Empire of Dirt

Urban Smuggler Publishing is delighted to announce a series of competitions and giveaways to celebrate the forthcoming release of Empire of Dirt, the autobiography of legendary warehouse party, concert, and festival promoter Andrew Pritchard.
Listeners will have the chance to win a range of prizes, including official, trademarked Genesis Legacy merchandise, signed copies of Empire of Dirt, and Kindle downloads of the book. All competition questions will be based on the author's involvement in the UK urban music scene between 1983 and 2000.
For full details, tune in to EZM's Old-School Breakfast Show on Origin UK Radio every Wednesday's 8-10am OUK Radio | Londons leading Drum & Bass and Old Skool Station!

A real-life rise-and-fall story blending true crime, cultural history, and personal transformation. Explores post-Windrush London, racial tension, and mixed-race identity. Offers an inside look at Britain's underground music scene and uncovers global narcotics trafficking and hidden police corruption.

Empire of Dirt is a true story, more thrilling than fiction.

Andrew Pritchard emerged from the fractured streets of post-Windrush London, navigating life as a mixed-race young man in an era marked by racial tension, police hostility, and Thatcherism. Some would say it was wit, charm, ingenuity, and a razor-sharp business instinct inherited from his oracle-like Jamaican mother that propelled him.

From the gritty foundations of sound-system culture to orchestrating the infamous 'Gennesis' acid-house raves, he rose from street hustle to illicit wealth, and ultimately into the shadows of Britain's criminal underworld, where global drug trafficking, high society, and scandal collided.

By his thirties, he had married Miss Jamaica, staged the iconic Reggae Sunsplash festival, and risen to become one of the UK's most prolific narco-smugglers. His empire spanned continents, until a GBP100 million cocaine bust exposed not only his operation, but staggering corruption within British and international law enforcement agencies.

But this isn't just a crime story or a tale of raves-to-riches, it's a story of redemption. Following gangland violence, tragedy, and an unimaginable downfall, Andrew's path led from a Jamaican jail to Britain's high-security prisons before taking a radical turn. After founding the AP Foundation, a charity supporting at-risk youth, and finding the love of his life, he began the long road to rebuilding a life once consumed by chaos.

Told with dark humour and unflinching honesty, Empire of Dirt is a raw, riveting autobiography of ambition, identity, and transformation. A cautionary tale, and a deeply human one, it will stay with you long after the final page.