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00:00You
01:00Jungle, it's just big in every aspect.
01:20Fast beats, deep bass lines.
01:30I'm making jungle music, there's no rules.
01:36It's a feeling of like, this is us.
01:39This is what we are.
01:40This is jungle.
01:41Jungle is something that is very unique to Britain
01:46because we have that specific mix of the British vibe.
01:51The Caribbean or the African as well.
01:55I don't see being made in any other country.
01:58I call it lively up yourself and knees up mother brown.
02:02It makes them two together.
02:04You got jungle.
02:07I'll take you back.
02:08In 1988-89, there was a scene known as the acid ass scene.
02:16There were hundreds of thousands of young people in there every weekend.
02:22They were raving acid ass music.
02:24Taking in, taking pills.
02:26Getting raving for days and days.
02:28A lot of us used to go to these acid ass raves.
02:33You've got to remember.
02:34There was a lot of madness going on in those times.
02:37There was oppression going on.
02:39There was a tough time.
02:40There was high unemployment.
02:42People want to release.
02:44The poor woman.
02:46Because these raves were illegal raves.
02:49So it's a bad ass ass raves.
02:53But the thing is.
02:54These raves.
02:55Was the start of.
02:56Most of the genres of music.
02:58In the early 90's.
03:01Like.
03:02Hardcore.
03:03Trance.
03:04Garage.
03:05Jungle.
03:06They were all near under one roof.
03:08As a result of that.
03:09All of these genres.
03:11They split up.
03:12And they went into clubs.
03:13When I was running IV for the raves.
03:15Fantastic IV for.
03:16Well the promoters are white.
03:17And I was a black promoter.
03:18And.
03:19Sitting in the room.
03:20All these promoters.
03:21Organising these big events.
03:22Like.
03:23They tell me.
03:24They say.
03:25Oh.
03:26We'll kill the blacks out of the raves.
03:27Don't want them in the raves.
03:28And that.
03:29I'm sitting there.
03:30I'm black.
03:31I'm not white.
03:32So when you're talking like that.
03:33Be careful.
03:34People couldn't really get into the clubs.
03:35Like.
03:36You know what I'm saying.
03:37I went to the night.
03:38And.
03:39They said to me.
03:40I don't like your ass shave.
03:41So you're not coming in.
03:42That's how bad it was back then.
03:43This is like.
03:44Real stuff man.
03:45I thought.
03:46You know what.
03:47This has got change man.
03:48And I thought.
03:49I'm gonna show it in C.
03:50About blackness.
03:51I'm gonna show it in blackness.
03:52So.
03:53I'd be set up the jungle thing.
03:54For that reason.
03:55The park.
03:56Billboard.
03:57It was the Brave Geek.
03:58It was lights.
03:59Hardcore.
04:00One of them.
04:01Hardcore.
04:02And three of them.
04:03Every music had.
04:04Full-to-floor.
04:05Boom.
04:06Boom.
04:18Boom.
04:19Boom.
04:20Boom.
04:21Boom.
04:22Boom.
04:23Whereas Hardcore would be about 150 BPM,
04:27Jungle would be at 165, 170 BPM.
04:30Strictly aiming beats.
04:35The aiming break is a breakdown in a record.
04:38I can't remember who it's buying, I should know.
04:40One of the most used drum breaks in Jungle, up to the stage.
04:47A lot of people were instrumentally
04:49and branching it into a new sound.
04:51I think that came from experimentation, you know?
04:54I'm just going to record it in for him.
04:57We're human, aren't we?
04:58So we always keep on pushing boundaries no matter what we do.
05:00So you get into studio, you try something new.
05:03We were mixing and breakbeat,
05:05but then it also comes from funk and and reggae.
05:10You know, all of these things were fused into it.
05:16Producers like Shy FX came with a completely new sound.
05:19I think that Shy was one of the first producers I know
05:24that produced music on a computer.
05:27I couldn't even comprehend how that would work.
05:30We used to make music on a Commodore Amiga,
05:32a program called Octomed.
05:34The Akai Sampler to me is instrumental in the birth of electronic music.
05:43We took all of this equipment that people didn't really fuck with.
05:46And put it open and started fixing it and making our own.
05:50The sound was rough. The beats were just rough.
05:56It was like the darkest beelines. It was sound system beelines.
05:59And the breaks were loose and they were running.
06:01You get a ragga sample in there,
06:03or you get someone actually singing a whole ragga song.
06:07People's been bantering with the name trying to get a name for this music.
06:30Where did the name jungle come from? Do you know?
06:37It's a sample of the Jayne Brown's album.
06:39When that jungle album had jungle groove, 1975 jungle groove.
06:42Sample the album, man, called the damn thing jungle techno.
06:45He came and he said, we're going to use this word for this music.
06:49It's a bit conversial, you know, back in the 80s, 70s, 80s.
06:52Reggae music was called jungle bunny music.
06:54I never once thought the name jungle was a racist term, never.
06:57The term for me, which is subjective to how I saw it, was concrete jungles.
07:02I heard everybody else say.
07:03Concrete jungle music is imaginal because we didn't know what to call it.
07:06Concrete jungle.
07:07I can't make sense because I'm growing up in the interior of a concrete jungle
07:10because the madness of girls in a grave, it's a fucking jungle.
07:13And it's concrete.
07:18There's a word jungle but there's also the culture jungle
07:22and I think the culture jungle came before the word.
07:27Pirate Radio was the lick, you know what I mean?
07:32Pirate Radio was instrumental in bringing people together.
07:35Just basically you should get back all the information, all the events,
07:38meeting points where the rage was happening.
07:40The statement of internet, I think, is far off.
07:45Prior to Pirate Radio, there was no way of communicating with each other.
07:49You know, like, mobile phones were like a new invention, remember?
07:54Not everybody had a mobile phone.
07:56We're talking, like, way down the line before people had more phones
07:59to be able to just say, yo, what you doing tonight?
08:01Pirate Radio back in the day, it was powerful.
08:03Still is powerful.
08:04And back then it was even more powerful because there weren't
08:08stations.
08:09To get your name picked up on the Pirate Radio station was, like, the biggest thing, like,
08:13I remember when they picked up my name and I went to school
08:16and I was like a celebrity in school just for that.
08:20You had people advertising their headdresser on there.
08:23Oh, you had people advertising their minicab on there.
08:26So important to the growth and the expansion of jungle.
08:31You got me, Kenny Ken, up to 11 o'clock, playing the you-know-what.
08:36People drive from Birmingham to the edge of the M25 where they could pick up cool FM,
08:42record for three, four hours, then drive back home.
08:47Alexandra Palace sit up there on a nice summer day and just record cool FM
09:00because they couldn't pick it up out of London.
09:02Mad.
09:04Cool FM is the Premier League Pirate Radio station.
09:07Cool FM is the number one, the champion, the creator of a team.
09:14You know, if it wasn't for Cool FM, I wouldn't be sitting here now.
09:16I've been on Cool FM 30 years.
09:18I've been offered radio slots on legal radio stations and I turned them down.
09:22Why?
09:23Because they're going to tell me what I need to do.
09:25They're going to tell me what I can't play.
09:31Cockroaches, you know what I'm saying, running across the decks.
09:35We, um, be chased by the police.
09:42I've done it because I love the music and if we got money along the way,
09:45it was about.
09:46The first gamble was just to get on air.
09:50Back in the day, proper radio men and people who respected each other,
09:54you'd keep two digits away from anyone else.
09:57Just cut some frequency because if you're jammed,
09:59you don't get out because you're getting blocked in.
10:01You look for a gap somewhere.
10:03And at that time, there was a gap on 945.
10:06We were well clear.
10:07With a pirate radio station, you've got your aerial on a, on a, on a tower block and your transmitter and that.
10:16Put your aerial on the highest point possible.
10:17That would be one of these two dogs here and you transmit.
10:20Cool FM have the experience and the expertise.
10:25We sell down the building on the, from the roof down to about the 18th floor at the side of the building.
10:32No ropes, no harnesses.
10:34Putting the transmitter in and securing it and then climbing back up to the top of the roof.
10:39When you're young and you've got so much love of doing something for like your station, just do what you had to do.
10:49The adrenaline in, in your body keeps you going.
10:55So you, so you put in your life, that's what you do for the love of music.
11:00I just, just sit in a record shop while my mum went shopping.
11:13But I was like, just listening to the songs, maybe bought one record.
11:17I could probably buy one record a week or every two weeks.
11:22The record shop almost became like a community centre.
11:25And when you went there, it was an experience, you know, it wasn't just buying records.
11:29Go there, you can get flyers, buy tickets.
11:34It was meeting friends, it was having a laugh.
11:36It was, um, excited about the party that was coming up.
11:40Record hunting wasn't just about record hunting.
11:42It was about mixing with people and learning people and getting to know new people.
11:47Yeah.
11:48100%.
11:49Yeah, man.
11:50A lot's been taken away because of that sort of thing.
11:53It's true.
11:54Because people don't talk to each other and all that.
11:56And that was important back then, you know?
11:58Mm.
11:59I'd go, if you've seen Chadwell Heath, I'd go, Edgeware Road, Bluebird Records.
12:05And then I'd end up at Black Market and Trax.
12:09You used to go to all different record shops to go and get all of those flavours.
12:13In my lunch break, I'd go and stand in Black Market and just listen to the tunes.
12:17Every day I went in there, I'd hear the latest tunes.
12:19So by the end of the week now, I'd have a whole heap of tunes.
12:22But they're funny to pay for them, you know?
12:24And the interesting thing about it as well was the hierarchy in a record shop.
12:27Coming to the shop, there's a record.
12:29You're at the back of the queue, um, depending on where, how big your name is.
12:33You're trying to get to the front of the queue before the record's gone.
12:36They were very, very important and fun times.
12:39The importance of Music House and Dubplates was integral to what was going on.
12:49Dubplates is a piece of metal.
12:52It's actually metal.
12:53You bring that and they put it in and Leon would cut it onto a piece of metal for you.
12:58It was £30 a pop.
13:01It wasn't on sale for everyone's just gone by.
13:04Only a few people had it.
13:06The chat effects message.
13:09That was the biggest dub plate in the world.
13:11And that was the only person with it.
13:14The amount of money I spent on dubs.
13:17Some weeks would be a couple of hundred pounds.
13:20Some weeks it could be as much as a grand.
13:23I probably spent...
13:25God.
13:27I mean, maybe a £50 grand on dubplates easily.
13:31My name is Nicholas.
13:32They call me because I'm skinny and I'm 16 years old.
13:35At that time, I thought the only way I was going to get into one of these events is if I was the DJ.
13:39My uncle was a DJ.
13:41I kind of just watched him DJ at the time and kind of taught myself.
13:44You know, when he used to go out, I used to jump on the decks.
13:46So, the A-bit try to get this record at the same time, put beats at the same time as this one.
13:50As I mix these two songs together, it makes this one as one.
13:54So, the person doesn't know that I've gone into another song.
13:57Nice.
13:58One is in.
13:59I'm in.
14:00Crossfader.
14:01And you crossfader, you cross them over.
14:03DJs are not DJing like now.
14:04You press a button and it does it all for you.
14:06There's quite a few of us female DJs across those days.
14:15Um, you simply wasn't allowed to DJ in the room, you see.
14:21I remember the promoter come up to me and I didn't know it was the promoter at the time.
14:24I don't even know how I got the job.
14:26And he was like, what do you think?
14:27And I was like, that's alright.
14:29I mean, let's look at the fresh rice needles rap.
14:31What do you want, eh?
14:32I guess this is as good as it's going to get for tonight.
14:34He was like, well, I'm the promoter and who are you?
14:35And I was like, oh shit, you know.
14:37What's the problem?
14:38That's the problem is I want to be there with Fabien.
14:40I want to play all the buns.
14:42And he was just like, calm down.
14:43That's not going to happen.
14:44So, he patted me on the head, but it became an ongoing joke every week.
14:47He would come up to me, still pissed off rap.
14:48And I'd be like, yep, still sure.
14:50And he didn't turn up and he just came up to me and he went, you better be as good as you say you are.
14:55And I was like, watch my dust.
14:56Vroom, off go.
14:57And into that room I went.
15:03And I just took the shit out of that place.
15:06And I got residency that night and that was it.
15:08I became the first female to ever play a main stage.
15:13You sort of go on there and you just know what people need.
15:18A DJ's gift, in a way, is telepathy.
15:22It's an art form, you know.
15:26Jungle 94, it took over.
15:30It was one of the biggest things in the world.
15:33It was the, sort of like, the punk rock, the rock and roll of that time.
15:38You walk down the road and all cars were playing at their cars, playing tapes.
15:41I just remember seeing thousands of people raving to this music.
15:46Sweat coming down from the ceiling.
15:48Just loads of ravers just having it.
15:51It was the best experience.
15:57Girls, they used to go back.
15:58Their hair's done.
15:59Nails done.
16:00It was amazing how they casted the music in them high heels.
16:03Because, you know, the music is fast.
16:05If you worked all week, you're going skinny, buy the latest outfit.
16:11And, yeah, you just got to be seen.
16:15I went to a jungle fever.
16:18A VIP champagne bash.
16:20They go shopping the day before.
16:22And it looked crisp because the women were coming looking crisp.
16:26The men and them were dressing nice.
16:28The men used to wear suit.
16:29You know what I mean?
16:30It's a suit to the rave.
16:33You know, you're thinking, wow.
16:35Is that a wedding?
16:36It's a jungle rave.
16:40I'd never been to any kind of event, really, apart from, like, house parties on the ends.
16:45So, walking into a jungle rave for the first time, thousands of people.
16:48Just the whole experience of it.
16:49Seeing, you know, you guys on stage doing the thing.
16:51It was the first time I'd ever known what it was.
16:54So, I was just totally blown away by it.
16:55And, literally, as I came out of that event, I was like, oh, my gosh.
16:58I want to know who these people are.
16:59I want to get into this scene.
17:00I want to be a part of this.
17:02The main thing that kind of got me recognised was,
17:04I just started emceeing about things that I thought most of my people hanging around with would relate to.
17:09Playing street fighter, like cars or whatever.
17:11So, you had things like the Autotradar lyric that came out of it.
17:14Enter Autotradar.
17:15Skibbidi the supplier.
17:16Laguna.
17:17Toyota.
17:18MR2 Salikar.
17:19Cavalier Kelly Ebra.
17:20Astro of Fiesta.
17:21Enter my space cruiser.
17:22Beating with your matter.
17:23No Skoda.
17:24Strata.
17:25Honda.
17:26Check.
17:27Check.
17:28Mazda.
17:29No Manon.
17:30No Corsa.
17:31Sierra or Frontier.
17:32We deal with the matter.
17:33Deal with it proper.
17:34Cheez!
17:35I'm in love.
17:36I'm in love.
17:37Sweet love.
17:38Sweet love.
17:39Here we go in the jungle.
17:42We learnt on the job.
17:43And we just kept on pushing the boundaries.
17:45I'm in love.
17:47Sweet love.
17:48It's exciting.
17:49You know, you don't have to go to work anymore.
17:50Because you're getting paid as a young black man.
17:53It's like you're not supposed to be there.
17:55And we're here.
17:56And we're legal.
17:57And that was a really nice feeling.
17:58For me, what jungle did as well was also broke down class barriers.
18:04You were mixing with people from estates on Hackney.
18:07But we're girls who are going to private school in Kensington.
18:10Was the friendliest of the people.
18:12Black.
18:13White.
18:14Indian.
18:15Everything was there.
18:16All under one roof.
18:17Raven.
18:18As one unit.
18:20And we was there for one thing mainly.
18:23For gal.
18:25And to enjoy ourself.
18:27Because if you know me fuck with ART.
18:29I was a gal.
18:30But we won't go on to that, yeah?
18:33I didn't get my name.
18:35For nothing.
18:37I always thought that jungle.
18:43Was too good to just be kept to a few.
18:55First, I heard spiritual in a Nike shop.
18:56It's a deal when these records break through.
18:58About that time.
18:59The philosophy was well keep it on it.
19:00Keep everything tight.
19:01And let's keep something.
19:02Which I understand.
19:03You know.
19:04Outlaws running around without any conformity.
19:06So it was really good.
19:07That it was arseeing.
19:08It was sacred.
19:09It was school.
19:10Up the police.
19:11You know.
19:12That whole anarchy sort of vibe.
19:13I get where the fuck came from.
19:14But I've always thought that in order for something to grow.
19:16It needs to become popular.
19:22So when Incredible came along.
19:23It was just like.
19:24Oh.
19:25This has just opened this way.
19:29Hey.
19:30Is it rolling?
19:31Yeah.
19:32Incredible was.
19:33And is.
19:34The biggest jungle tune.
19:36In.
19:37The world.
19:38Is in trouble.
19:39It goes.
19:40I am the.
19:41Incredible.
19:42General General.
19:43General General General.
19:44You can appreciate.
19:45It's like over 25 years ago.
19:46So.
19:47Some people have different recollections of what the story is.
19:48But I'm going to give what mine is.
19:49Yo.
19:50I was in it for the love of the music.
19:51I wasn't really in it for the glory.
19:52I mean.
19:53It's like the one to be.
19:54What's going on to be?
19:55What's going on to be?
19:56Oh.
19:57This question.
19:58Love it.
19:59General.
20:00Leave you alongside the MV.
20:01The world is in trouble.
20:02I will tell you how to ride.
20:03It goes.
20:04I am the.
20:05Incredible.
20:06General General General.
20:07You can appreciate.
20:08It's like over 25 years ago.
20:09So.
20:10Some people have different recollections of what the story is.
20:12But I'm going to give what mine is.
20:14Yo.
20:15I was in it for the love of the music.
20:16I wasn't really in it for the glory.
20:18I mean even this is my first ever interview.
20:20I was dating a girl at the time from over East London.
20:23And she was into jungle a lot.
20:26And she was taking to a few jungle.
20:28It was like you know.
20:29I was still quite resistant.
20:31Because I was a hardcore reggae dance style man.
20:33My dad.
20:34Who was my best partner.
20:37For the record label.
20:38Rank Records.
20:39He had an idea.
20:41To.
20:42Put live vocals on jungle.
20:44Because nobody was really doing that.
20:46I thought that this would be perfect for me.
20:48A perfect.
20:49A perfect opportunity for me.
20:50To.
20:51To.
20:52To demonstrate my skills.
20:53In a new.
20:54In a new seat.
20:55I did a previous album called.
20:56Wicked.
20:57And incredible.
20:58Was on that album.
20:59So incredible was already written.
21:00He went to the studio.
21:01And I was totally not prepared.
21:02So I thought you know what.
21:03Let me just.
21:04Grab a back and try.
21:05Which style.
21:06Sweet girl style.
21:07Mastopartana.
21:08So if you listen to that.
21:09So.
21:10Yeah.
21:11Don't have a listen.
21:12That is the backing track.
21:17For incredible.
21:18And I just.
21:19Thought that will do.
21:20I told Levy to just spit on this.
21:22I was able to be more commanding.
21:24With my voice on a jungle track.
21:26Which I liked.
21:27When you hear.
21:29Wicked.
21:30Wicked.
21:31Jungle is massive.
21:32I sat there for about.
21:34A week.
21:35Chopping up his vocal.
21:36And put it all together.
21:38The original.
21:39Jungle is there.
21:40And that's not taking anything away.
21:42From what he done.
21:43Cause what he done.
21:44Was amazing.
21:45I am the.
21:46Incredible.
21:47Incredible.
21:48General.
21:51It's like a.
21:52Battling song.
21:55Then he goes off into verse.
21:57Yo.
21:58Mad the whole of them.
21:59And spin them like a windmill.
22:00That means.
22:01All the.
22:02All the.
22:03All the.
22:04All the.
22:05All the haters.
22:06Everybody's against you.
22:07You.
22:08The whole of them.
22:09And spin them like a windmill.
22:10New talk for them.
22:11Go tell them.
22:12We got the skill.
22:13Got a new talk again.
22:14New talk.
22:15New tune again.
22:16Cause we got the skill.
22:17Dance can't be nice.
22:18Unless my name's on the bill.
22:20Now.
22:21Who the one come to say that.
22:22Come the more say.
22:23Come the more say.
22:24Hey.
22:25The thing that it.
22:26End me.
22:27Don't a mess.
22:28I'm gonna ride your will.
22:29Come now.
22:30I'm mercy.
22:31I'm mercy.
22:32I'm mercy.
22:33I'm mercy.
22:34I'm mercy.
22:35I'm mercy.
22:36Then the big one.
22:37Is when it goes.
22:38Booyaka.
22:39Booyaka.
22:40When the General a boss.
22:41Booyaka.
22:42Mbeat when they dance.
22:43Booyaka.
22:44Booyaka.
22:45We don't take back no talk.
22:46That means whatever we say.
22:48We mean it.
22:49me pressing two different keys on the keyboard, incredible, I thought the tune had finished.
22:56Because I thought the tune had finished and it's like talking it, incredible, and then
23:03when we did it, I just kept it because it sounded cool.
23:08That's a bad man tune fam, alright, it's a bad man tune, alright.
23:18To be honest, I just thought it was just another, it was just another Deadly Office, to be honest.
23:23There was no expectation, we put it on that and then basically we put it out there and the reaction, trust me, it was just crazy.
23:32Which kind of surprised me, it was a bit overwhelming.
23:35The excitement that that song caused, we knew it was a hit.
23:40If I remember rightly, it was on Top of the Pops a good few times.
23:43They said, yeah, you're number eight, on Top of the Number Eight, and I was like, okay, wow.
23:47To be honest, it should have gone to number one, it was a hot, hot, hot track at the time.
23:52We didn't want our thing to go on Top of the Pops, did we?
23:55We were just in the dance, in the clubs, in the underground scene.
23:59The scene had its own commanders and shit, if you want to put it that way.
24:02So when he got this label outside of the scene, they didn't like him.
24:07God blame yourself, Gene Levy, because when they interviewed Gene Levy, he turned around and said, I've invented Jungle.
24:14Everyone knows what happened, like basically, he said the wrong thing at the wrong time and everyone went against him.
24:20And that caused the problem, he never said that.
24:22I never actually said I create Jungle.
24:24Alright?
24:25I wish I did.
24:26But I didn't.
24:27He said he never said that.
24:28He said he never said that.
24:29So, and I believe that he never said that.
24:31I went on a stage, I walked into Assembly Hall, I looked at 2,000 people and said, this is Jungle Music.
24:37We've created something incredible here.
24:39We should be so proud.
24:40The Jamaicans have got Reg, the Americans got Hip Hop, and the English have Jungle.
24:44We've created something great here.
24:45Now that journalist from The Face magazine, to my quote, out of context, put it in a magazine where people can read.
24:52And it says, I created Jungle.
24:54Where I was there, I was saying us as a people.
24:56I didn't really get involved.
24:57I don't believe you got the brunt of that.
24:59I was humiliated.
25:01You're starting.
25:02When people humiliate you, you're walking and asking people, what did you say, man?
25:04What did you say, man?
25:05What did you say, man?
25:06You're turning.
25:07Not, not he thought.
25:08Not he thought just to have seen one at the time.
25:09They formed a committee, to get rid of General Levy.
25:12If people knew these names, they'd be very surprised at some of these names.
25:16Some of my favourite DJs on the committee.
25:18I got advisable on this meeting.
25:19They turned around and said, you should play the ch.
25:21And a few people listened to them.
25:23And was like, how could you do this?
25:25Why could we stop playing Man's Doom?
25:27I'm basically being told that we shouldn't play this record.
25:29We should boycott this record.
25:30I'm big up DJ rap.
25:31But she's the only person who played.
25:33She went against the grain.
25:34Yeah, believe me.
25:35Um, I nearly got killed for you.
25:37And she played.
25:38I actually stole my sets with it, just to make.
25:40He's ripped, he's ripped, he's ripped about General Levy.
25:44Yeah, I'm the king of Chantan.
25:45He's ripped, he's ripped, he's ripped, he's ripped.
25:47My view was, you can't tell me if we're in this free roaming, anarchy free society.
25:52Hold on a minute.
25:53We're suddenly being told what to play.
25:55It's like, am I no totalitarian state?
25:57I mean, we are right now, but that's another story.
25:58But like, you know.
25:59Someone said, ban is June.
26:00I said, all right, I got on you.
26:01Do you want a ban?
26:02They said, yeah.
26:03So ban is June on call.
26:04Which, I don't know.
26:06I've got no regrets.
26:07Because what I did, I did.
26:08You know, it was me personally, who had decided to say, yep, it's banned.
26:12No one else could make me ban it.
26:13Or no one else said they wanted it.
26:15And I said, yeah.
26:16So if I didn't want a ban, it wouldn't ban.
26:17So it's done to me.
26:18And I told it straight, that's me.
26:19I did that.
26:20We were alienated within the scene.
26:22Where people wouldn't work on the same bill as us.
26:24If we were on the bill, this big deal was coming.
26:27They teamed together.
26:29Clicked together.
26:30That we don't get no bookings.
26:31We don't get nothing.
26:32We don't get any support.
26:34How much coffee did you sell in that time?
26:37Well, this is the big question.
26:40That's something I don't know.
26:42I know it's not.
26:43Unfortunately, I was never a county.
26:44You were not a penny.
26:45Not a penny, no.
26:47Didn't make a penny.
26:49From incredible.
26:53Yeah.
26:54Fam, let me tell you something.
26:55I had to go and sign on.
26:57Imagine you got a big tune and you got a s*** done.
26:59I had to sign on fam.
27:00Lose a girl.
27:01Lose a b****.
27:02I got a phone and I put down the phone.
27:03And when I put the phone, I look.
27:04This is not true.
27:05This is like in my kind of mind.
27:06I put down the phone and she was gone.
27:08It's like I lost a deal.
27:09What?
27:10I've lost a deal.
27:11What, really?
27:12Okay, no problem.
27:13Your b****.
27:14The door was open and she was gone.
27:15I was going for real bad time at that time.
27:17To be honest with you.
27:18I was in a very bad space.
27:19My father.
27:20We had a disagreement.
27:21Obviously, it came to a head.
27:22I was kicked out of the family home basically.
27:24And that's how I became homeless.
27:26Recording deals for ages.
27:27I could have never got a record.
27:28I couldn't and it just stopped a lot of stuff.
27:29I couldn't even get arrested in Hasden.
27:30People even ****** me***.
27:31I was in a very bad space.
27:33I was in a very bad space.
27:34My father, we had a disagreement.
27:35Obviously, it came to a head.
27:36I was kicked out of the family home basically.
27:39And that's how I became homeless.
27:40Recording deals for ages.
27:41I could have up to, I never got a record in.
27:43I couldn't and it just stopped a lot of stuff.
27:45I couldn't even get arrested in Hasden.
27:46People even ****** me.
27:48I didn't even ****** me.
27:49And I clubbed them tight.
27:51I was like, cool.
27:52I was like, cool.
27:53get a bird and I clubbed them tight, I wasn't cool, you know, he's a waste man.
27:58It was hard because I wasn't bulletproof and yeah, you know, I got phone calls started
28:04happening at night, we're coming to get you, you're going to get cut, you're going to get
28:07this, you're going to get that, and that went on for about a month and then I was just like,
28:10I'll just come round and fuck it. But there were moments it got a bit scary.
28:14I was in the wilderness, I was on this blacklist, you know, not getting no blah blah blah.
28:18And then one day, I did a track with Sticky called Pull Up, and then we had to go to
28:23one extra, go on to do an interview. So while I'm in the foyer in one extra, these guys walking
28:29past, dizzy rascal and fecky, all these guys walking past where I see a lion, I'm like,
28:32wow, the grimy stem is there, they're doing up here. He came out, a lovely lady, and with
28:37a little board and she said, oh, you're wanted in that room, Mr. Levy. I said, what, in that
28:40room with all the bands then? I said, yeah, you're in that room. I said, well, all right then.
28:42And then boom, I stepped to the mic and then just went into all the mic. The rest is history.
28:4820 years, history has ever seen. It was a really good, really good session with
28:53these guys, man. It was good because they acknowledged me, because they were being
28:55f***ing years old again, and showed that I did have an impact in this country.
28:58Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo,
29:03it's a classic, man. It's like, that's a song that I used to play at my school parties.
29:06That's a song that everybody knows. That's a song that is still here today, 30 years later.
29:10Yeah, General Levy on that side, saying the words a little bit f***ing, and it sounds like me
29:15as well. Yeah, Jungle's f***g, Jungle's f***g, Jungle's f***g, the start of where I started
29:19to think, yeah, this is, I think it's a bit.
29:22Booyaka, booyaka, when this is lost in the past. Booyaka, booyaka, people being on it,
29:26guys. Booyaka, booyaka, we ain't no neck, but not that. Booyaka, booyaka.
29:30I tell you what, I've been asked to General Levy personally, me was very f***ing wrong, and
29:34I can hold my hands and say that now. You know, bless General Levy, he's smashing it,
29:37he's all around the world in his tune, and he's a lovely brother, and he carries it forward for us.
29:42We're all paging prim now, we're d*** off. Never get tired of it, but I'm very much over
29:49it, that was then, this is now. I'm certainly not trying to live, relive that, or interested
29:54in reliving that. It's good to document this, but that was then, and that, this is now.
29:58All I can say is that, I've been everything up for a reason, and it's like having a baby,
30:01there's not a pain, make something beautiful.
30:04That's it, guys, General Levy.
30:1297, 98, jungle started getting a little dark, there was a lot of trouble in jungle raids,
30:16there was a lot of fights happening, s***ing and s***ing robbed and stuff like that.
30:20It got no b**** and the next thing I was expecting B****s to come out.
30:27What I like to be people understand is that jungle's on the street, and it wasn't a college thing,
30:32it was a b****s on the street, yeah? So, a street c**** can be ugly, but no matter what happens,
30:38it's not gonna be just nice, because you got good and bad on the street.
30:42Growing up in our cities, a lot of bad boys were into like crack cocaine and stuff, you know what I mean?
30:48But our area where we grew up, we didn't really respect it, as the young ones didn't really respect that sort of thing.
30:54And Jungle was full of that.
30:56So we liked the music in the MCs and in awe of the MCs.
30:59When we looked around us, it didn't sit well with our street use.
31:03A certain rave, you go in there, you smell it straight away.
31:06It had that, it had that, you know, just, just Parliament.
31:12And it's like, what's the exception of it?
31:14When the people have a party at those parties, what do you think they're doing?
31:18But we get condemned as the bad guys.
31:21Let's all be real.
31:22The whole rave city was built on drugs.
31:24The e-ecstasy, without the e-ecstasy, there would be no, I see.
31:27So let's not go there.
31:28What happened was, when you got North London and South London and East London on the one roof, something's going to happen.
31:34It's got to kick off.
31:37People started to bring their grievances up.
31:40People going around, snatching chains and all that.
31:43People we know got shot, they're in there on the floor.
31:45People getting stabbed outside.
31:47There was a time in my career where I kind of just thought to myself, like, I don't think this is for me.
31:53Like, I like this, but I might have to go and get a job.
31:55Or I might have to move on from this because I'm not finished.
31:58Once this trouble and stuff started kicking off, you know, a lot of the club owners in the West End was like,
32:02we don't want to, you know, take these bookings for jungle events no more.
32:08So, you know, to keep us alive, we had to make changes.
32:11To me, they wanted to outlaw the jungle team.
32:14They changed the beat to take out the reggae and the reggae and it kind of moved it, like, to drum and transform.
32:22Jungle's got soul.
32:23It's got soul, it's got vibes, it's got energy, right?
32:26And it's the way it is, the way it's got, right?
32:28Drum and bass ain't got that way.
32:29You know, when it comes to art, we like melodies, like, like, when I say we, I just kind of says when people come from where we come from.
32:37That time, there was a separation of us and them.
32:38It was like a bit of us and Goldie.
32:40He come down to us and he done live industry on open forum.
32:43God is my bedroom.
32:44Me and the cool, whatever.
32:45But it was like he come to destroy Call of Fame that day.
32:48And he heard us.
32:49Can I get some coffee, please, sir?
32:50Yes, sir.
32:51What would you like?
32:52Just coffee with some sugar in it.
32:53Go on.
32:53Cool FM.
32:54Open forum.
32:55Discussion that guy's had.
32:56Hi, Metal Gear Fair!
32:57Metal Gear Fair, yeah, bring it up.
32:59I want to run break it down for you because you should ask him a question.
33:02It's not a question for me.
33:03No, let me get to you.
33:05Let me get to you.
33:06This is my truck, I want to see you.
33:07No, no, no, no, it wasn't that.
33:08It wasn't that, it wasn't that.
33:09It wasn't that.
33:10Goldie's doing something and then the jungle.
33:11Now remember, everybody was protective of what Goldie's already said.
33:15There was this protection about their arts, the craft, evening.
33:19Even me, right?
33:20The elements, a lot of the elements are negative elements right now today.
33:24It's just gone through our history, man.
33:27Man, you hear a ching out.
33:29A man might have something on my Glock or whatever.
33:32It's just one of those things, man.
33:33Good talk.
33:35Bullshit.
33:35We are creating our own environment.
33:37I don't want to see the give calls you're getting messed up.
33:39Well, I don't want to see that.
33:41I'm not having none of it.
33:44What is the difference between your scene and Goldie's scene?
33:47All right, the difference between our scene and Goldie's scene is initially the music
33:53and the clientele that go to it.
33:55That's the only difference.
33:57Right.
33:57At the end of the day, it's not like Goldie's world disappeared over here.
34:01I've always been in the same place I've always been.
34:03It just means I've got an environment where I haven't got to get on a mic on a Sunday
34:07and talk about big stop and this and that and whatever because it's safe.
34:12It's always been D&B and jungle.
34:14It doesn't really matter.
34:16It's culture.
34:17And culture, the last time I checked, does what he says on fucking 10 and shit.
34:20That's your dictionary, by the way.
34:21Culture.
34:22Movers and moves in this environment.
34:24So for me, concrete fucking jungle, D&B ever.
34:27We're no matter looking over it, it's the same thing that it's different.
34:29It's the same field sunshine.
34:30We're animals within the same field.
34:32Yeah, for real.
34:32You don't have to, you know, some people like the more technical angle of it.
34:35Some people like the more self-language angle of it.
34:37Some people like the more cool aspect of it.
34:39Some people like the more bassy, roundy, bassy kind of.
34:41There's so many variations of it.
34:42People stop using reggae samples and stuff so much.
34:45Basically, that's what it was.
34:47People stop using reggae samples and, you know, everyone's going like,
34:49Oh, there's no black doing it.
34:50Well, we're black.
34:54That's what I'm talking about.
35:00When I started this thing when I was 22,
35:02there was no way to operate with an orchestra.
35:06At the Royal Festival Hall.
35:07At the Royal Festival Hall at any point in my life,
35:09because it's not where I was heading.
35:18I heard us thinking,
35:19what an orchestra with this music?
35:20There's no fucking way that's going to work.
35:21No chance.
35:22Do you know what I mean?
35:23And they sat down and said,
35:25Yeah, we can do this.
35:27But my thing was,
35:31if it doesn't sound authentic,
35:32then it's not worth doing.
35:35There's no way we thought this was possible.
35:36You have to remember,
35:37these tunes were made on bad equipment back in the day.
35:40when I saw all of these cheap music,
35:51I was like,
35:51Yeah, that's in the family.
35:52That's red!
35:54And you've got to remember,
35:55nobody that made any of these tunes can read.
35:58You know what I'm saying?
36:00If I had a thing,
36:00it would have thrown the whole thing.
36:02And luckily,
36:03everything just came together.
36:04It felt like a moment for us.
36:17You know,
36:18my girl's mom telling me
36:19that she used to go Royal Festival and all then,
36:21listen to Ella Fitzgerald
36:22and Dizzy Flesby and all then,
36:24kind of jazzist.
36:25She believed that I was actually there.
36:27She says it for real.
36:29I never dreamt
36:31in a million years
36:32it would have gone as well as it did.
36:34Jungle music has never been dead.
36:37Let me just get that straight.
36:39It's never been dead.
36:42If you're standing in the 90s
36:43and you turn to the 2020,
36:45give it a year,
36:47there's 30 years.
36:48But you can play this music right now
36:51in a Club 2 night
36:52and people go,
36:53What the fucking fuck is this music?
36:55And you go,
36:55it's 25, 26 years old.
36:58But now I'm ready for takeoff.
37:02It was almost like a vision.
37:04It was very, very futuristic.
37:07That whole jungle cultural movement
37:09was, I would say,
37:11the blueprint and the foundations
37:12for all the music that came after it.
37:18Basically, Jungle's the daddy.
37:20That's the bottom line.
37:21That's right.
37:22Real talk, man.
37:23Jungle is the mother
37:24of UK dance music.
37:26The one uncle
37:27that's always been at the fucking party
37:30is Jungle D&B.
37:32He's the uncle
37:33and old cunt
37:33who wants to be invited to the party.
37:35Because he comes to the party
37:36at the barbecue
37:36and starts telling the kids the truth.
37:37Ladies and gentlemen,
37:44may I have your attention?
37:45We're now ready for takeoff.
38:15He's the uncle
38:24stocks have digital
38:25thought he was home.
38:27In the Philippines,
38:28I'm not the thing.
38:29I tell him I see
38:31I was a human
38:32as a band
38:32that my friends
38:33Sam
38:35want to be
38:36with me?
38:36There's so much
38:37something that went
38:37about
38:38I mean,
38:40like,
38:40I've never thought
38:41I wasups
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