Judging by the cameraphone footage, Nia Archives’ support slot at the last of Beyoncé’s 2023 London gigs was not an unqualified success. Archives has suggested she “got a lot of hate for playing jungle” at the show: the audience certainly look like it’s the last thing they want to hear. Then again, you could divine much from the fact that she was there at all: drum’n’bass producers from Bradford rarely attract the attention of US superstars.
Born Dehaney Nia Lishahn Hunt, Nia Archives counts Goldie among her mentors and currently seems to occupy a roughly equivalent position in the firmament of “next-gen junglists” – her phrase – as he did in the 90s drum’n’bass scene: a striking, charismatic figurehead for a genre traditionally lacking in striking, charismatic figures, dance producers seldom being as exciting or intriguing as the music they make.
