Yush was the name London knew for producer, vocalist and MC Andrew Alcee. His voice travelled through garage, jungle and drum & bass, while his work behind the music helped join those sounds together.

Yush’s roots stretch back to late-1980s dance music, with later tributes connecting some early breakbeat and jungle productions to Studio 2. By the mid-1990s, Anthill Mob and Confetti Records had become a major part of his story. Garage and jungle were still sharing people, studios and dancefloors.

Anthill Mob worked more like a concept project than a fixed band. The lineup was never easy to pin down, but Yush’s place in the music was clear: he was one of its key writers, producers and voices. You hear his hand in the Confetti catalogue as much as you hear it on the mic.

You can hear Yush’s stamp on Burnin. He composed it around November 1995, and its bass-heavy Confetti sound became one of Anthill Mob’s defining tunes on UK garage dancefloors.

There was plenty more around it. Anthill Mob tracks including You Should Have Known, Flava and Why helped give late-1990s garage its rough swing and weight. Yush’s production shaped the tracks, while his vocals gave them a voice people could take with them out of the club.

The jungle connection was personal as well as musical. Potential Badboy has recalled that he and Yush grew up together, went to youth club together and stayed close friends. Their partnership carried on for years: You’re Mine brought Yush’s voice back into jungle and drum & bass, followed by L.O.V.E., Sun Is Shining Bright, I Need a Roof and Girlz with MC Fats.

In 2005, Shy FX & T Power brought him onto Lover’s Rock for Diary of a Digital Soundboy. The album credits Andrew Alcee as vocalist and co-writer, placing Yush right in the middle of another landmark in British bass music.

As the years went on, Yush was on the radio and on the mic as well as in the studio. At Kool London he hosted and appeared around Junglezone; a surviving 2016 dubplate-and-interview session lets you hear him there in his own words. His live trail runs through London jungle nights and club sessions into 2020.

Andrew Alcee died in September 2021. No exact day or cause was made public.

Put the records and broadcasts together and you hear one long journey: early breakbeat and jungle, Anthill Mob’s garage, then jungle and drum & bass again. The scenes changed around Yush, but the people, radio and dancefloors kept crossing over. His work ran through production, songwriting, vocals and live MCing from beginning to end.