With 36 wins, including 16 for one or more of three featherweight world titles between 1995 and 2001, nobody could describe Naseem Hamed as a one-hit wonder.
Well, not as a boxer, anyway.
A separate career as a rapper was over almost as quickly as one of the 31 knockouts on his ledger.
Not that it was ever intended to be a long-term move. Rather, Hamed’s appearance on the 1996 single Walk Like A Champion was a one-off, symbiotic deal. The hitherto little-known rap group Kaliphz would get a sales spike by associating with a celebrity, and Hamed would tick a few items off his bucket list by releasing a record and performing it on Top Of The Pops.
Kaliphz were a Rochdale-based independent crew, comprised of British-Asians, who had formed back in the 1980s after meeting in breakdancing circles.
It wasn’t until 1995 that they managed to put together an album, but while Seven Deadly Sins was a credible effort, imbued with the heavy bass and kick-snare production style characteristic of indie hip-hop at the time, it was never likely to move the needle commercially.
British hip-hop was nowhere near as successful then as it is now, and a group named (even with a trendy misspelling) after an Arabic word for an Islamic leader was always going to be a hard sell, especially when putting out content with a political slant and even the occasional call to violence in response to racism.
Of course, hip-hop has strong roots in activism and protest, but Kaliphz evidently conceded this approach would earn them neither money nor fame, and so began a pivot towards pop which began with the Prince.
There was already a boxing-themed track on Seven Deadly Sins. Knockout Position was said to be inspired by Hamed, whose influence on British-Asians in the mid-1990s was enormous.
Knockout Position was sonically rather gloomy, produced as it was by DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill fame, known for his dark, brooding approach to hip-hop, but when it came to Hamed’s attention, he signed up to collaborate with Kaliphz on a radio-friendly remix.
Knockout Position became Walk Like A Champion, released by “Kaliphz featuring Prince Naseem”, who was placed at the front of the single’s cover artwork.
The track was sonically reinvented for a more uplifiting, party-style vibe, but retained the verses of the original. The entirety of Hamed’s contribution amounted to him chanting “Come get some of this this – knuckle up, uppercut” and reminding us that “Prince is in the house” on the chorus.
Most of Kaliphz’ own lyrics were standard battle-rap lines with a boxing theme (“toe to tow, blow for blow, suckers know”, “the southpaw leave you choking with a broken jaw”), but there were a few inventive moments, not least the introduction of “the brown-skinned Yemeni, bounce on the enemy”.
Speaking of racial descriptors, Top Of The Pops were unlikely to have invited Kaliphz to have performed one of their earlier singles, Hang ‘Em High, in which one of their members described himself as a “pistol-packing Paki”.
Walk Like A Champion proved a tipping point for Kaliphz. Thanks to Naz’s involvement, they got their first chart success – as modest as it was, with the single spending one week in the Top 40 – and earned a major record label deal.
Kaliphz signed with Jive Records, who in turn paired them with pop producer Pete Waterman, known for working with the likes of Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Rick Astley. The result was a rebranding as Kaleef, the release of tracks with titles such as I Like The Way (Kissing Game) and Dunk Ya Donuts, and dissolution by the following year.
Hamed’s top-level boxing run well outlived Kaliphz’s record deal, but it can be well argued that the potency of his output also went into decline when the money started to go up.
