Roni Size (born Ryan Williams, 29 October 1969, Bristol) is a British music producer and DJ who came to prominence in 1997 as the founder and leader of Reprazent, a drum and bass collective. That year they won the Mercury Prize for their album New Forms.

Early life

Williams, son of Jamaican immigrantsMac Randall: Reprazenting Bristol. Yahoo! Music, 01/02/2001 (Interview with Roni Size and DJ Krust), grew up in the Bristol suburb of St. Andrews. He cites reggae as one of his early influences. He was expelled from school at the age of 16 and started attending house parties run by Bristol soundsystem The Wild Bunch (a predecessor of Massive Attack). He learned the basics about music production at his local youth club before setting up his own home studio.

His future musical partner, Krust, enjoyed an early dalliance with fame as part of the Fresh 4, whose "Wishing On A Star" reached the Top Ten of the UK Singles Chart in late 1989. He and Krust, Suv and DJ Die founded Full Cycle Records.

Musical style

Williams describes the mélange of influences as intuitive: "If Krust walks into the studio and his head is nodding, that's enough. I know I've got a result there. He doesn't need to touch a button or tell us what he thinks, 'cos we already know what he's thinking."

Much of the acclaim centred around Size's melding of the new with the old - the propulsive jungle beats accompanied by live drums and double bass. The band - Williams (compositions/programming), DJ Krust, Onallee (vocals), Dynamite MC and rapper Bahamadia (a former protégé of Gang Starr) - came together on Bristol's highly fertile and disparate club scene. As a result, Reprazent drum 'n' bass is equally informed by hip-hop, funk, soul and house.

Career

In consolidation of their mainstream breakthrough, Reprazent set out to become the summer sound of 1997 with a series of festival appearances (including Tribal Gathering).

Williams subsequently teamed up with DJ Die and Leonie Laws in Breakbeat Era, before returning to Reprazent to record the second album, October 2000's In The Mode, which included guest vocals from Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine and Method Man of Wu-Tang Clan.

Discography

• Music Box (1995)
• New Forms (1997)
• Ultra-Obscene (1999) with DJ Die under the alias "Breakbeat Era"
• Through the Eyes (2000)
• In the Mode (2000)
• Touching Down (2002)
• Touching Down, Vol. 2 (2005)
• Return to V (2005)
• Dirty Beats
• Share The Fall
• Triphop Drum and Bass
• Circles Remix
• Sing
• Switchblade