Hijack: The Story of Britain’s “Public Enemy”

In 1989, Ice-T appeared as a guest on the London-based DJ Tim Westwood’s influential Hip-Hop radio show. Westwood asked the Los Angeles gangsta rap pioneer if he could play him a track by Hijack, an ultra-hardcore self-styled “terrorist group” from Brixton in South London. The song Westwood played, “Hold No Hostage,” boomed out like a hyper-aggressive slab of ruckus-inciting rap. “I’m like, ‘What the fuck was that?’” recalls Ice-T, before remembering quickly visualizing the paramilitary-outfitted crew as “like a British Public Enemy.”

The roots of Hijack date to London’s early-’80s Hip-Hop soundsystem circuit. Founding member DJ Supreme says he started honing his skills as a bedroom DJ after being encouraged by Cosmic Jam, a DJ who made a name for himself on the city’s formative Covent Garden scene. Around 1986, Supreme decided to form his own DJ crew. He wound up battling DJ Undercover, another upcoming DJ, in his bedroom. Spinning staple breaks including “Black Grass,” “Funky Drummer” and “I Can’t Stop,” Supreme remembers a furious back and forth where the DJs “came to a mutual agreement that we both won.”