MC Tunes (born 1970, real name Nicky Lockett) is a British rapper from Moss Side Manchester, who worked with 808 State on the 1990 album, The North At Its Heights (ZTT, 1990). The album was a moderate success, reaching #26 in the UK charts, and also saw European and Japanese release. It spawned 3 UK singles that entered the UK Charts: "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" 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, Mykey Wilson on drums and Ganiyu Pierre Gasper on turntables. The band struggled to be signed, and instead concentrated on gigging in the Manchester area, building a buzz 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, 1996). 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?" (Polydor, 1997), reaching number 39 in the UK charts. Three more singles and the album Done and Dusted (Polydor, 1997) followed and they toured with Black Grape in 1997 as their support act, but despite reasonable popularity there were disputes with the record company and the group were dropped. Done and Dusted was reissued as a special edition with the remix album Dub and Dusted (Polydor) in 1998, and the band also played the Glastonbury Festival in the same year.

More recently, Tunes has guested on the single "Porn Star" (Fuel Records, 2001) by the Pornstarz and "Adrenaline" from the Alabama 3 album, Outlaw (One Little Indian, 2005). He still regularly gigs in Manchester, and in 2003 the Dust Junkys played a reunion gig at The Roadhouse in Manchester.

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

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

• MC Tunes' own website
• Heroes of UK Hip Hop's MC Tunes page
• Review of the Dust Junkys at the 1998 Glastonbury Festival
• Ian Peel: 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 several paragraphs about MC Tunes