Is Mr. C the most important DJ in the world?

While he’ll likely punch me in the face when he sees me next for suggesting such a thing, it just might be true. Cheeky and subversive yet a champion of unity, for 20+ years Mr. C has been pushing dance music forward, defining himself as one of the industry’s most creative and inspiring artists.

In the mid-1990s, Mr. C was the front-man for the groundbreaking pop-dance act The Shamen. With ten UK Top 10 hits in a row and a string of successful albums – including the million-plus selling Boss Drum – The Shamen cleared a credible path from rave to radio that opened the doors for the likes of The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers and Underworld.

But instead of cashing in on his success, Mr. C instead chose to create arguably the finest nightclub London has ever known, The End. Conceived and run by Mr. C and partner Layo for more than a decade as something of an art museum for the bass-bin set, The End combined never-before-seen aesthetics, ambience and attitude, all glued together by Mr. C’s industry-shaping, life-changing sets – considered today to have literally invented tech-house.

Mr. C is the embodiment of the old saying that “there’s no substitute for experience.” For 20+ years, he’s had his ear to the ground like no other, trawling for those little bits of treasure that, when played at exactly the right moment, can light up a club like a Christmas tree. He doesn’t just play records – he constructs, on the fly, moments of magic.

Of course, to me what matters most with music isn’t history or hyperbole. It’s that magic – how you feel from one fleeting glued-to-the-dance-floor stopped-time moment to the next. It’s where the differences between a juke box and an artist become obvious. And as anyone lucky enough to have been on a dance floor when Mr. C takes to the controls already knows, it’s in these moments that tomorrow’s history is made.

-Cary Chang