HERITAGE: A Young Chuckie Talks On The Early Days Of Pirate Radio Station Freeze FM (2003)

HERITAGE: A Young Chuckie Talks On The Early Days Of Pirate Radio Station Freeze FM (2003)


June 07, 2023

When we talk about pirate radio, garage and grime, East and South London always dominate the conversation, but out in Rayners Lane, West London, Freeze FM was the unsung hero of the format, particularly in the crossover years when garage gave way to grime as the music of the streets.

In 2020, Ashley J put together an exhaustive documentary charting the station's history from its first broadcast in 1999 right through to its eventual demise. This doc covers a lot of ground—including contributions from over 60 different DJs and MCs to make it—but it's this section, originally filmed back in 2003 and later incorporated into the full doc, that we wanted to highlight.

Chuckie's story is a pretty neat mirror of that entire transitional period. He speaks about first making and MCing over jungle tracks with his cousin Cheeky before connecting with another MC, Carty, who was more into garage. In much the same way that those two forces were pushing and pulling across pirate radio and the rest of the city to create grime, that same blend was coming together between the four friends to create their crew, Fatal Attraction. Also, notice this early footage sees Chuckie sitting next to a young Benny Scarrs.

Hit play on the video below to hear Chuckie's full story and then watch the rest of Ashley J's documentary here.



Image via Instagram


Recommended: