The Competition

The Competition

Hip Hop in the UK during the mid 1980's was still very much an underground movement that gradually moved into the mainstream towards the end of the decade, other than Mike's National Fresh show it was very rare to hear Hip Hop played on any mainstream station.

London was probably the best part of the country to hear Hip Hop on the radio back then, purely for the fact there was more choice so more of a chance to actually catch some Hip Hop on the airwaves. There were a few options when tuning into Hip Hop radio in London in the mid 1980's, the three best known Hip Hip radio DJ's at the time were Mike Allen, Dave Pearce and Tim Westwood. There was also the pirate radio stations which were big at the time especially with the soul scene, there were a number of Hip Hop shows that came and went, it all seemed a bit unpredictable with the pirates, which I suppose was to be expected.