Top Shelf - Vol 4

Marc Mac

4Hero, Reinforced, Visioneers, UK

Better known as one half of 4Hero, Marc Mac started out on the music scene at the age of 15, making speaker boxes for sound systems and setting up one of his own as well as a pirate radio station called Strong Island Radio. As a manic record collector young Marc dug deep into the history of Jazz, Soul and Breaks, a passion he shared with Dego - the other half of 4Hero. Alongside likeminded DJs Ian (Rebel) and Gus, they took the radio station on the road via the sound system and had a regular spot at Notting Hill Carnival. At this time (around 1987) they were probably one of the only sound systems in the UK playing 100% Hip Hop. DJs on the set included Cut Master Swift (before he became DMC World Champion), DJ Pogo, DJ Biznizz and DJ Jay. Making his own music just seemed a natural progression for Marc, who was heavily into electronic instruments and always known as the kid on the bus with giant headphones plugged into a Roland 606 drum machine. In 1989 he co-founded Reinforced Records and released the first 4Hero tracks 'Rising Son' and 'Mr.Kirk's Nightmare'. "We had no idea what kind of music we were making at the time. It was just a fusion that people began to call Jungle." The unique sound of Reinforced quickly became a synonym for forward-thinking electronic music, not only in the UK and Europe but beyond, which lead to collaborations with folks like Detroit Techno legend Kevin Saunderson or Philly's King Britt. While 4Hero originally started out as a four-member group, it was only Marc and Dego who concentrated on the project and recorded the debut album 'Parallel Universe'. The album became NME's album of the year and caught the attention of Paul Martin and Gilles Peterson, who signed 4Hero to Talkin Loud Records. The duo released the two highly acclaimed albums 'Two Pages' and 'Creating Patterns', changing the shape of soulful electronic music and picking up both a Mercury Music Prize nomination and MOBO award. Over the years Marc Mac produced and co-wrote tracks with Jill Scott, Terry Callier, Azymuth, Ed Motta, Jody Watley, Shaun Escoffery, Ultra Nate, Vikter Duplaix, Ursula Rucker and Mark Murphy among many others, and remixed everybody from John Coltrane to Masters At Work. After a long hiatus Marc and Dego recently put out a new 4Hero album 'Play With The Changes.' Marc also released two superb LPs under his Visioneers guise, 'Dirty Old Hip Hop' and 'It's Right To Be Civil'. The sound of Visioneers is one of Hip Hop and Jazz in a head-on collision paying respect to Hip Hop producers like Jazzy Jeff, Jay Dee and Pete Rock.