Nonames

James Miller aka Nonames spent his formative years growing up in the southern states of America, before moving to East London in the heyday of club nights like That’s How It Is, Dusted and Metalheadz.

In ’98 he joined south London five-piece Focused Few, and later in 2002, came together with Dag, Pav and Ebow to form Foreign Beggars. Since then the journey hasn’t stopped; from touring the world over, playing festivals in Las Vegas, Cape Town and New Zealand, cellars in Warsaw, Paris and Berlin and afterparties in Austin, Sevilla and Chengdu.

Fast forward nearly two decades and Foreign Beggars’ have released their sixth studio album ‘2 2: KARMA’ (2018). As a DJ, Nonames covers all sides of rap music/ beats spectrum; hip-hop, grime, half-time, through to 160-170bpm. A relentless tour schedule and an extensive list of featured artists and MCs that Foreign Beggars have worked with over the years inevitably led to striking out as a solo producer.

Production credits appear on projects released through Dented Records, Owsla, Mau5trap, on Claude Von Strokes Dirty Bird label and in 2016 through Beggars’ imprint Par-Excellence; ‘Shallow ft. Marger’, ‘Resurrection Kid ft. Rawkid’ and the 160bpm juke/footwork inspired ‘Pepinako Ep’, (with a remix from Teklife’s Taso). Further production credits appear on releases with the impressive Gorillaz, UNKLE, Roots Manuva, Eprom and Corinne Bailey Rae.

In 2018, Nonames released “Passing Time feat. Alexa Harley” – a track that merges two worlds of old school UK garage and the new-wave of UK jazz. Later the same year, Miller released ‘E Numbers EP’ – featuring Roahee, Killa P, Nolay, Dizmack, Jammz, Marger and Grim Slickers, on a release that serves to represent some of the foremost grime artists of this generation.

Orifice and Nonames started the Saturday night BBC Asian Network flagship urban show; Mic Check. This led to the launch of the Par-Ex monthly podcast and mix series (amassing over 2,000,000 combined hits), and regular label night at Dalston’s Birthdays. Radio / Mix Highlights include Radio 1, 1Xtra, Diplo & Friends, Annie Nightingale, Annie Mac, Mista Jam, Kiss FM, NTS and Triple J.