Few acts produced music with the sheer energy of Gunshot. Although this was only their second single, the Eastenders had already defined a discrete sonic template – a raft of samples, sirens and synths intersected with hard, fast breakbeats and dispassionately dispatched bad boy raps. After a stentorian warning that the criminal gang crisis is out of control – a stark reminder how little has changed – ‘No Sell Out’ builds on the A-side’s distorted bass guitar, crazed strings and ice-grilled raps with real ragga swagger, its urgent vocal turns carefully entwined within a wah-wah guitar figure. It’s worth taking the time to unpick those speedy, hyper dexterous rhymes, a fusillade of pull-no-punches metaphors for the hip-hop game filtered through murderous ganglands and dark criminal underworlds. Be it Mercury’s assertion that “Gunshot cause trauma to the human soul”, Q-Roc “packing the mic like a killer with a 12-gauge” or Alkaline’s boasting “Hardcore, sit on top of the rhythm like a wild boar”, they rarely fail to impact. Grime long before there was grime, Gunshot’s music resonated much deeper in Germany where they swiftly built a loyal fanbase. ‘No Sell Out’ ends with a lift from John Carpenter’s Assault On Precinct 13, further testament to their good taste. It remains a mystery why film and TV producers haven’t given Gunshot producer/deejay White Child Rix – a one-man British Bomb Squad, whose every instrumental B-side was essential – the opportunity to really demonstrate his soundtrack mettle.