Stevie Hyper D - Generation Hyper

Stevie Hyper D (Stephen Austin) was born in London, England on the 20th of September 1967 to a Spanish mother and Barbadian father. He died on the 5th of July, 1998 (30 years old) of a fatal bloodclot possibly attributed to deep vein thrombosis after a long international tour.



Stevie was brought up all his life in Fulham (West London) in a multicultural and vibrant community. His musical and artistic talent shone through from the start being involved in a variation of styles following the evolution of Reggae to Hip Hop to Acid House to Hardcore and of course to Jungle and Drum & Bass. His can still be felt today with UK Garage and Grime artists often citing him as a major influence in their careers. The versatility of Hyper D would be the major factor in why just one artist has managed to touch so many different styles, with live performances at many events seeing Stevie jump from a Hip Hop to a Ragga flow at a flick of a switch, or even singing over tracks at will.



By the mid to late 90's, the general consensus was that he had reached the tip of the Drum & Bass MC tree so the natural progression was to move in to a studio environment again. Having dabbled previously with the track 'Teknoragga' by Apollo 440 it was time to write and record a full on studio vibed album. He teamed up with DJ Lynx to form Dfrnt Lvls and their album 'The Next Step' was signed to the heavy hitting label Island Records - the FIRST Drum & Bass artist to get signed to a non-underground label. In a hectic era and short space of time Stevie had managed to get signed, record his vocals down, battle it out with the rising MC Skibadee to keep his place at the top of the underground Drum & Bass MC scene and, tragically, pass away. Music lovers everywhere mourned the loss such an exciting talent, and it is scary to try and comprehend just how far he would have gone in the music industry if he was still around today. However, it must be remembered that when he passed away, a father, son, brother, uncle, cousin and friend was also lost forever.


Prior to this, although Stevie stood up alone in the scene, he formed two rave partnerships. Firstly with MC MC and then to Nicky Blackmarket. It was with Nicky who was a resident at Labyrinth, that Stevie met members of the Dance Concept Cru who's Drum & Bass careers were in the embryonic stage. It was a common site to see Stevie join Nicky Blackmarket whether he had been booked for the event or not. These surprise visits would lift a crowd like no other MC of the time could do. When Benny V later linked up with Jason Air / Dfrnt Lvls the chance to release Stevie’s material on Dance Concept seemed not only logical, but necessary.

‘THE LEGEND’ was released on Vinyl and CD format (and later on digital download) and established itself as piece of Jungle/Drum & Bass history that all enthusiasts must have in their collection. There were new generations of Drum & Bass ravers and DJ's who might not have ever seen Stevie perform live and one of the major concepts behind the album was to ensure his memory lived on, while all profits went to Stevie’s mother, Aida. It is debatable whether this was sufficient work to remember the late great Hyper D by. Benny V and Stevie’s nephew Darryl got together and discussed 'GENERATION HYPER'.

New lyrics available, new artists willing to work on the lyrics available and a concept to keep Stevie’s legacy going, not just one last time, but for eternity. Keep coming back for more information soon. The Legend lives on....