HERITAGE: Pioneering Nottingham Rappers 3:6 Philly Perform "Grave Digger" For Channel 4's 'Naked City' (1993)

HERITAGE: Pioneering Nottingham Rappers 3:6 Philly Perform "Grave Digger" For Channel 4's 'Naked City' (1993)


July 04, 2018

"3:6 Philly sound like the hottest thing to come out of America in years, but they are, in fact, from Nottingham," the voiceover helpfully points out. You'll notice pretty quickly that 3:6 Philly's Nottingham accents are left out in favour of a more American twang, which is a shame, but not unsurprising given the era.

Like much of their output — see "Those Flags Offend Me" and "Funky Alcohol" — "Grave Digger" was heavily influenced by the jazzy productions that were so popular among the likes of De La Soul and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien. "Grave Digger" was originally scheduled to be their third official single, they crumbled and broke up under the pressure of creating their debut album. This 1993 performance of the track on Channel 4's Naked City is, as far as we can tell, the only version that remains and one of their last performances together.

There isn't a huge amount of information out there about 3:6 Philly, aka Jase (Chris Fairman) Gea (Gea Russell) and DJ Delite (Ray Francis), but among those who know, 3:6 Philly were a hugely important part of both Nottingham and UK rap's history.




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