Nia Archives
Nia Archives playing inAmsterdam in the Netherlands on 16 November 2024
Background information
Birth name	Dehaney Nia Lishahn Hunt
Born	September 1999 (age 25) Bradford,West Yorkshire, England
Genres	Jungle drum and bass
Occupations	Record producer DJ songwriter
Years active	2020–present
Labels	HIJINXX Island
Website	niaarchives.com

Dehaney Nia Lishahn Hunt (born September 1999), known professionally asNia Archives, is an English record producer, DJ, singer and songwriter. Born inBradford inWest Yorkshire, she moved toLeeds aged seven, out of the family home aged sixteen, and then toGreater Manchester, during which time she was inspired byjungle documentaries and their women participants. After finding herself messed about by local producers, she began producing her own jungle anddrum and bass works; after moving toHackney Wick for university and finding that no record labels would release them, she released them herself, attracting attention for the EPsHeadz Gone West andForbidden Feelingz. After featuring on numerous 'best of' lists, she released a third EP,Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against the Wall, in 2023, which topped theUK Dance Albums Chart, followed by an album,Silence Is Loud, which peaked at No. 16 on theUK Albums Chart. Hunt is generally regarded as being at the forefront of the post-2020 drum and bass revival, and has been cited as an inspiration byPiri.

Dehaney Nia Lishahn Hunt^[1] was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire in September 1999, and has two brothers. When she was seven,^[2] they moved toHorsforth,^[3] where being half-Jamaican,^[4] she was one of the few people of colour.^[5] Hunt never met her father, and he is not listed on her birth certificate.^[6] Her ex-stepfather, a former producer and rapper,^[5] had adancehall radio show on a Bradford radio station,^[6] and set up a studio in her house, where local MCs such asLunar C would visit to make music,^[2] introducing her toLogic Pro when she was twelve.^[7] Hunt is a third-generationWindrush immigrant;^[8] her grandmother Liz had moved to Bradford from Jamaica at age fourteen,^[9] and with one^[10] of her four sisters^[11] ran a pirate radio station.^[10] Their large afros earned them the sobriquet "The Bradford 5" afterThe Jackson 5.^[11] She also owned a sound system and used it to soundtrack family gatherings with tracks byGoldie,Roni Size,Shy FX, and assorted gospel,soul andR&B,^[12] and introduced Dehaney to successful women of colour such asM.I.A., Jennifer Lara, andMs. Dynamite.^[5] She also ran a community school, where Dehaney first learned about Black history, which she was not taught at school; Dehaney subsequently moved herYear 3 teacher to tears by giving a presentation onRosa Parks.^[12]

As a child, Dehaney was a studious reader, and began taking photographs and making films^[2] on aHandycam^[4] gifted to her by her grandfather.^[2] Her first introduction to music was thegospel music herPentecostal church played, and the first CD she bought wasRihanna'sMusic of the Sun.^[7] She realised she wanted to be a singer aged eight, though spent time also wanting to be anarchaeologist.^[2] Aged twelve, she became a fan ofEmeli Sandé after listening to her drum and bass song "Heaven", although did not discover the name of its genre until later.^[12] Family issues caused her to move out of her family home when she was sixteen, and she moved solo to another area of Leeds, before moving toBury, Greater Manchester, and then to a hostel inRadcliffe, Greater Manchester, where she had a social worker and spent time claimingunemployment benefits before taking up posts atKFC and as a cookery teacher.^[2]

Around this time, she found her interest in photography revived after she went down digital rabbit holes, and watched documentaries like theLTJ Bukem filmModern Times (1996), theTalkin' Headz (1998)Metalheadz documentary, andChannel 4's film,All Junglists: A London Somet'ing Dis (1994), taking particular interest in the role of women in the scene such asKemistry & Storm and DJ Flight. Mainstream clubs were not open to her as she did not haveID, so she made friends during this period by attendingsquat raves and underground house parties, using her Handycam to strike up conversations.^[2] In 2017,^[13] to accompany the videos she was creating,^[4] and as an outlet for the emotions she was feeling, she downloaded a bootleg version of Logic Pro, having become fed up by the way local producers were treating her;^[2] finding herself speeding her music up, she discovered she was making jungle after researching its roots.^[2]

Her early works were uploaded toSoundCloud under the name Indigo D. After finding herself in a toxic relationship inManchester, she worked sixty-hour weeks atKFC to save for a move toLondon,^[12] and in 2019,^[14] she enrolled on a course atCM, which had a music production and business course in partnership with theUniversity of Westminster, and moved to a warehouse in Hackney Wick^[15] next to aglass factory,^[16] which she initially paid for using a part-time job inWetherspoons.^[15] One of her tutors on her course was Jason Alexander, a formeracid house DJ under the name Warlock, who encouraged her to apply for DJ Flight's EQ50 Mentorship Scheme,^[10] a twelve-month mentorship for fivewomxn,^[17] at which she found herself working withV Recordings and mentored by DJ Flight herself.^[10]

In 2020, she sent her track "Sober Feels" to all of the local jungle and drum and bass labels in the area. Finding that none of the local labels were interested, she released it herself,^[2] using the name Nia Archives, and on her own label Hijinxx;^[18] both were nods to her videography, and the latter was named after a move by her stepfather's favourite skater.^[4] After she spent £500 of herstudent finance on digital advertising for it, the song became popular with Britons who were unable to go out,^[19] and by May 2023, the song had been streamed over 7,000,000 times.^[20] The success of the song enabled Hunt to drop out of her course.^[21] In April 2021, she released the single "Headz Gone West", followed by an EP of the same name,^[22] both of which took their title from her poor mental health duringlockdown;^[12] the former was written as the second track for the project, after "Sober Feels", and in an interview withComplex Networks, she noted that the EP comprised extrapolations of beats she had produced during nights.^[22]

She then collaborated withRebel MC on a remix ofLava La Rue's "Magpie", and in October 2021, she released "Forbidden Feelingz", which sampledColumbo, a murder detective series, in tribute to Liz, and which was accompanied by a music video directed by Delphino.^[23] She then released "18 & Over", which sampledCocoa Tea's "Young Lover", alongside a video that referencedBabylon andThe Harder They Come and was directed by Taliable,^[24] the production alias of Talia Beale;^[25] in a March 2022 interview withDazed, she noted that she picked the sample after hearing discovering her stepfather'sSoundCloud account and finding it on there.^[6] In February 2022, she released "Luv Like", a song about her ownbody dysmorphic disorder,^[26] which was released alongside a music video,^[27] and the following month she released the EPForbidden Feelingz, which included "Forbidden Feelingz", "18 & Over", and "Luv Like".^[28]

In April 2022, she published a handwritten open letter to theMOBO Awards to introduce an Electronic/Dance category, on the grounds that the last such act to win an award wasGoldie, who had won forTimeless in 1996; theNova Twins had put in a similar request the year before for a Rock/Alternative category, but had been unsuccessful.^[29] However, on this occasion, Hunt's request was entertained; working alongside the newly-formed Black Electronic Music Association, or Club BEMA, such a category was created for that year's ceremony, which was won by Hunt.^[30] She then collaborated with Watch the Ride on "Mash Up the Dance", andClipz,Beenie Man, Cristale andShaSimone on "No Time".^[20] In September 2022, she released "Baianá", which sampled the traditional Brazilian choir Barbatuques, alongside a video shot inBrazil.^[31] In November 2022, she released "So Tell Me...",^[32] a song about her decision to leave home,^[12] which was released alongside a video produced by Dan Emmerson,^[32] and the following month, she released "Conveniency", which alongside "Baianá" and "So Tell Me..." appeared on her EPSunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall in March.^[33] She released a remix EP,Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall (Remixes), that May.^[34]

In June, she supportedBeyoncé on herRenaissance World Tour atTottenham Hotspur Stadium;^[35] she toldThe Face in February 2024 that she had only discovered she would be performing there on the day, and that she had received "a lot" of abuse for playing jungle.^[3]Alexis Petridis noted in April 2024 that cameraphone footage for the gig indicated an audience looking like jungle was "the last thing they want to hear", but opined that her slot was indicative of her success.^[36] A week after playing the gig, she released "Off Wiv Ya Headz", a remix of theYeah Yeah Yeahs' 2009 single "Heads Will Roll",^[37] and a week after that she released a remix ofJorja Smith's "Little Things".^[38] In August 2023, she released "Bad Gyalz", a song about the women who attended her raves, and which featured vocals from MC Moose and production from Clipz and was accompanied by a video directed by Beale;^[39] she,Central Cee, andKano then featured on aJD Sports Christmas advert, and she then released a remix ofFred Again's "Leavemealone".^[40]

In January 2024, she released "Crowded Roomz", a combination of jungle andindie rock^[41] co-written and co-produced by Ethan P. Flynn^[42] and about her experience of being surrounded by people while touring but still feeling unable to be herself; its music video featuredMaverick Sabre,^[40] who had previously featured on herSunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall track "No Need 2 Be Sorry, Call Me?",^[33] and Corbin Shaw.^[40] The following month, she announced her debut album,Silence Is Loud, which was also co-written and co-produced by Flynn,^[43] and released its title track, an ode to her love for her brother.^[44] The album comprised her attempt at fusing jungle withBritpop, on the grounds that she had not heard the genre in dance music before.^[21] She then collaborated with Shaw to release "Cheese Chips N Bloody Gravy", a piece of merchandise, and then in March 2024 she released "Unfinished Business", about a current partner's feelings for their past.^[45]Silence is Loud was released in April 2024,^[46] and featured "Silence is Loud", "Crowded Roomz", "Unfinished Business",^[36] and "So Tell Me..." and "Forbidden Feelingz" from previous EPs;^[47] the album charted at No. 16 on the UK Albums Chart^[48] and was nominated for that year'sMercury Prize.^[49]

When producing, Hunt takes inspiration from the classic era of jungle, between 1992 and 1996.^[10] She is massively inspired byBurial;^[14] in an interview withCrack in November 2022, she stated that she first discovered his albumUntrue (2007) when she was "17 or 18" and listened to the album on loop after moving to London, that she submitted an essay about him while at university, that she was specifically inspired by the personality he put into his work, and that she was inspired to sampleColumbo and "Young Lover" on "Forbidden Feelingz" and "18 & Over" by him.^[50] In an interview with theBBC in January 2023, she stated that she was inspired byMaya Angelou's conversion of pain into poetry; she first became interested in her via Liz's community school, would refer frequently to her memoirI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings as a child,^[12] and would sample her poemAnd Still I Rise on herForbidden Feelingz album track "Ode 2 Maya Angelou".^[28] In addition, the songwriting onSilence Is Loud took inspiration fromThe Beatles,Blur, andOasis.^[51]

ReviewingForbidden Feelingz,Pitchfork described her voice as "indebted to the jazzy licks ofErykah Badu andNina Simone", and with "a soulful lilt and lyrics from the sunnier sides ofreggae music".^[28] In June 2023,Gauchoworld described Hunt,Piri & Tommy, andPinkPantheress as "at the forefront of the "bedroom rave" movement",^[52]: 64 and in September 2023,Clash described her as one of the leaders of the post-2020 drum and bass revival alongsideVenbee,Charlotte Plank, and Piri,^[10] the last of whom used a January 2024TheGuardian piece to state that the success of both Archives andYunè Pinku was inspirational in her choosing to become a producer herself.^[53] Additionally,Alexis Petridis used aSilence is Loud review to observe that Hunt occupied a "roughly equivalent" position toGoldie, a 1990s jungle musician, describing both as a "striking, charismatic figurehead for a genre traditionally lacking in striking, charismatic figures", and that onSilence is Loud, Hunt was "unafraid to tether her breakbeats to a pounding four-to-the-floor kick drum, a move that would have been absolutely verboten in 90s jungle"; he also noted thatForbidden Feelingz andSunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall posited Hunt as a "weightier counterpoint" to the works of PinkPantheress.^[36]

• Nia Archives discography atDiscogs
• Nia Archives atIMDb

• Living people
• 1999 births
• 21st-century Black British women musicians
• 21st-century English women musicians
• English house musicians
• English women DJs
• Musicians from Bradford
• People from Horsforth
• English people of Jamaican descent
• English women in electronic music
• English record producers
• English drum and bass musicians
• British women record producers
• Black British DJs
• English electronic dance music DJs

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2024
• Use British English from April 2024
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