Photo: Benji Reid
East London born Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante MBE is a renowned producer, composer, singer, dancer and DJ, whose history is firmly etched in the UK black music industry, taking the sounds of sub-culture to a global audience over the course of his 20 year long career.
As co-founder and co-artistic director of Boy Blue, founded in 2001 with Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy, Asante is credited with the conception and composition of REDD (2019), Outliers (2018), Blak Whyte Gray (2017), The Five & the Prophecy of Prana (2013), Touch (2011), Legacy (2011) and Pied Piper: A Hip-Hop Dance Revolution (2007).
As a music producer, Asante boasts a diverse catalogue within his discography; creating music for films Street Dance 3D and All Stars, enjoying session work with new artists like Sony signing Ryan De La Cruz, to production for major label artists including Delilah, Raleigh Ritchie, Estelle and George The Poet (whose sold out Search Party tour he also delivered musical direction for).
But it’s his work over the years with Kano, a Mercury Prize and Brit Award Nominee, winner of the MOBO Best Album Awards, that put Asante on the map way back in 2005; an early pioneer of the-then newly coined genre grime, a sound that would go on to shape a generation and knock down doors abroad, Asante’s influence can be heard across the capital and beyond. Trips to LA have seen him working with Kool Kojack (Ariana Grande/ Kesha) and Mike Free (Big Sean/ YG).
Recent television and theatre work includes composition for Tree, a Kwame Kwei-Armah and Idris Elba creation for Manchester International Festival, composition for Clotilda: Last American Slave Ship a National Geographic documentary special, the BBC documentary The Three Lives of Michael X, and a collaboration with Brian Eno over two series of Netflix’s Top Boy.
Outside of the studio, Asante mentors and delivers master classes in directing, choreography and music and is also found residing in the Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s faculty as a Professor of electronic music, from where, in 2018, Asante was awarded an Honorary Fellowship (HonFGS). Asante received an MBE to Hip Hop Dance and Music in the 2022 New Year’s Honours.
Photo: Benji Reid
Kenrick ‘H2O’ Sandy MBE, Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Boy Blue, Associate Artist at the Barbican London, is undoubtedly one of the most renowned choreographers and performers in the UK commercial and theatrical scenes.
Sandy’s credits are extensive having worked in TV, film and theatre, at home and abroad, alongside Boy Blue’s 2001 inception. As a choreographer he’s responsible for REDD (2019), Outliers (2018), the Olivier nominated Blak Whyte Gray (2017), The Five & the Prophecy of Prana (2013), A Night With Boy Blue (2018, 2016, 2015, 2013) and Olivier award winning Pied Piper: A Hip-Hop Dance Revolution (2007). He also co-directed and choreographed Unleashed for the Barbican (2012).
Off the main stage, Sandy collaborated with director Danny Boyle for the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, winning the Evening Standard’s Beyond Theatre award. Sandy also worked on the Closing Winter Paralympic 2014 Ceremony and the 2007 Tour De France opening in Trafalgar Square, London.
On screen work includes choreography on the BAFTA Awards, for All Stars and T2 Trainspotting, plus appearances on Street Dance 3D, the BBC’s So You Think You Can Dance and CBBC’s Alesha’s Street Dance Stars. In 2015 he judged the inaugural BBC Young Dancer Competition. As a performer himself, his repertoire includes Legacy Re:Loaded at the Jerwood Dance House and Jonzi D’s Lyrikal Fearta Redux at Sadler’s Wells.
In 2017 Sandy was an awarded an MBE for services to dance and the community in the Queen’s New Years honours list, an Honorary Fellowship (HonFGS) from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2018 and in 2019, a Companionship from LIPA.
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Boy Blue, Stage Door, Barbican Centre, London