Vice Style

Most British people over the age 25 know exactly who Normski is—the mentalist necklace-wearing presenter of Dance Energy. Sure, TV did youth culture, but it had all been pretty art school until Dance Energy came along with live performances from the likes of Naughty by Nature, Rebel MC, Public Enemy, Inner City, The Prodigy, and the Ragga Twins exploded onto people's early evening TV screens and dominated the cooler kids school bus chat. The show also featured Style Squad, a weekly slot showing you what kids were wearing everywhere from Bristol to Jamaica. With the slew of information we can get our hands on now it's pretty easy to stay on top of your game, but back then—with his high-top fade—Normski was the one voice on TV telling it how it was out in clubland. But before he presented Dance Energy, Normski was pretty much the biggest hip-hop photographer in the UK, shooting for the likes of i-D, Melody Maker, and NME.