Hello...

Honestly, there’s not a whole lot of epic saga here. I grew up in a quiet part of West London and my parents decided that three-year-old me should become a tiny musical prodigy, so they slapped a violin in my hands. I hated it. Not the instrument itself — just the endless practicing, rehearsals, and pretending I enjoyed scales. But somehow I got pretty good and passed grade 8 at 14, mostly out of sheer stubbornness and misery.

​

Naturally, I gave up immediately afterwards because being good at the violin isn’t “cool” when you’re a teenager. Terrible decision, but at the time I felt like a rebel genius.

​

My brother, on the other hand, was a full-on hip hop head and a sick DJ. He taught me how to use turntables, but I swerved into UK Garage in the mid-90s instead. I was also sneaking Jungle and Hardcore on the side like some sort of musical double-agent. Kids on my street were listening to Dreamscape and World Dance while school mates were collecting Telepathy and Jungle Fever tape packs. I loved Jungle, but got swept up with a load of UK Garage heads and started buying vinyl and going to Bagleys, Club Colosseum, Gass Club, Bar, and the greatest club ever known: The End.

​

Fast-forward a bit — I met someone who shoved Jungle back into my life via DJ Marky. I went to see DJ Craze at a private BBC Maida Vale session, and he went b2b with this Brazilian guy I’d never heard of. My mate had told sceptical me he was incredible. She was right. That set caught me with the Jungle virus (ha) all over again. Next thing I knew, I was rediscovering V-Recordings and Movement at Bar Rumba, and I somehow ended up working for them. For a couple years I was a proud Flyer Boy, sometimes Door Guy, and occasional Artist Liaison at festivals — basically the D&B equivalent of being in the entourage, minus the glamour. (And money..)

I fell in love with Calibre, High Contrast, and the soulful side of Drum & Bass. Working with the Movement crew opened my eyes and ears to something I really wanted to be a part of. ​

​

Then life happened: I moved in with my girl,(now wife..) got a sensible job, stopped DJing properly, and never learned production like I kept promising myself I would.

​

2020 arrived, the world stopped, and we were all told: “No leaving the house!” I was fortunate enough to still get paid during the pandemic, so naturally I decided this was the perfect time to finally learn all the music software I’d bought over the years telling myself: “I’m going to make some sick beats.” (I was lying to myself..)

​

I tackled Logic Pro, then got my brain lovingly scrambled by DJ Kane — absolute legend from Kool FM and Trouble on Vinyl — who introduced me to another Jungle don, DJ Krust. I joined Krust’s “Adapt the Canvas” programme, which basically gathers a bunch of creatives, shakes them up, and turns them into better versions of themselves. That was huge for me. Suddenly the path didn’t feel impossible. It wasn't just natural talent, it was work, hard, structured fucking work and that's ok, I can do work. I work like a dog, just not for myself.  

​

Adapt the Canvas was also where I found my name. Osmond Francis — my middle names. I always hid them because I thought they sounded stupid. (Still kind of think they do...) But he’s out now. And while none of this might sound that interesting or exciting, it was real, and it brought me right here. And now the hard work is starting to pay off...

And this?

This is where it gets interesting.

​