Jungle, drum 'n' bass and reggae
July 24, 2011 11:10 AM

Please teach me about the evolution of 90s jungle / drum 'n' bass and its intersection with reggae and Jamaican music!

What are the seminal tracks? The obscure ones that are really good? What are the original tracks sampled? Which ones have the best ragga vocals? Which ones are the fukiest/bounciest? (as opposed to that relentless hardcore pounding that appeared sometime around the 00s —don't care much for that)
posted by Tom-B to Media & Arts (8 answers total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
I am on a cell phone but google ishkurs guide to music. Maybe doesn't have the depth you want, but an excellent starting point.
posted by wooh at 11:28 AM on July 24, 2011


This comprehensive post by filthy light thief might be a good place to start.
posted by shelleycat at 12:08 PM on July 24, 2011


Shy FX and Congo Natty are two names you should definitely be googling.

'Original Junglist' by Tribe of Issachar is definitely a seminal track. One of my personal faves is 'Incredible' by M-Beat f. Gen Levy.

Congo Natty is really unbeatable in terms of jump-up ragga jungle IMHO. Shy FX has a two-disc 'Old Skool Jungle' mix which is not all ragga but has most of the jungle classics from the 90s.
posted by gnutron at 12:23 PM on July 24, 2011


I think there were two distinct eras, the beginning (Shy FX and Congo Natty were indeed key players) mentioned a bit in this prior MeFi post on blog to the oldskool, and then the rebirth of the early 2000s (personal pick is the short-run label Ten Pound Sound, from Toronto of all places). I can't recall enough names and tracks to drop more knowledge, sorry.

You might want to check in with The Ragga-Jungle Forum, though it looks like more of self-promotion these days. I'll see if I can dig up more later.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:39 PM on July 24, 2011


You might try looking into "dub" music to see similarities
posted by Jason and Laszlo at 2:51 PM on July 24, 2011


I think you could go further back, to A Guy Called Gerald's 28 Gun Bad Boy from 1991.

There's also all of the reggae-influenced hardcore/rave tracks from about the same era, like Kicks Like a Mule's Number One.
posted by drwelby at 2:57 PM on July 24, 2011


You can also check Year of Mixtapes for jungle mixes, or jump straight to the classic ragga jungle mixtape.

From the Ragga Jungle Forum: a (disputed) bit o' ragga jungle history, an interesting discussion of the elements in ragga tracks.

More fun for digging: Golden Era Jungle, home to some fantastic old tapes. They might also be responsible for Jungle Breaks, which has some nice info on the break samples used.
posted by filthy light thief at 5:59 PM on July 24, 2011


Ooh, another from My Year of Mixtapes - 1993, The Year in (UK) Rave, with the following notes:
For those unfamiliar with the whole story arc, 1993 was the year that UK rave really developed into what we would recognize as jungle and happy hardcore. I'm really into stuff from this transitional era, when those two genres existed side-by-side, before they really split from each other.
As usual, a really fun mix.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:23 PM on July 25, 2011


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