N16's musical influences began in the 70's with Reggae and Soul as he spent most of his spare time in dance clubs around North London, mostly Stoke Newington, Hackney and Tottenham. He listened to Soul artists like James Brown, War and early Kool And The Gang and Reggae artists like Augustus Pablo, Roy Matumbi and Dennis Brown. Roy and his friend Philip Manuel were involved in black music and culture, sometimes much to their parents confusion and dismay!! They were privileged to be admitted into the legendary Phoebes night club in Amhurst Rd, Hackney, which was strictly a black persons only venue and there the watched performances of Dub which N16 feels unwittingly played a role in the early creation of Hip Hop (along with Gil Scott Heron!! 'the revolution will not be televised'). His first real encounter with rap was Gary Birds - The Crown, in the early 80's. His musical pedigree as a performer started with his own band Tax Dodge, who performed Rock/R&B during the 70's and 80's when he was on Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals, and was the chief songwriter. Their only claim to fame was when Red Bus Records, a subsidiary of Polydor Records, approached us about a contract after watching one of their live performances. Needless to say it went 'pear-shaped' due to lack of total commitment from certain members of their personnel. 

N16 is what you might call a seasoned performer, although he has ultimate respect from his four children they tend to break it gently to their friends that their dad is an MC!! He has a deep enthusiasm for Hip Hop across the board which took on a serious development after hearing Wu Tang Forever in 1998 which inspired him to greatly. In his words he is "concerned about issues globally across the board i.e. racism, famine, general global suffering  and this tends to come out in my material semi-regular". When he first attempted writing rhymes he would try to imitate American MCs but never felt totally at ease with it. He has discovered, since listening to the excellent Roots Manuva that there is a strong development in British Hip Hop which he pledges allegiance to. This is highlighted on the first two joints on his 10 track demo CD, which are also his most recent tracks. He also feels pride in his previous efforts, for which he has received praise via email from people across the world.

He takes MCing semi-seriously and is a busy and energetic person, who divides his time between composing music, teaching Karate (He's a Third degree Black Belt) and doing stuff with his family. N16 fells he has something genuine to offer and is improving constantly.

Listen to N16 - Keepin iIt Reall 

Contact N16: rt006b3623@blueyonder.co.uk 
Tel: 01628 463 852 :: Mob: 07762317001