Born in Bristol in 1968, Krust was raised on hip-hop and began DJing in the mid-'80s at schools and small clubs around the area. His interests grew to include acid house and rave by the late '80s, and a stint in the group Fresh 4 landed Krust in the middle of the charts, when "Wishing on a Star" made number nine in late 1989. Fresh 4 signed to Virgin, but never released another record, so Krust returned to DJing and occasional production work (notably for Smith & Mighty with his brother Flynn, later of Flynn & Flora).

After meeting at the 1990 Glastonbury Festival, DJ Krust and Roni Size soon began to produce tracks together, often in collaboration with DJ Die and Suv. The outfit recorded solo and in tandem for Bryan G and Jumpin' Jack Frost's V Records during the early '90s, but then in 1992 formed the Full Cycle label with manager Chris Warton. Along with its sister label Dope Dragon, Full Cycle released several crucial singles and the 1995 label retrospective Music Box, through an agreement with Talkin' Loud Records. DJ Krust continued to record for V and Full Cycle, and helped out on remixes for Goldie and fellow Bristol crew More Rockers. Size's debut album New Forms -- with considerable production help from Krust -- hit the music world like a bomb in 1997, leading to Krust's own major-label contract the following year (as Krust). His Polygram debut, True Stories, was followed in 1999 by Coded Language. ~ John Bush