Dean Blunt

London-based producer Dean Blunt (Roy Nnawuchi) formed Hype Williams with Inga Copeland (Russian vocalist Alina Astrova) to assemble atmospheric deconstructed dance-pop for chill-out rooms. Hype Williams released Hype Williams (Carnivals, 2010), Find Out What Happens When People Stop Being Polite And Start Gettin Reel (De Stijl, 2010), with the psychedelic instrumental Blue Dream and the pseudo-Caribbean ballad Throning, and One Nation (Hippos In Tanks, 2011), with the evocative seven-minute instrumental Mitsubishi. Black Is Beautiful (Hyperdub, 2012) was a collection of short untitled songs (or, better, melodic and rhythmic flotsams), credited simply to Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland. The Attitude Era (2012) collects rarities and "unfinished tracks".

Copeland debuted solo with Because I'm Worth It (2014).

Dean Blunt, instead, quickly transformed into a completely different animal. If the lo-fi mix The Narcissist II (Hippos in Tanks, 2012) was still hip-hop music, the sample-heavy The Redeemer (Hippos in Tanks, 2013) and Stone Island (2013) introduced a new kind of singer-songwriter.

That evolution culminated with Black Metal (Rough Trade, 2014) and its varied multi-chromatic spectrum, from the orchestral ballad Lush to the dejected slocore a` la Mazzy Star of Molly & Aquafina and to the brief wall of noise Country. The calm laconic baritone of Leonard Cohen is clearly an influence in 50 Cent, drenched in reverb, backed by angelic female voice, and in Punk, which sounds like Cohen gone dub and humming a nursery rhyme. 100 opens with a desert-rock guitar solo and continues as a redolent country-rock yarn. If the nine-minute X turns tedious after the initial floating electronic nebula, the 13-minute Forever achieves the kind of magic that Hype Williams strove for: a sensual interplay between piano and wordless vocals, and then electronic noise that rhymes with a repeated meow and with a soulful sax melody.

Wahalla (2017) was a collaboration with Joanne Robertson, and Desert Sessions (2018) was a collaboration with Delroy Edwards. The mixtape Zushi (2019) collects collaborations with Panda Bear, Mica Levi, Joanne Robertson, A$AP Rocky, etc.

Blunt then released two mixtapes, namely Babyfather (2015) and Soul on Fire (2018).

As Babyfather, he released several mixtapes between 2015 and 2017. Hype Williams, without Copeland, released 10/10 (2016) and Rainbow Edition (2017), rather dull albums of instrumental hip-hop. As Blue Iverson, he released Hotep (2017). Collaborations include the eight-song mini-album Wahalla (2017) with Joanne Robertson and Desert Sessions (2018) with Delroy Edwards, that contains 19 brief lo-fi distorted videogame-like vignettes.

Zushi (2019) was a 36-minute mixtape. Roaches 2012-2019 (2020) is a compilation.

Black Metal 2 (2021), a ten-song 23-minute mini-album, de facto another collaboration with Joanne Robertson, was a minor addition to his canon, with Dash Snow and The Rot.