Absurd; preposterous; laughable
"Pronouce I H's that be Redikerlous"

<b>Roni Size</b> (born Ryan Williams), came to national prominence in 1997 as the founder and leader of Reprazent, a drum and bass collective. That year they won the Mercury Prize for their album, New Forms.

Size grew up in the <u>Bristol</u> suburb of St. Andrews and cites reggae as one of his early influences. Size was expelled from school at the age of 16 and started attending house parties run by Bristol mavericks the Wild Bunch (later Massive Attack). He learned the basics about music production down at his local youth club before setting up his own home studio.

Size was keen to describe the mélange of influences as intuitive: "If Krust walks into the studio and his head is nodding, that's enough. I know I've got a result there. He doesn't need to touch a button or tell us what he thinks, 'cos we already know what he's thinking."

Much of the acclaim centred around Size's melding of the new with the old - the propulsive jungle beats accompanied by live drums and double bass. The band - Size (compositions/programming), DJ Krust, Onallee (vocals), Dynamite MC and rapper Bahamadia (a former protégé of Gang Starr) - came together on Bristol's highly fertile and disparate club scene. As a result, Reprazent's sleek, highly musical take on drum 'n' bass is equally informed by hip-hop, funk, soul and house.

In consolidation of their mainstream breakthrough (the most significant for jungle (music) since Goldie's debut), Reprazent set out to become the summer sound of 1997 with a series of festival appearances (including Tribal Gathering).