Blazin' Squad
Origin	London, United Kingdom
Genre(s)	Pop, Hip-Hop
Years active	2002–2006 2008-
Label(s)	EastWest Records (UK)
Former members
Flava Plat'num Strider Freek Krazy Tommy-B Melo-D Spike-E Reepa Kenzie

Blazin' Squad were a 10-piece UK pop-rap vocal band who passed themselves off as the pioneers of chav culture. Heavily influenced by New York gangster rapper culture, they enjoyed moderate success in the UK, achieving 6 consecutive Top 10 hits, including a UK Number One single 'Crossroads', a cover version of the Bone Thugs 'N Harmony original. They recorded and released 2 studio albums, their debut 'In The Beginning' went gold in the UK, whilst their follow-up 'Now Or Never' failed to reach the UK Top 40 Album Chart. After Kenzie, Strider and Flava left the group and set up Friday Hill in 2005, Blazin' Squad released the single 'All Night Long' with members Spike-E, Plat'num, Reepa and Melo-D, this single failed to chart in the UK Top 40. There are rumours that Blazin' Squad will make a return in 2008 as a 5-piece, it is not known who the 5 members might be but there are rumours that Kenzie and Flava could be among the line up. Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the genre of popular music. ... Hip-Hop music is a style of popular music. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... In the music industry, a record label can be a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. ... old logo current logo Eastwest Records was started in 1955 as a subsidiary label of Atlantic Records. ... This article is about the genre of popular music. ... Hip hop music is a style of popular music. ... Look up chav, charva in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Original members

As nine of them MC, they each chose themselves an MC name and the other chose a DJ name: A Master of Ceremonies or MC (sometimes spelled emcee), sometimes called a compere or an MJ for microphone jockey, is the host of an official public or private staged event or other performance. ... For other meanings of DJ, see DJ (disambiguation). ...

• MC Spike- E — real name Samuel David Foulkes
• MC Reepa — real name Stuart Baker
• MC Strider — real name Mustafa Omer
• MC Krazy— real name Lee Bailey
• MC Freek— real name Oliver Georgiou
• MC Melo-D — real name Chris McKeckney
• MC Kenzie — real name James MacKenzie. Kenzie was the runner up in series 3 of Celebrity Big Brother in January 2005.
• MC Plat'num — real name Marcell Sommerville .Changed his name to Plat'num when Blazin' squad split up. MC Plat'num was runner-up in Channel 4's TV show The Games.
• MC Flava — real name James Murray
• DJ Tommy B — real name Tom Beasley. Appeared in a line-up on Never Mind the Buzzcocks in February 2008.

For the English astronomer, see Francis Baily. ... James MacKenzie (born January 6, 1986) a. ... Celebrity Big Brother 2005 was the third series of Celebrity Big Brother UK. It started on January 6, 2005 and ended on January 23, 2005, airing on Channel 4. ... Big Brother is a reality show shown on Channel 4 in which a number of contestants live in an isolated house trying to avoid being evicted by the public with the aim of winning a large cash prize at the end of the run. ... This article is about the British television station. ... The Games was a Channel 4 reality TV show that ran for four series, in which 10 celebrities competed against each other, by doing Olympic style events, such as weight lifting, gymnastics and diving. ... NMTB directs here. ...

History

All of the ten members grew up in Chingford, London and attended Highams Park School. The group made a demo at a studio for £200 called "Standard Flow". The demo was released to pirate radio stations under their own record label, Weighty Plates. After EastWest Records heard the track on radio, Blazin' Squad were signed a legitimate record deal. DJ Tommy-B chose to cover a song called "Crossroads", which was originally recorded by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony as "Tha Crossroads" in 1996. They used the chorus of the original song and wrote their own MC verses. The track was released as their first single once they left school at the ages of 16, where they also had a history of academic success. "Crossroads" went straight into the UK Singles Chart at number 1 in August 2002. During their short time of 2 years together, the group achieved 6 consecutive UK Top 10 hits, however they faced a lot of criticism. Their rap skills were not taken seriously by the British media, sidelining them to a younger audience. Despite this, their debut album 'In The Beginning' achieved gold satus in the UK and spawned 2 further UK Top 10 hits, 'Love On The Line' which reached number 6 and a double a-side single 'Reminisce/Where The Story Ends' which reached number 8 in February 2003. Chingford is a town in London Borough of Waltham Forest. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Highams Park is a place in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, England, adjacent to Epping Forest. ... old logo current logo Eastwest Records was started in 1955 as a subsidiary label of Atlantic Records. ... Bone Thugs-n-Harmony is an American hip hop group from Cleveland, Ohio, best known for their high pace rapping style and harmonizing vocals. ... [[1]]Tha Crossroads is a song performed by the rap group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. ... British Hit Singles redirects here. ...

The group were popular with commercial radio gigs and roadshows as well as pre-teen pop-music magazines such as 'Top Of The Pops' and 'Smash Hits'. The group achieved further chart success in 2003, with 2 UK Top 5 chart hits. 'We Just Be Dreamin' reached number 3 in July 2003, whilst 'Flip Reverse' reached number 2 in November. 'Flip Reverse' was used to re-launch the BBC's 'Top Of The Pops'. A special performance was recorded outside Television Centre with 100 or so hooded back-up dancers. Despite the chart success with their singles, they failed to match it with their second album 'Now Or Never', which failed to reach the UK Top 40 album chart. A live recording of a concert in Liverpool was released for Christmas 2003. However, it failed to re-ignite the flagging sales of their second album, nor did a follw-up single 'Here 4 One', which peaked at number 6 in the UK, during early 2004. The group also completed a sold-out UK 21-date tour in 2003.

2004 was quiet for the group, until January 2005 saw Kenzie appear on Channel 4's 'Celebrity Big Brother', finishing in second place. The original Blazin' Squad split shortly after. Kenzie went on to form Friday Hill with 2 other Blazin' Squad members. Friday Hill were similar in vein to the music of Blazin' Squad. They released 2 singles in the UK, 'Baby Goodbye' which peaked at number 5 on the Official UK Singles chart in November 2005, as well as 'One More Night Alone' which reached number 13 in February 2006. They also released an album 'Times Like These', which failed to chart.

Blazin' Squad did make a brief return to the UK charts in October 2006, but as a four-piece. The single released was a summer-sounding 'All Night Long', which reached a disappointing number 54 on the Official UK Singles Chart. The group expressed their disappointment via their official MySpace account:

After this disappointment, the group split and Blazin' Squad was left to rest for the time being. There have been petitions and Myspace pages set up to reunite Blazin' Squad again, it is known that certain Blazin' Squad members are in talks to do a re-union tour in 2008.

Discography

Albums

17 November is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece, coinciding with the anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Singles

Promotional Single - Standard Flow #99UK [2001]

From In The Beginning

• "Crossroads"
  • Release Date: 2002
  • Chart Peak Position: #1 UK Chart

• "Love On The Line"
  • Release Date: 2002
  • Chart Peak Position: #6 UK Chart

• "Reminisce/Where The Story Ends"
  • Release Date: 2003
  • Chart Peak Position: #8 UK Chart

From Now Or Never

• "We Just Be Dreamin"
  • Release Date: 2003
  • Chart Peak Position: #3 UK Chart

• "Flip Reverse"
  • Release Date: 2003
  • Chart Peak Position: #2 UK Chart

• "Here 4 One"
  • Release Date: 2004
  • Chart Peak Position: #6 UK Chart

Other

• "All Night Long"
  • Release Date: 2006
  • Chart Peak Position: #54 UK Chart

Crossroads or Cross roads may refer to: Crossroads (culture), an intersection of roads. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Criticism

The band were notoriously criticised, even after the release of their second album, as they were seen to be pioneers of the chav culture, and some said that they were to So Solid Crew what S Club Juniors were to their senior counterparts, S Club. Look up chav, charva in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... So Solid Crew are a UK garage and grime act whose hits include Oh No and 21 Seconds, the latter of which reached number one in the official UK Singles Chart in August 2001. ... ... S Club, formerly known as S Club 7, were a BRIT Award-winning British pop group created by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller. ...

Split

The split occurred in 2005, shortly after Kenzie's appearance on Big Brother. MC Kenzie, MC Flava and MC Strider started their own band (preferring to be called Kenzie, James and Mus respectively), known as Friday Hill. The trio released their debut single, "Baby Goodbye" in October 2005. Blazin' Squad did consist of Marcel (MC Plat’num), Stuart (MC Reepa), Sam (MC Spike-E) & Chris (MC Melo-D). They decided to call it a day in 2006. Lee (Krazy) has gone solo and is currently working on his solo album in the US called the 'Lee Bailey project'. For the area in Chingford, see Friday Hill, Chingford. ... 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in October 28: Richard Smalley 26: Emil Kyulev 24: José Azcona del Hoyo 24: Rosa Parks 23: Stella Obasanjo 22: Liam Lawlor 22: Shirley Horn 20: Endon Mahmood 17: Ba Jin 10: Milton Obote 7: Charles...

External links

• Blazin' Squad's official Myspace
• Friday Hill's official site
• Friday Hill's official Myspace