More garage rap hitmakers - DJ Luck and MC Neat.
From 1999, "A Little Bit of Luck" is closer to talkover / singjay than rapping, featuring a pretty meagre amount of words compared with the prolixity of grime-to-come. But this was the beginning of MC-fronted UKG that actually said something - in this case, I-and-I survive (“with a little bit of luck we can make it through the night”) doubling as a big-up to his selector. Who here contributes a somewhat perfunctory loping groove. over which Neat croons a naggingly catchy rootical-flavored vocal lick. This tune was massive on the pirates - I remember someone telling me they heard one station play "A Little Bit of Luck" over and over again for a full half-hour - and then made the Top 10 in January 2000.
Luck & Neat had three further large hits - the Stevie Wonder-copping "Masterblaster 2000" (#5), "Ain't No Stopping Us" (#8), and "Piano Loco" (#12) - all of which I remember only as unmemorable.
My favorite MC Neat moment on vinyl, though, is not in tandem with the estimable DJ Luck but on the Corrupted Cru track "G.A.R.A.G.E." Love his big boomy baritone - classic example of the commanding, leisurely warmth of your classic UKG MC (see also Creed, PSG et al), whose job is to host the party rather than dazzle with frenetic flurries of viciously honed threats and boasts. Love also (sorry Matthew) the spelling routine - "E / the energy to rinse it out" etc.
Now is that "wrapping it around the room" or "rapping it around the room"?
MC Neat will make another appearance later on in tandem with a different UKG collective. But he also did another track with Corrupted Cru - "Reminisce" - which is pleasant enough but no "G.A.R.A.G.E."