Described by journalist Chris Salewicz as the ‘Sound of the Westway’ United State are the latest group from West London merging rap and funk to create a fresh new sound on the UK urban scene.

Their first release All My Love (Goes Your Way) featuring the godfather of UK hip-hop Mr. Rodney P was released to critical acclaim from radio, press and club DJs. Mixes included a hip-hop version with beats supplied by the P Brothers, and on the flipside an RnB vibe from Brixton’s Atomic Dred aka soul artist Don-E. Later in the year came a radical new take on the track with an infectious DnB mix from the Columbo remix team.

The State’s first mixes kicked off in the National Student Chart (SBN) at No 5, with a No 1 at UCA (Ayr, West Scotland), ‘Single of the Week’ at URB (Bath) and many top ten entries in Universty charts through out the land. Pirate play followed with ‘Powerplays’ on Y2K, Freeze, Street, Renegade and Juice FM amongst others which led to slots on Choice, Kiss, Radio 1 and Galaxy’s Steve Sutherland show. On the press front, ‘Single of the Month’ in Echoes Magazine and ‘Sureplayer’ in DJ Mag were among the many reviews received.

Following on from this vibrant success comes a fresh attitude with the Columbo Drum & Bass mixes. This up and coming remix team originally cut their teeth with the likes of DJs Fierce and Trace from Nico’s No U-Turn scene before going on to host their ‘Identity Nights’ at the ‘Oh Bar’ in Camden.

The song is about a need to understand other peoples’ individual identities in this fast moving world community. On the record Rodney’s lyrical rhyme speaks to the listener head on and is complimented in the chorus by the haunting vocals of Swedish vocalist Cascade, featured on this and other Futureproof releases.

The group was formed after a chance meeting between Double-G and Mista Stixx on a video shoot, and grew out of the scene centred around Futureproof’s urban clubnights in Notting Hill. Seen more as a collective than a fixed line-up allows main-man Double-G to work in a variety of situations with many artists. He himself comes from a music production background, and has remixed many artists such as Dela Soul and Omar to name a few. Also involved are scratch DJ Harry Love, (All Saints, Scratch Perverts & Black Twang), Swedish singer Cascade, DJ Mista Stixx and on the songwriting Keith Lowndes better know as the ‘Firestarter’.

United State are working with various other artists building up a repertoire of material that will form the basis of their first album. A collaboration with Neneh Cherry and Swedish rapper ADL has produced the track Second Amendment. An explosive track that touches on the sensitive topic of gun possession. Plans for the future include live performances and an idea that involves teaming up with extreme sports enthusiasts.