MC Tunes

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MC Tunes (born Nicholas William Dennis Hodgson in 1970) is a British rapper from Moss Side, Manchester. His name was legally changed to Lockett in 1981.

Tunes first worked with 808 State on the 1990 album, The North At Its Heights (ZTT Records). The album was a moderate success, reaching #26 in the UK Albums Chart, and also saw European and Japanese releases. It spawned three UK singles that entered the UK Singles Chart: "The Only Rhyme That Bites" (ZTT, 1990) reached number 10, "Tunes Splits The Atom" (ZTT, 1990) reached number 18 and "Primary Rhyming" (ZTT, 1990) reached number 67 - this was also the first of the singles to have the 'vs 808 State' wording removed from the cover.

In 1992, Tunes recorded the single "Digital Bad Boy/Could You Understand" (Juice Box, 1992) with A Guy Called Gerald (Gerald Simpson, also from 808 State).

Following the stalling of his solo career, Tunes formed the group Dust Junkys in 1995, with Sam Brox on guitar, Steve Oj on bass guitar, Mykey Wilson on drums and Ganiyu Pierre Gasper on turntables. The band concentrated on gigging in the Manchester area and then national tours, building audiences for their mix of British hip hop and Rock music.

Whilst gigging with the Dust Junkys, Tunes returned to work with 808 State in 1996 on a new track, "Pump", taken from their album Thermo Kings (Warner). It was due to be released as a single, but this never happened. A few years after this, the Dust Junkys were signed to Polydor and released their first single "What Time Is It?" (1997), reaching number 39 in the UK chart.

Fatboy Slim sampled the track "Beatbox Wash" for "Gangster Trippin" on the You've Come a Long Way, Baby album.

Besides music, in 2007 Tunes played himself in the independent feature film, Diary of a Bad Lad.

Tunes still lives in Manchester.

Discography

MC Tunes

• The North at Its Heights (ZTT, 1990)
• The Only Rhyme That Bites (ZTT, 1990)
• Tunes Splits the Atom (ZTT, 1990)
• Primary Rhyming (ZTT, 1990)

Dust Junkys

• Done and Dusted (Polydor, 1997)
• Done and Dusted Special Edition/Dub and Dusted (Polydor, 1998)

External links

• ZTT Records official site
• ZTT Records official store
• Warriors of pop, 21 years of ZTT Record Collector, September 2004 (copy at Zang Tuum Tumb and all that) Article about ZTT's history, contains info on MC Tunes
• Heroes of UK Hip Hop's MC Tunes page
• Review of the Dust Junkys at the 1998 Glastonbury Festival