Nicky Blackmarket
DJ, record seller and scene connector: Nicky Blackmarket stood on both sides of the counter as hardcore became jungle and drum & bass.
Behind the decks, behind the counter
Nicky Blackmarket — Nicholas Andersson-Gylden — started DJing as a teenager in the 1980s, initially around electro and London’s wider dance and pirate-radio culture. By 1990 he was involved with Blackmarket Records in Soho. When British breakbeat music began separating from house in the early 1990s, Nicky backed the new sound inside the shop, establishing a dedicated hardcore/breakbeat section in the basement around 1992.
That basement became more than retail. Before online stores, social media or instant digital distribution, record shops were information networks: DJs heard new tunes, producers brought in music, promoters exchanged news and scarce promos and dubplates could determine what was heard in the rave that weekend. Blackmarket became one of jungle and drum & bass’s best-known physical hubs, with figures including Ray Keith working in the shop and DJs travelling to Soho specifically for new music.
Nicky’s own route mirrors the music moving through those racks. His sets developed from electro and house through breakbeat hardcore into jungle and drum & bass, while pirate-radio appearances helped circulate the music beyond clubs. He also recorded as Nick OD, including early-1990s material connected with Reinforced Records, but DJing and championing other people’s records remained the centre of his identity.
His partnership with Stevie Hyper D became especially important in the jungle years. Hyper D’s ability to read a DJ and respond rhythmically to the mix made the pairing a genuine performance relationship rather than a DJ set with unrelated vocals placed over it. The Rave Archive’s 1995 Roast recording at the Island in Ilford preserves that chemistry directly.
The later archive tapes show the network widening: Det, Hyper D and Skibadee at One Nation in 1998; DJ Trend and Hyper D on Kiss 100 FM; and a Brockie back-to-back with Nicky at One Nation. Together they document why Blackmarket’s story is bigger than a single tune or label — he connected records, radio, shops, MCs and raves during the period when jungle became an enduring culture.
That production thread never disappeared either. In a 2024 interview Nicky said he was still running Kartoons and still making records, while a new Kniteforce deal was bringing part of the Nick O.D. catalogue back into circulation. It fits the rest of the story: even after the Soho shop era ended, the work remained about records as much as reputation.
From the shop floor to the rave floor
Electro, radio and early DJing
Teenage DJing, electro and pirate-radio culture built the broad musical grounding that came before hardcore and jungle.
Blackmarket Records
Working at Blackmarket Records in Soho, Nicky helped establish the basement breakbeat department as demand for the emerging UK sound accelerated.
Jungle network
Pulse FM, rave bookings and the partnership with Stevie Hyper D connected record-shop culture directly to the dancefloor and tape-pack circuit.
Kartoons & scene continuity
International DJing, Kartoons, continued production and support for new artists keep the same record-first role active long after the original jungle explosion.
Blackmarket in frame
Shop floor to rave floor
The record shop as scene infrastructure
Nicky Blackmarket’s historical role is bigger than DJ bookings alone. Blackmarket Records functioned as a meeting point where DJs, producers, promoters and ravers exchanged records, information and new sounds at a time when specialist shops were part of the scene’s communication network.
That position behind the counter and behind the decks gave him an unusual view of jungle as it formed: hearing new music arrive, helping it reach other DJs, and then testing the same culture in clubs, on radio and alongside MCs such as Stevie Hyper D.
Nicky on film
Nicky Blackmarket — archive video