Legendary jungle and drum & bass MC Skibadee dies aged 47

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  • Real name Alphonso Bondzie, the Londoner had one of the most iconic voices in UK club music.
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  • Legendary jungle and drum & bass MC Skibadee has died. The news was announced earlier today, February 27th, via Skibadee's social media. No cause or time of death was given, though Skibadee's Discogs page says he died on February 25th. Many outlets, including national newspapers, have reported incorrectly that he was 54 years old. He was in fact 47, as confirmed by his "first born" on social media. Born in South London in 1975, Skibadee, real name Alphonso Bondzie, had one of the most iconic voices in UK club music. Speaking to Grime Report TV, he said he "stumbled" into MCing after friends took him to a jungle rave in 1993 with MC Det, Ragga Twins and Navigator. Three weeks later, he was spitting on pirate radio as Skibadee Boy. From there, Bondzie began playing early sets at raves like Thunder & Joy and Ash Attack's Jungle Spirit, which ran every Thursday at 79 Club in Central London. This became his first residency, introducing him to all the key DJs and MCs of the era, such as Nicky Blackmarket, the late innovator Stevie Hyper D and DJ Wildchild, who gave Bondzie his first slot on the much-coveted pirate radio station Kool FM. Later in Bondzie's career, he toured the world with Shy FX, won multiple awards and released music with Dillinja, MC Det and, more recently, as part of drum & bass group SASASAS alongside Shabba D, Harry Shotta, Stormin, DJ Phantasy and Macky Gee. He inspired countless MCs in the UK across several genres. "My thing was never about being number one," he told Grime Report TV. "My thing was about making as many people as possible hear what I was doing." Watch Bondzie in action with MC Det and DJ Brockie at London's The Coronet in 2017, and revisit more of his classic sets here.
    Read some of the many social media tributes.
    Correction, February 28th: A previous version of this article said Skibadee was 54 when he died. He was actually 47, born in 1975. Correction, February 28th: A previous version of this article misspelled Skibadee's first name as Alfonso. The correct spelling is Alphonso.
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