Wayne "Lotek" Bennett (born 1977 in Gosport, England) is an award-winning music producer, songwriter and rapper from the UK. He is most famous for his work with Roots Manuva and more recently, with Speech Debelle for producing her debut album Speech Therapy which won the 2009 Mercury Prize. In 2005, Lotek won the BBC Performing Arts Fund's Urban Music Award and was quoted as saying ""With the Performing Arts Fund money I bought a laptop, microphone and a compact mixer. After flying around Eastern Europe recording with artists from Poland, Russia and Hungary I returned briefly to London before flying to Australia (the flight down under was also funded by the award)." He is now based in Melbourne, Australia, where "Speech Therapy" was recorded. One of his other projects is the dub, reggae and hiphop group called Lotek Hi-Fi on the Big Dada label. Late 2010 saw the release of the "International Rudeboy" LP - Lotek's debut solo record. Completed in Collingwood, Melbourne (Australia) at Counter Clockwise Studios - it features many local and international guests including Roots Manuva, Jimmy Screech, Ricky Ranking, RuC.L, Ozi Batla, Dialectrix and Ciecmate. The critically acclaimed album is a heady mix of hiphop, reggae, ska and dancehall stylings.
