| Biography | The Heartless Crew are an English garage sound system from London. Its original members are MCs Bushkin and Mighty Moe and DJ Fonti.
The group were established in 1992. Their inspiration was taken from Buju Banton, R. Kelly, Shabba Ranks, MC Det and Brockie. They started off playing at house parties and small clubs, moving through to a residency at Chimes nightclub in Hackney in 1996.
By 1998, they had joined the pirate radio station Mission 90.6 FM, pioneering a mix of R&B, hip-hop, jungle and dancehall derived sounds, taking its cues straight from the Jamaican sound system tradition, while adding fresh and modern elements from UK garage. They also featured on London pirates Freek FM 101.8 and Y2K FM 90.6. In 2002, they signed to BBC 1Xtra, where they presented their Sunday evening programme. They also released a debut compilation album, Heartless Crew presents Crisp Biscuit Vol 1, closely followed by their debut single, "The Heartless Theme aka 'The Superglue Riddim'". The single reached number 21 in the UK Singles Chart in May 2002. The music video for "The Heartless Theme" was directed by Andy Hylton.
It was announced on 1 January, 2011 that the Heartless Crew split up, to pursue solo careers whilst still remaining friends. MC Bushkin and DJ Fonti went on to present the F.A.B. (Fonti & Bushkin) show together on Rinse FM on Friday evenings between 7-9pm, however they left the station in late 2012/early 2013, with Bushkin pursuing a career as recording artist.
In 2016, the trio returned as a group, headlining the sold out Garage Nation Festival to critical acclaim online They have since appeared at Notting Hill Carnival, headlined the o2 Academy in Leicester and performed as special guests at Eskimo Dance in Bristol. They were also set to appear at Birmingham's notorious club night 0231 at Rainbow Venues and alongside Kurupt FM at a sold out Brixton Academy show before the end of the year. In 2017, they continued performing at in demand events, appearing at the Snow Bombing festival in Austria and at Annie Mac's Lost & Found Festival in Malta. |