HAPPY HIT & RUN!
HIT & RUN 12TH ANNIVERSARY MARCH 9TH 2019
HIDDEN, MANCHESTER
Hit & Run, Manchester’s top bass music club night, celebrates its 12th anniversary this weekend at Hidden in Manchester.
Hit & Run is one of Manchester’s hidden assets: a secret portal to the sonic sensations across the globe which has kept the beat alive and kicking in drum and bass, grime, hip hop and electronic music for over twelve years now.
Initially, Hit & Run was a club night set up by actor/rapper Riz Ahmed and DJ Rich Reason in leafy Oxford. But Rich’s passion for Manchester drove him north where he quickly established a name (and night) at PuNaNa’s on Mondays. Following a bumpy start involving dodgy promoters and canny club owners, the night established itself as the one that brought in new music, new sounds and broke home-raised MCs and DJs in October 2006, easily selling out at weekends. London may have had the industry but Manchester had the booming underground with raves that frequently slid into several days.
Hit & Run nights were where LEVELZ first pulled together. Already mates, the club night facilitated the transition to collaborating artists under the management of Rich Reason. But it’s also invited new music to Manchester and united the city’s passion for sound with visionary global acts.
‘I get really excited about that – it’s like the stamp collector geek in me,’ admits Rich Reason, the night’s founder. ‘I’m just away to publish a list of artists I’ve brought to Manchester. Every new year I bring new names in and try to provide a platform for new artists – like today’s Berry Blacc and Kilimanjaro – to develop their paths.
‘Chunky has been performing since he was 18. He was a natural from Day 1 but performing week in, week out, he soon honed those skills. Now I’d say Strategy and Chunky are the best MCs/hosts around. Even MCs like T Man, who came in straight grime, loosened up and developed his own style while hosting at the night.
‘Tom Piper, the first MC already big, gave me a major big up when he came along to the 2nd/3rd Hit and Run night and said he’d host for some paltry fee. He said ‘I want to be here every Monday.’ That was a huge co-sign for me. I mean, the guy’s Andy C (the biggest drum and bass dj in the world)’s MC and travels all over.
‘Hit & Run became a friendly neighbourhood night with a strong sense of community. Chimpo, Chunky, Synkro and Indigo would be all in the back with the DJs, a ready-made community of artists. LEVELZ already existed, it was already there.’
Hit & Run, unlike commercially-run ventures, always puts art and community first. ‘The geek in me always wants the finest, best, newest sounds and voices. It’s always a risk as the past popular acts would bring in more cash but I wouldn’t have the passion to continue doing that. I always want to bring the best of new music to Manchester.’
It’s a club night that regularly holds food bank drives and fund-raising events where artists perform for free to raise funds for causes like the NHS or for the homeless or where punters pay with food bank items instead of cash for entry. The LEVELZ themselves recently put on a fundraiser for the Windrush Campaign to help those facing injustice regarding deportation and citizenship issues and raised near to three thousand pounds.
The real club disrupter, Hit & Run has reset the bar for bass music and has become internationally known for the caliber of its MCs with superstar DJs choosing their favourite from the Mancunian roster.
This weekend will be the biggest extravaganza so far this year with the dynamite of DJ Calibre, , Commodo (off-kilter, glitchy hip hop), DJ Die (classic jungle), Drae da Ski Mask (one of IAMDDB's producers), Lenzman, Manc MCs Trigga and Abnormal Sleepz along with LEVELZ' hosts Fox, Skittles, Truthos Mufasa, Sparkz, Chunky, Black Josh and T Man with further sets from birthday boy Biome, Metrodome and Rich Reason himself.
Take advantage of the ‘underground party’ of the finest and sharpest while you can. Be part of the experience.…it’s set to blow wide open later this year and you won’t get this chance again.