Mark Alesky

August 2001: They’ve been banged up, shot at, knifed, adored, ripped off, sampled and mobbed. There’s 30 of them and the youngest is eight. They’ve brought mob rule to the charts and rebuilt pop for the 21st century. This is So Solid Crew: get UR streets on to the future sound of young Britain.

June 1999: To celebrate Black History Month, we’ve dug through our 40 years-deep back-catalogue to find interviews and profiles with the world’s greatest talents across film, music, fashion and the arts. Over the coming weeks we’ll be posting a selection of these FACE encounters with the best of the best. Creative, resilient and revolutionary: these are our Archive Heroes.