The tape reads Biography. Pop it in. Rewind. Press play.

A whiskey-voiced narrator starts speaking as the hazy images come into focus. “It’s 2010. Zeds Dead is about to play one of their first shows in the basement of a dive bar in Toronto. Behind the brick walls and the unfinished ceiling exposed wires hang freely. The air smells of booze, smoke, and sweat. A crowd is lined up outside, flasks hang from their back pockets and cigarettes from their lips. Abandoned drinks rest on the lip of the dj booth while joints get sparked in the corners.

The tiny room is packed. Nobody quite knows how to describe the music yet. When Hooks and DC start their set the earth trembles. The air becomes charged and almost sexual. Everyone goes crazy. You feel the music in your bones. Your marrow shakes. You don’t know what they will play next but you know it might just change your life. Everybody at those early shows could tell – these guys are gonna be big.”

Fast forward a few scenes. The narrator continues.

“It’s 2013. Zeds Dead is killing it. They’ve got an enormous catalogue that includes remixes for some of the biggest artists out there, and releases with the most credible labels in the game. They’ve accumulated hundreds of millions of views online. They play tours of over 70 dates to hundreds of thousands of people. Fans love their shows, critics love their creativity, and heads love their production. They’re big. Really big.”

“The date’s not important. The place is Toronto, Canada. Teenagers Zack Rapp-Rovan and Dylan Mamid are introduced – they hit it off immediately over a shared love of classic hip hop, music production, and digging through crates. They join forces and call themselves Mass Productions aka MP Records. Dylan becomes DC and Zack becomes Hooks. They work out of DC’s often smoky garage. Critiquing, dissecting and swapping samples. They grow with every tune. They get on a level where their combined sound is unified and strong. MP releases an LP of hip hop instrumentals called Fresh Beets. It’s a pivotal moment for the duo.”

“It’s 2009 and hip hop is in a coma. Hooks and DC are about to have an epiphany that will change everything. They thirst for something new. They want to make people move to their sounds and not just bob their heads, but to grind, heave, shiver, stomp, and dance to their music. They want to capture the ecstasy and comradery of house, the heart pummelling thrill of Drum and Bass, the beauty of ambient music, and the heaviness of electro – all in one sound. They want to push boundaries. To challenge themselves and their listeners to”– The movie cuts out. Ribbons of static shimmer across the blackness. Someone has taped over this part. A scene from Pulp Fiction flickers on screen. Butch and Fabienne are sitting on top of a Harley Davidson.

FABIENNE: “Who’s motorcycle is this?”

BUTCH: “Zed’s dead, baby, Zed’s dead.”

Zeds Dead

Currently one of the most versatile and in-demand producers around, Hamdi's ability to consistently produce a wide range of styles and genres has made him one of the underground music scene's most exciting prospects.

Born in Oxford, Hamdi (real name Alexander Hamdi) has been producing electronic music for over a decade, first getting into Ding soon after his eighteenth birthday. Hamdi soon established himself as one of the most in demand young producers in the UK scene with consistent EP releases and a string of well-received free downloads on Soundcloud. By this time, he had also already earned a reputation as one of the most energetic DJs around, with many recognising Hamdi as the only DJ on the circuit to DJ and MC at the same time.

Hamdi's production, like his DJing, is gritty, high-energy and rhythmic and he is comfortable producing across the full spectrum of electronic dance music. Yet at the same time, his signature Dubstep sound design is easy to recognise, and has a power and weight to it that not many in the scene can match.

Hamdi's breakthrough came in 2017, with the release of Show Me with Sammy Virji, which took the UK Bass Scene by storm. The VIP, released 18 months later, was one of the most sought after tracks of that year, and currently sits on over a million Spotify streams. Since then, Hamdi has gone from strength to strength, building a strong brand and reputation as one of the most consistent multi-genre artists around. As 3000 Blog wrote, 'There really aren't many who are keeping pace with Hamdi, as he tends to fly from deck to deck, pulling the audience from left to right in a seriously thrilled multi-genre ride.

The last couple of years have been huge for Hamdi. While he has had a substantial and loyal UK following for some years now, in the last 18 months, Hamdi's fanbase has gone global. His edit of Sammy Virji's Never Let You Go and his now modern classic Skanka both took the Dubstep scene by storm and opened his sound up to a whole new audience. Skanka became a mega hit in the global Dubstep community, with many in the scene calling it the track of the year.

For a long time It was hard to escape Skanka in the US, and it quickly became a staple of pretty much every Dubstep set. Artists such as Skrillex, Zeds Dead, Porter Robinson, Knife Party, NGHTMRE, Slander, Subtronics, Of The Trees and countless others have consistently supported the track, leading to the track being played to crowds upwards of 30,000 people across the United States.

As a result, recent demand for Hamdi has not just been exclusive to the UK. His recent six-city headline tour of India was a great success, playing to packed rooms in every city he went to With upcoming dates across Europe, an Australian tour in the diary, and huge interest in the US, Hamdi's global profile is growing at a rapid rate

Hamdi

Zeds Dead and Hamdi team up for a massive dubstep festival anthem ft. legendary dancehall artist Warrior Queen. Drops ahead of Zeds Dead's sold out 2 night event, DeadRocks, at Red Rocks w/ Hamdi.

Criminal ft. Warrior

Zeds Dead x Hamdi