RISE IN POWER | UK HIP HOP PIONEER ULYSSES OF HIJACK HAS TRANSITIONED

© John Dyder (@digitaldyer)

Too often in our scene, we don’t pay prop­er respects to those who have laid the found­a­tion the rest of us stand and build on. John “Ulysses” Reyn­olds, the icon­ic Grand­mas­ter of UK Hip Hop pion­eers Hijack is one of those who deserves this respect.

A true trail­blazer of Hip Hop cul­ture, espe­cially in South Lon­don, Ulysses became known in his com­munity, and even­tu­ally around the world, as much for his mar­tial arts as for Hip Hop. He merged these two ele­ments togeth­er in an artist­ic man­ner that became part of his and Hijack­’s sig­na­ture look and sound. This pro­ceeded oth­ers who’ve done the same, includ­ing most fam­ously Wu-Tang, which has been acknow­ledged by mem­bers of the Clan themselves.

© Norm­ski

A lov­er of Jazz as well as Hip Hop, Ulysses con­tin­ued to make music through­out and bey­ond the rise of Hijack, who stand as a core pil­lar of the early wave of UK Hop Hop and Brit­core that really star­ted to pro­duce, for Lon­don in par­tic­u­lar, a spe­cific­ally homegrown sound in the mid-late 80’s and early 90’s.

In the words of his chil­dren, as pos­ted on Ins­tagram this week:

“Our beloved John Reyn­olds ‘Ulysses’ has sadly passed away on Monday 25^th March 2024. We are truly heart­broken to lose such a revolu­tion­ary light in this world. He leaves behind his time­less tal­ent, wis­dom and com­pas­sion. On behalf of his part­ner, four chil­dren, his three grand­chil­dren, fam­ily and friends, we are all proud of the giant spir­it that inspired the lives of a generation.

‘We stand on the shoulders of giants’

Hail­ing from Stock­well (Lam­beth) South Lon­don, he was to us and so many that knew him a real life super­hero! From his Triple Round­house Kicks to his Seam­less and Extraordin­ary Cho­reo­graphy, not to men­tion his undeni­ably bril­liant brain for com­pos­ing music. John’s Cre­ativ­ity didn’t stop there, he was cre­at­ive in his way of think­ing about and view­ing the world, nature, people and uni­verse itself. He had a wealth of know­ledge that he was always happy to share with any­one that would listen and it’s fair to have referred to him as a walk­ing encyclopaedia.

His con­tri­bu­tions are infin­ite ♾️ ”

John Reyn­olds aka Ulysses — Rise in Power.