that we’ll the Gunshot thing again or any music for that matter. We’ve moved on and have families of our own. Besides I think 10-years in the game was plenty long enough. We still got the memories though which is the most important thing for now!
Mercs
8 August 2006 at 8:33 pm
Gunshot – The Singles
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SPBHITGP
8 August 2006 at 10:44 pm
Cheerio. I’m about to complete my collection here… Nice…
9 August 2006 at 5:43 pm
Oh yeah, and yeah that’s Mercury. Alkaline is the ‘ragga’ sounding one who tends to talk gibberish but sound good.
12 September 2006 at 6:38 pm
I’ve been hearing about all these early british rap groups for quite some time now, without being able to find anything, until now, so thanx a lot for sharing all these albums. I’m halfway through horns of jericho and it’s awesome so far, and half of the tracks off the silver bullet lp was dope as well. I’m curious about the “patriot games” lp from gunshot too, but the link doesn’t work… could you upload it again?
24 September 2006 at 4:23 pm
Thanks for pointing that out. In fact, some of the files have been deleted. Let me see what I can do… At any rate it won’t be this or next week. But when I find the time I might re-up some music that’s got lost.
14 October 2006 at 8:07 pm
It was about time some blog was talkin about gunshot… that is probably one of the greatest groups in rap Europe ever had…. I already had all the records anyway but I thank you anyway.
25 January 2007 at 3:32 pm
this is great stuff mate, really good!
I like your passion when you write about some of this stuff, especially the story of how you woke up your class mates half way up a mountain somewhere, love it!!!
Baz (peter tron)
28 July 2007 at 5:22 pm
There’s some more UK ish over at Peace Prosperity & Paper…
*Shamless plug*
1 August 2007 at 7:47 pm
We linked you over at speakermag.blogspot.com. Come check us out, leave a comment and add us to your links. Much love.
28 October 2007 at 1:12 am
Thanks for the good site and useful info I found! I think I love you.
10 June 2009 at 7:05 pm
pls someone up Patriot Games.links dead :/ thx in advance
13 June 2009 at 1:56 pm
Coming up one of these days…
16 July 2009 at 7:04 am
Nuff respect for putting this up, and to you mr mercury if ya still checking,saw gunshot a few times back in the day, quality!!!
27 October 2009 at 9:35 pm
I’m still checking…Good vibrations!
14 November 2009 at 9:57 pm
Mercury was a wicked MC in Gunshot, and his new stuff ain’t too shabby either – the Hip Hop Blues track he did with Snuff a couple of years back was DOPE.
14 November 2009 at 11:15 pm
To be fair, i’ve listened to hip hop now for the past 20 years, and think i have a good grasp of what’s good and what’s not…Without doubt, Patriot Games, along with the Goats Tricks Of The Shade, are the two best joints ever to have been released. I doubt very much whether any release over the rest of my lifetime will ever come anywhere close.
Mercury, you clearly check out peoples comments on here from time to time. What would be the greatest thing for me, and without doubt for lots of other UK hip hop fans, would be for you guys to get your incredibly talented heads back together again and give it another shot. Patriot Games wasn’t a coincidence. For those of us who appreciate genuine hip hop we recognise genius when we hear it. Nobody else, except for you guys, could have produced an album like that. If you could do it then you can do it now.
Whenever i read comments about your music it is nothing but praise, especially your earlier stuff. Make us thirtysomething family chaps incredibly happy again and give it one last stab! If it fecks up so what, you’ll never take away what you’ve done.
Without doubt, in my mind anyway, you’ve written probably the best hip hop album ever, and believe me, i’ve listened to a hell of a lot of that stuff over the past two decades. There’s only one band that can write another album equivalent in talent to Patriot Games and that’s Gunshot. Make it happen…please………………
15 November 2009 at 12:06 pm
A track with Snuff? Oh fuck i ain’t heard that. 2 of the greatest from uk. Ha, Mr Mercury, u won’t remember this but i did a interview with you at deptford fest back in 93. Blade was there and threw a few questions in too. Was a good one too, but i accidently pressed record on way home and all i got was some tube trains. Fixed another one tho.
Gunshot were cracking and well had the heaviest guitar yet with Mr Frizz himself, Shane Embury.
cheers 4 the good time.
All the best.
15 November 2009 at 12:16 pm
Oh yeah, i forgot. I’m gonna write a post on Assault on Precinct13 OST and tie it in with Gunshot and J Saul Kane. Gunshot ruled for movie samples and were ahead of their time. No scarface imitators here!