HAZARDOUS - DEF DEFIANCE

Abstract

Def Defiance. (2019). Hazardous. Britcore Rawmance, 014, Double Vinyl Album second reissue. LP gatefold artwork, front and rear, and inside photomontage.
Hazardous was written and recorded at the dawn of the 1990s, released as the artist Def Defiance. This album was self-released on cassette only, and was the first of their kind to be released in the South-West of England. Hazardous remains the only 1980s album-length DIY hip hop artefact in Britain that was officially released on vinyl in Europe.
The ideas connected to remoteness and identity vis-à-vis recording contracts are explicitly apparent in the work, which also inform part of the discussion in de Paor-Evans' book Provincial Headz. The methodology for writing the lyrics of these outputs was a compound of observational analysis and reflexive/lived autoethnography. In every song, de Paor-Evans positioned himself in a multitude of scenarios based on the song's concept. Through lyric writing, these scenarios translated into audible narratives which sought to critically describe a context or situation under interrogation.