Valerie Olukemi “Kemi” Olusanya, known as Kemistry, came into drum & bass through the same dancefloors that shaped the music itself. Her long friendship with Storm developed into a DJ partnership after years spent absorbing the emerging sound at places including Rage at Heaven.

By the early 1990s Kemistry & Storm were broadcasting on London pirate radio, first Touchdown FM and later Defection FM. Their sets stood out not because they were treated as a novelty, but because the pair had developed a precise shared musical language: tough rhythmic selections balanced by atmosphere, soul and space.

Together with Goldie, Kemistry and Storm became central to the creation and early operation of Metalheadz. When the label launched in the mid-1990s and the Sunday sessions at the Blue Note became one of drum & bass culture’s defining clubs, the two DJs were not merely residents — they were organisers, selectors, promoters and part of the infrastructure that made the movement work.

The 1999 DJ-Kicks: Kemistry & Storm mix documented the partnership at international level. Kemistry died in a road accident on 25 April 1999. Her legacy survives through Metalheadz, through Storm’s continued work and through the tapes that preserve what Kemistry & Storm actually sounded like in the dance.