Some of my favourite Reggae / Jungle tunes

So basically, I came across this song by Congo Natty called "UK Allstars" featuring General Levy, Top Cat, Daddy Colonel, Tippa Irie, Tenor Fly, Daddy Freddy and Sweetie Irie yesterday on Noisey.



They also posted an interview with him too where he chats sense. I liked this question and answer:

How did jungle emerge as a genre in the late 80s?"Have you seen that documentary The Windrush is about when the first West Indians came to the shores of England? This whole energy came to England and it manifested itself through sound systems and music. Even the term ‘rave’ was something that we brought over. That whole sound system culture that I was born into wasn’t the norm in England. It was only for the people that were around it and maybe in that inner city area. That sound came through in the 80s and early 90s that whole sound system vibe. You had a whole set of different mans doing their thing and the sound system culture was seeping through. Now the sound system is the norm, so youths have grown up knowing about the bass speakers and all them ting there." [Continue reading here]

Then I read this "Scene Report: The World's Got Jungle Fever" on MTV IGGY.

"It’s hard to fathom sometimes that drum & bass is a full two decades old. But here it is, as popular as it’s ever been and reaching everywhere from the top of the UK charts to bleeding edge hipster dives. Brand new variants are rife – witness the fizzing hyper-pop of DJ Fresh‘s assaults on the mainstream, and also Om Unit‘s new funk and grime-infused takes on the spacey “autonomic” sound – but more and more its past is becoming a vital part of the equation too. D&B and the other genres that have sprung from it are increasingly going back to the motherlode for inspiration: they’re returning to the jungle.
Jungle, as a genre, began to emerge in 1991-2 but only really came to fruition in 1993. By the end of 1995, it was already burning out with other strains of drum & bass coming to dominate the landscape. But in that brief period, the sound burned with a white light of insane creativity and energy. It was a period of cultural, sonic, and technological experimentation as powerful and important as any in the history of popular music.
This was British multiculturalism in its most condensed possible form, with dub, dancehall, techno, electro, house, funk, soul and more all put into the deranged blender of rave culture, and blasted out in a million shards of hardcore energy." Continue reading here

Anybody that follows me on Twitter will know I'm a fan of the jungle sound. I was way too young at the time to go Telepathy and be entertained by the likes of Nicky Blackmarket, DJ Brockie and MC Det or MC Shabba etc. I don't mind the techy d&b to a certain degree, but you see the reggae-influenced drum & bass, better known as jungle? That hold a special place in my heart. It's quite weird actually because I've revisited it a lot in say the past year or so.

The drums were break beat, vocals were often rare groove, but you see them reggae bass lines? And the ragga vocal samples? That's my vibe. One of the main things I love about jungle is as mentioned above, it encompasses many elements  of genres we grew up on.

Jungle is the first time British-Jamaicans moved away from something reggae-related that was palatable to Jamaican audiences. Lovers Rock, Aswad, Steel Pulse and Saxon Sound (popularised the fast-chat style) all made an impact on Jamaican output in one way or another, big or small.

Jungle was unashamedly British. It couldn't have been made anywhere else in the world. The concept of jungle passed through genres such as UKG, grime and UK funky.

Below are some of the biggest and baitest ones.

These two are quality examples of everything in one pot. Breakbeat, reggae bass line, rare groove singing and ragga chatting samples.

M-Beat - "Style" (released in 1993)



Leviticus - "Burial"




If more UK r&b-equivalent songs sounded as good as this, I wouldn't mind. Not even a little bit. In fact, I'd like to hear a few covers done on UK style beats. Great cover of an Anita Baker classic. This is similar concept to what reggae did with covers of American soul records.

M-Beat ft. Nazlyn - "Sweet Love"



Then the classic chatting timeless anthems when man started cutting dubs

Shy FX ft. UK Apache - Original Nuttah

Not sure about the others, but I know for a fact that this bass line is a direct sample from reggae. Shabba Ranks has it on "Wicked In A Bed".



General Levy - "Incredible"



I'm this next one is by Rebel MC, alas I can't be sure. Anyway, Super Cat and Reggie Stepper sampled on this one. Reggie Stepper "Drum Pan Sound" and Super Cat's "Oh It's You"