Soul II Soul: Two London club DJs redefine classic soul with a new approach to making music

BERESFORD ROMEO, the twenty-seven-year-old black British rapper and entrepreneur better known as Jazzie B. is sprawled comfortably across the end of a sofa in a West London hotel. At the other end of the couch is his partner, a small white man in baggy shorts named Nellee Hooper. Though you wouldn't guess it from their easy manner and Jazee's nearly horizontal position, they are two of London's most prolific record producers. Together they have produced hits by the Chimes and Fine Young Cannibals; on his own, Hooper has contributed to Neneh Cherry's album, Raw Like Sushi, and coproduced Sinead O'Connors pop breakthrough, 'Nothing Compares 2 U'. But it is as the heads of their own amorphous musical organization, Soul II Soul, that the duo have really made an impact, creating the huge dance hits 'Keep On Movin'' and 'Back to Life' and leading a full-blown revival of Seventies-style American soul in Great Britain.