Man Like Chez

If Oasis ever took a detour through the world of hip-hop, the result might sound something like Man Like Chez. With a distinctly northern, no-nonsense flow and lyrical style that hits with honesty and grit, Chez brings a refreshing rawness to the scene. His songwriting is real, relatable, and unapologetically authentic. Throw in his skills as a DJ and producer, and you’ve got a multi-talented creative with his teeth sunk into a whole platter of artistic pursuits.

Real name Andy, Chez adopted his now-familiar moniker at the age of nine. “My brother is even Little Chez,” he laughs, “It’s that classic northern thing where your nickname comes from the first syllable of your surname. So when it came to picking an MC name, it was a no-brainer.” 

With a new album on the horizon, now feels like the perfect time to talk about what pulled me into Chez’s orbit in the first place. I’ve been following his journey since the release of his 2023 EP Madblo, and it was the track Amateurs that first stopped me in my tracks. It’s been a regular fixture on the speakers at Runnin With My Rhythm HQ ever since.

And now — boom! — it's your turn. Give it a listen below and see what all the noise is about

                                        

Not always a Hip-hop head, it wasn't until much later that he got into the genre: " I was a raver / junglist back in my teens growing up in Cheshire, and it wasn’t until I got to Uni in Sheffield about 1995 that I started seriously listening to Hip-hop. But yeah love all those Golden Era east coast classics like Wu-Tang Clan, Tribe, Nas, Mobb Deep etc."

The first track to blow him away was  a mixtape of a Jungle DJ called LTJ Bukem from about 92/93:

"It was one of those where they record their set from the rave and sell the tapes. this was the first jungle tape that totally converted me, before that it was all Altern 8, 2 Bad Mice, The Prodigy piano breakbeat stuff" he said.                                           

Chez’s roots in music go deep , back to 1996, when he blew his second-year student loan on a pair of Technics 1210s and dived headfirst into the world of Jungle DJing. “We had a little sound system and would play house parties, squat raves, the odd night in a proper club,” he recalls. “One night they needed someone on the mic, we didn’t have an MC, and I’d had a few cans, so I said I’d do it! That was my first time on the mic as a jungle MC.”

From that spontaneous debut, things snowballed. He began freestyling, writing lyrics, and sharpening his craft. Soon he was part of Sheffield’s late-90s underground scene, linking up with local crews and eventually becoming part of Multiverse 3 — a collective that captured the raw energy of the era.                                       

Multiverse 3 was originally me, MC Epicentre and DJ Riles as a live act, with a crew of producers, guest MCs and other great talents supporting it all off-stage. We were active from about 2001-2004 and had a good run of live shows and even released an EP. But the money was pretty tight even back then, so in the end I got a day job and that meant I had a lot less time for tunes so things started to fall off.

I went abroad working for a while, got back to the UK in 2016 and reconnected with some of my old mates, one of which was Epicentre. He’d got a load of studio masters he’d found in an attic and we hit upon the idea of re-releasing them to raise money for a Sheffield homeless charity. That kinda re-lit the fire and I started Djing, producing and rapping again both with Epicentre as a resurrected Multiverse 3 and as a solo artist. I also DJ with an online collective called Breaks and Bass Fam, we upload a new mix every Saturday with quite a range of genres. So long as its good, is basically the mantra!" 

Type Beat lands with confidence. In his own words, Chez “raps like the bastard child of John Cooper Clarke and Lord Finesse”  and you certainly believe it. His delivery mixes northern bravado and introspective swagger, riding on nostalgic ’90s East Coast vibes with a Mancunian twist.

I’ll be honest,  I usually have little patience for hip-hop album intros.  I’d rather watch broccoli grow because they tend to be a time wasting “yadda yadda, and have me reaching for the skip button, yes, on an actual CD player ( I still roll Jurassic-style). But Type Beat catches me off guard. This intro? It lands. There’s a line where a woman simply says, “Chez is different,” and she’s absolutely right.

Then boom we’re straight into Rock A Jam Right, and the vibe is officially set. The energy’s there, the beat hits hard and that momentum doesn’t let up. The smooth groove of Vibes (feat. Dr Big F MC) is a real standout, slick, warm, and full of soul. Then comes Rogue Trooper, followed by Fire in the Peaks, and I’m still floating in hip-hop heaven, half-expecting a dud track to bring me back to Earth. But it never comes.

By the time we hit the final cut, Victory Lap (feat. T.C), I’m not ready for it to end. I’m ready to hit replay.

Man Like Chez has come a long way as an artist, and Type Beat feels like a major moment, the kind of release that cements his place as a serious creative force in UK hip-hop. Whether he’s touching on life, politics, or the chaos of the universe, Chez always has something worth saying and says it in his own way.

Time for a Victory Lap? Absolutely.   

1.Intro  

2.Rock A Jam Right 

3.Vibes Feat (DrBig F MC) 

4.Rogue Trooper  

5.Fire In The Peaks Pt 2 

6.Right Flow (WillHouseRemix)  

7.Solomon's Mine (FeatEpicentre)  

8.Camel  

9.Manifesto 

10.Consume/Create  

11.Ain't Nothing Changed (AD Remix)  

12. Victory Lap (Feat T.C)  

You can get your physical CD now over at Bandcamp & follow his various platforms via  https://linktr.ee/man_like_chez 

 So go give it a spin, and let me know which tracks had you nodding the hardest!

If you enjoy good music then please show your support for the artist and  consider sharing. Til next time, Stay Blessed, Back Before Elvis.