The Roots of James Hype

As a child, James Hype had his soul fed by R&B, drum & bass, and The Prodigy, courtesy of his music-loving parents. As well as this homegrown interest, as a young skateboarder he became intrigued by the DJs he’d see playing at the local skatepark.

Later, inspired by DJs like Chris Lake, Axwell, and Calvin Harris, the curious kid from Liverpool started experimenting with his own productions and searching for his sound. He set his sights on the likes of Drake and Ed Sheeran to try his hand at remixing. He’d upload these DIY remixes to the void of SoundCloud, hope for the best, and then move onto the next idea. Some of these edits flopped, others went viral, and a couple ended up getting noticed and played out by big names such as David Guetta.

James was onto something.

Fast forward years of tireless touring and prolific output, James is now a fully-fledged phenomenon in electronic music. A globe gigging DJ, chart-topping producer, and Hï Ibiza resident.

His hits include “Don’t Wake Me Up”, “Ferrari” and “Drums”, and his live shows are known for pushing the boundaries of technology and genre. You can catch his all-new SYNC show at his acclaimed OUR HOUSE residency at Hï Ibiza with MEDUZA every Monday until 29th September, the place to be for house music and techno in Ibiza this summer.

“The artists, musical genres and producers who shaped my musical identity are really diverse, and really British,” James told us back in January. It’s these that we’re going to explore in this edition of The Roots.

In North West England, around 10 miles from the Welsh border and right next to the Irish Sea sits the city of Liverpool. Home to one of the biggest ports in the UK, the Merseyside city is historically a place of transience and trade, culture and community.

It’s also made a significant mark on music. It birthed the drum & bass of Adam F, the gothic post punk of Echo & The Bunnymen, the rave weirdness of The KLF and the world-dominating pop of The Beatles.

James Hype grew up in this melting pot and he cites Liverpool and its clubbing scene as formative in his musical journey. He honed his craft as a teenager DJing at bars like Funky Box in Liverpool and Aura in the nearby Wirral. He’d play for six hours a night to rowdy crowds of scousers and students.

Scouse house was the name given to the hard house music that was coming out of the North West in the early ‘00s. The 3B Records shop in Liverpool was the epicenter and artists such as Dave Graham and Lee Butler were the evangelists. Euphoric, bouncy 140-160bpm techno would blast out across nightclubs like The Pleasure Rooms and 051. The tracks would have big vocals, a pumping off-beat bass (known further up north as a “donk”) and uplifting piano chords.

Speaking on what modern audiences in Liverpool like, James told the BBC earlier this year, “They love piano house music. It’s such a Liverpool sound. A big vocal. And they like fast dance music”. This goes to show that the tastes of the Merseyside clubbers haven’t changed too much since those heady days of scouse house.

Although he hasn’t expressed a direct inspiration from scouse house, James Hype did remix a classic song associated with the genre back in 2017; Kristine Blond’s “Love Shy”.

Jungle is a British dance genre which grew out of hardcore in the early '90s, which itself grew out of acid house. It’s a sister genre to drum & bass, and consists of a heavy dub and reggae influence harvested from the UK’s rich history of sound system culture, mixed with the frantic breaks of hardcore and an MC with cyclonic energy. For the ravers at the time, this sonic cocktail was fresh and enthralling. Artists like Rebel MC, DJ Hype, and Mickey Finn were shamans in the shadowy Big Top of the jungle rave.

James Hype identifies jungle as a big influence on his sound. A nod to this can be heard in his collaboration with Diplo’s gang Major Lazer, with the infectious patois vocal line.

He’s even started doing jungle and drum & bass sets recently, dropping the seminal jungle song “Kunte Kinte” by Tribe of Isaacher, and making D&B tracks himself.

“There’s a huge garage influence in my sound. That’s from the early music that really connected with me,” James explained in our interview with him in January. UK garage grew out of the US garage house sound from the ‘80s, a genre that got its name from the Paradise Garage club (see: The Roots of The Martinez Brothers) in New York City. These soulful, vocal-led grooves were built upon in the early ‘90s by US DJs like Todd Edwards and by ‘94 producers on British soil were putting their own spin on it, creating what became known as UK garage.

This faster, more bassline-heavy sound swept the nation towards the end of the decade, with subgenres like speed garage and 2-step emerging, and garage artists like Artful Dodger and MJ Cole having major mainstream hits.

The UKG influence on James Hype’s music can be heard on his new track, “Waterfalls”, which he’s been teasing on TikTok for weeks now…

Catch MEDUZA & James Hype present OUR HOUSE every Monday until the 29th September at the number one club in the world. They’re joined by A-Trak, Andres Campo, Oden & Fatzo, Tita Lau and many more throughout the residency. Tickets and VIP tables are available via the button below.