Together and individually, Sam Binga and Rider Shafique are names that carry serious weight in the current UK underground. Known for their explosive dancehall collaborations on Critical Music, the two artists have been working together since 2012 across a variety of styles and tempos, and have taken their joint sound from London's Fabric, to Outlook in Croatia and as afar afield as Northern Bass in New Zealand.
Beyond the world of bassbins and dubplates, Rider Shafique is increasingly known for his wide range of expressive outlets, including touring his one-man spoken word and theatrical performance piece ‘I-Dentity’, which examines his own life experiences growing up in the UK as a black man from a mixed background. Working with a photographer, and utilising his natural links to the community in which he himself is rooted, Rider has also been developing a photographical exhibition, ’Loc's’, aimed at documenting the beauty, variety and subtlety of Black British hair styles and their relation to self-identity. And with Sam Binga on engineering and production duties, his podcast 'i-MC' conducts interviews with MCs and vocalists from the UK and beyond, discussing their life experiences and how these have influenced their music.