"An England Story"
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with only 20 tracks on there (even with the 40 on the original mix) there's always going to be gaps and everyone's going to have a personal favourite or whatever that isn't on there, what can you do... from a fan/buyer point of view I feel exactly the same about the compilation even though I compiled it LOL. but yeah some of that is a licensing issue (e.g. I really wanted Deman Rockers's anti-maggie song Iron Lady on there but ragga twins & unity couldn't agree on who owns it). and then with the gaps in garage and jungle, I think if I were to do it again I'd change that a bit, those genres have never been my area of expertise, plus as has been mentioned often things are live or come from jamaican samples
also, i always tried to make it clear that the mix was not trying to be a definitive run down of uk mcs, and the comp isn't either - it's dominated by reggae and dancehall cos that's what i like and those are the records i own - plus part of the point of it all was to show how throughout all uk mc music, reggae/dancehall has always been a major influence and so many of the artists, even though they're better known for their other work, started out as reggae/dancehall artists.
ultimately though, i think the important thing, rather than the individual tracks on the album, is that this is largely an untold story about the importance and influence of jamaican music on mcing in the uk over the last 25 years or so (not to mention jamaican influence globally). i mean only this week i read about dizzee rascal being this country's "most famous hip hop artist", and even the artists themselves (i'm thinking doogz here) don't necessarily see themselves as operating within the reggae/dancehall way. speaking to press people over the past few weeks about the comp, i've realised that what for me has become kind of obvious (that jamaican music/culture/language etc has had such a massive impact on music in the uk) is simply not generally understood by people in the uk, or at least its not widely acknowledged as being the case.
so this compilation isn't going to be the completist guide to this story right off, nor will it clearly tell in one linear narrative the complicated history of mcing in england, but I think it's a good start at least to be starting to look at all of this music in this way, in terms of its jamaican influence. and obviously as this comp goes around and people start seeing where the gaps are, where other music they love fits into this story, how it relates or doesn't relate to the music featured here, then the idea that this is actually quite a good way to look at/think about uk (mc/dance) music will sink in a bit more and the story will be fleshed out. hopefully we'll get to do more volumes in the future, certainly we'll be doing another unofficial mix at some point, and it'll be great if other people do their own stuff as well - luka for example you obviously come at this from much more of a dance music/jungle/garage/hardcore angle than I do.
er, sorry for rambling, it's an interesting and big topic though and I've been thinking about it a lot recently!
also, i always tried to make it clear that the mix was not trying to be a definitive run down of uk mcs, and the comp isn't either - it's dominated by reggae and dancehall cos that's what i like and those are the records i own - plus part of the point of it all was to show how throughout all uk mc music, reggae/dancehall has always been a major influence and so many of the artists, even though they're better known for their other work, started out as reggae/dancehall artists.
ultimately though, i think the important thing, rather than the individual tracks on the album, is that this is largely an untold story about the importance and influence of jamaican music on mcing in the uk over the last 25 years or so (not to mention jamaican influence globally). i mean only this week i read about dizzee rascal being this country's "most famous hip hop artist", and even the artists themselves (i'm thinking doogz here) don't necessarily see themselves as operating within the reggae/dancehall way. speaking to press people over the past few weeks about the comp, i've realised that what for me has become kind of obvious (that jamaican music/culture/language etc has had such a massive impact on music in the uk) is simply not generally understood by people in the uk, or at least its not widely acknowledged as being the case.
so this compilation isn't going to be the completist guide to this story right off, nor will it clearly tell in one linear narrative the complicated history of mcing in england, but I think it's a good start at least to be starting to look at all of this music in this way, in terms of its jamaican influence. and obviously as this comp goes around and people start seeing where the gaps are, where other music they love fits into this story, how it relates or doesn't relate to the music featured here, then the idea that this is actually quite a good way to look at/think about uk (mc/dance) music will sink in a bit more and the story will be fleshed out. hopefully we'll get to do more volumes in the future, certainly we'll be doing another unofficial mix at some point, and it'll be great if other people do their own stuff as well - luka for example you obviously come at this from much more of a dance music/jungle/garage/hardcore angle than I do.
er, sorry for rambling, it's an interesting and big topic though and I've been thinking about it a lot recently!