About us

East London's best record shop

We are an independent record shop founded in 2011 by Daniel and Rico ‐ school friends from East London with a mutual love for UK rap.

Daniel looking up from his phone grinning — Daniel, Founder

Rico wearing a grey hoodie smiling and posing — Rico, Founder

Growing up in the era where Grime was rife and popping, Dan and Rico would collect and burn CDs from local rappers. Their passion evolved with the scene and what started as a bedroom operation, trading mixtapes in school and the youth club, blossomed into something much bigger ‐ creating a community for sharing music.

Rico & Dan, in Dan's childhood bedroom on a PC burning music on CD's — By 2011. Dan and Rico pooled their resources and transformed a small, old & run‐down corner shop in Hackney into Recursive Records, opening the doors to like‐minded music lovers. The shop quickly became a hub for discovering underground music, stocking hard to find vinyl's, cassettes and CDs.

Recursive Records in 2011 before its makeover with grafiti on shop front — As the years rolled on, Recursive Records expanded its horizons and began embracing more genres that resonated with their diverse and growing community. While UK rap and its subgenres remain at the heart of the shop, you'll now find shelves stocked with everything from smooth R'n'B to raw metal.

“We want to stay true to our roots, and that is in the UK rap, the Grime, the Garage that we grew up on. We will forever support the underground UK scene, but when you check it nowadays, you'll see that the area's changing. It would be silly of us not to include a little Taylor Swift or some Metallica.” Rico

In 2018, Dan and Rico introduced the ‘Record of the week’ listening sessions ‐ a Friday evening ritual where music lovers gather from 6pm-7pm to discover and celebrate a standout record, handpicked by the team. Whether it's a freshly pressed R&B masterpiece or an obscure grime gem, the sessions are all about connecting over the love of music.

“We've been doing this thing for so long, it's just natural to us now. We got a great team behind us who love what we're doing just as much as we do. We've just got to keep the needle spinning”Dan

Izzy, Record Sourcer

Cameron, Events Lead

Rochelle standing in the street smiling wearing round sunglasses, black longsleeve tshirt and blue jeans — Rochelle, Sales

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