Ragga Jungle

[padraig (u.s.)]

As Padraig says, Ruffest Gunnark is great - one of the finest ragga jungle tunes ever made IMO. And of course, Fashion also licensed 'Limb by Limb' to subbase and collaborated with the label on various records, which gives them a lot of credit in my book as they actually interacted with the jungle scene...

The compilations were a bit pants though...

yeah but "Original Ranks", "Bunn De Sensi", "Sess a We Yu Want", General Levy - "Too Trigger Happy". the Poison Chang stuff (who the hell is he btw? did he have dancehall hits in JA? I've never heard of him outside this LP) is pretty middling though.

& I forgot they did "Limb By Limb" first - though I've never understood how "Hitman" by Marvellous Cain fits in. was it in any way related to the DJ SS mix of "Limb By Limb" or did Subbase just license both tunes separately to put them together on the one 12"? oh & what other records did Fashion & Subbase collaborate on? The Gun Talk LP I'm guessing?

 

[john eden]

I've got a couple of Poison Chang ragga tunes, don't really rate them but I think he comes from JA and recorded their first.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

mainly I was just interested cause I thought he might be Chinese-Jamaican & I've never heard of a Chinese-Jamaican deejay. I mean a bunch of roots producers & Oku Onuora but no deejays.

 

[john eden]

mainly I was just interested cause I thought he might be Chinese-Jamaican & I've never heard of a Chinese-Jamaican deejay. I mean a bunch of roots producers & Oku Onuora but no deejays.

chang is cocaine, isn't it? :slanted:

 

[droid]

yeah but "Original Ranks", "Bunn De Sensi", "Sess a We Yu Want", General Levy - "Too Trigger Happy". the Poison Chang stuff (who the hell is he btw? did he have dancehall hits in JA? I've never heard of him outside this LP) is pretty middling though.

& I forgot they did "Limb By Limb" first - though I've never understood how "Hitman" by Marvellous Cain fits in. was it in any way related to the DJ SS mix of "Limb By Limb" or did Subbase just license both tunes separately to put them together on the one 12"? oh & what other records did Fashion & Subbase collaborate on? The Gun Talk LP I'm guessing?

Well... afaik, 'Hitman' was the first remix using the acapella, this was released on IQ along with a bunch of remixes in 94. The SS mix popped up later the same year. Anyway Subbase got their hands on the Marvelous Cain mix and the SS mix, got licenses from Fashion and released them with the original version on 12" in '95. There was also a 2nd 12" on subbase with an SS 'instrumental', this was after 3 12"s on IQ featuring mixes from Hype, Dead Dread and the Dream team. There was also "the return" by Bizzy B on the flip of one of the Subbase 12's which used another (presumably licensed) Cutty Ranks vocal.

I assume Fashion had a lot to do with the Gun Talk LP - arranging voicing sessions etc... I also thought that the "Gun Connection" 12's was some kind of Fashion tie in, but Im not so sure TBH.

Dont know much about Poison Chang except he's Jamaican, and not a very good DJ.

http://www.jamrid.com/RiddimDBSearch.php?search=Poison Chang&type=Artist

 

[rivet90210]

I've got this http://www.discogs.com/Rupununi-Safari-Steaming-Jungle-The-Jungle-Dub-Experience-2/release/720242

I don't really think it works that well, but it's an interesting example of crossover with reggae. Ariwa is the label of Mad Professor of course, so foundation UK dub stuff.

Jah Tubbys and I think Conscious Sounds were rumoured to have done jungle tunes as well (and Tubbys did a garage tune as well)

ahhh. I didnt know that was Mad Professor's label... cheers for the tip.

I have the Top Cat/General Levy jungle lp on Jungle Fashion. Like someone else said, Ruffest Gunark is fire. However, of all the comps the 'Ragga in the Jungle' one on Street Tuff is unbeatable. Now it says on the cover here that it's distributed by Jet Star. A lot of it is licensed, I think..? Just from memory I know that one of the tracks was definitely licensed from Inner City Sound or one of their sub labels -and I know that Potential Bad Boy used to release under other names on that group of labels. Is this all fitting together with what people know for fact? PBB was on Third Eye Recs, which was part of the Kemet group -and I swear Kemet got people to voice their tracks, they couldnt just be straight acapella jobs...... and now I am confused as to where I am going with this:slanted:...
so er anyone care to share anything on Jet Star?

 

[john eden]

so er anyone care to share anything on Jet Star?

Jet Star were a big reggae label and distributor. I think, weirdly, they morphed out of Pama or someone like that which was a label akin to Trojan in the 60s/70s.

They went bust a couple of years back tho. Something I am not surprised about given the people I dealt with there for mailorder.

 

[droid]

Jet star did some of their own jungle stuff - all acapella or licensed vocal business:

http://www.rolldabeats.com/label/jet_star

Street Tuff may have been an offshoot. Not sure actually, but that's a good compilation with some quality producers on remix duty:

http://www.rolldabeats.com/release/street_tuff/strjlp1/

Jungle Hits vol.1 is good as well, with the hard to find Bagga worries remix on along with some stuff from other labels:

http://www.rolldabeats.com/release/street_tuff/strlp1/

If your looking for some seriously dodgy back alley ragga jungle on crack , you should check this out:

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

I have the Top Cat/General Levy jungle lp on Jungle Fashion. Like someone else said, Ruffest Gunark is fire. However, of all the comps the 'Ragga in the Jungle' one on Street Tuff is unbeatable.

true. the Tom & Jerry remix of Buju Banton, the version of "Papa Lover" is straight fire, the killer Remarc mix of Ninjaman, Stevie & Skelly - "Browning In the Jungle" is one of my favorite tracks ever. although...

PBB was on Third Eye Recs, which was part of the Kemet group -and I swear Kemet got people to voice their tracks, they couldnt just be straight acapella jobs...... and now I am confused as to where I am going with this:slanted:...

the Kemet Crew's Champion Jungle Sound LP has my vote hands down for best ragga jungle comp. & as far as the vocals - yeah I mean wasn't that a whole network of producers & MCs who worked togther, all British guys I think? it's all tied up with Third Eye (& possibly Ibiza Records too via Noise Factory - the guy from NF who isn't Terry T is Family of Intelligence) too. actually Kemet/Third Eye probably has my vote for best (purely) ragga jungle label too; all the NF & F.O.I. stuff, Brainkillers, Lewi, etc. though the output of Jungle Mania (the ragga sublablel of Strictly Underground) is pretty impeccable as well.

chang is cocaine, isn't it? :slanted:

ah.

 

[droid]

I think Kemet is a very overrated label myself.

I reckon Red Light deserve a place in the top ranks of ragga jungle. Short lived, but brilliantly demented stuff.

 

[rivet90210]

mmm I thought Jet Star had a story along those lines -just going from the bits and pieces of theirs that i have picked up from around the place.

Big fan of Jungle In The Suburbs, so good.

Anyone hear this Kemet release from just a few years back? I highly recommend it, very ruff. I have always hoped that Schwarzenegger was in fact a relative of grime mc, Terminator. http://www.discogs.com/Various-Amen-Heaven/release/134274

edit: and these are definately voiced, i forgot about them in the last post.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

I think Kemet is a very overrated label myself.

I reckon Red Light deserve a place in the top ranks of ragga jungle. Short lived, but brilliantly demented stuff.

well more Third Eye than Kemet, though still every Kemet release I'm familiar with is imo pretty ace. but hey.

and YES on Red Light. I reckon all that stuff was produced by PJ & Smiley from SUAD? do you know if that's true?

 

[rivet90210]

-reaches for woofah-.... yeah it was all done by SUAD

 

[droid]

What he said

 

[martin]

I reckon Red Light deserve a place in the top ranks of ragga jungle.

Too right, though I heard 'Bastards' so much during '94 that I got really sick of it in the end. Some thieving little git stole my copy of "Coca Cola / Murder Tonight" which is now worth about 30-40 quid...do you know if the latter track ever got reissued on a CD comp (which I might be able to pick up cheaper)? That one was superb...

 

[rivet90210]

whoops.

er i think that some of the cds on Street Tuff may have some of those tracks....

 

[matmustard]

Jet Star were a big reggae label and distributor. They went bust a couple of years back tho. Something I am not surprised about given the people I dealt with there for mailorder.

Hmm, it's a strange one.. Jet Star - despite the well received Reggae Hits series - were perennially going bust, but (UK Funky) Apple's 'Mr Bean' was released on Street Tuff, which is a subsidiary.
Any further information would be gratefully received...

Droid, your Lloydie Crucial comment is too rude

 

[BareBones]

sorry to go off topic slightly, but does anyone know a good (ie affordable) way of acquiring jungle records? Extremely hopeful question i know, but I was way too young to be buying any of it first time around, and now that i want to buy loads of it, everything on discogs etc is at least £25 per 12", some i've seen are like £75. And i never see any job lots come up on ebay like you often do for garage/grime.

Upsetting.

 

[droid]

Too right, though I heard 'Bastards' so much during '94 that I got really sick of it in the end. Some thieving little git stole my copy of "Coca Cola / Murder Tonight" which is now worth about 30-40 quid...do you know if the latter track ever got reissued on a CD comp (which I might be able to pick up cheaper)? That one was superb...

I got nearly all them on Ebay and didnt pay more than £12 for any of em, check it out... Compilation appearances for Redlight: 'the future is dark' on 'Still Smokin', "Coca Cola Bottle' and something else on Street Tuffs Jungle Hits 2, and they did record as Redlight on a couple of other labels as well.

Bastards is indeed amazing. I couldnt believe it when PJ said it was him on the mic!

 

[droid]

sorry to go off topic slightly, but does anyone know a good (ie affordable) way of acquiring jungle records? I was way too young to be buying any of it first time around, and now that i want to buy loads of it, everything on discogs etc is at least £25 per 12", some i've seen are like £75. And i never see any job lots come up on ebay like you often do for garage/grime.

Upsetting.

Ebay is your only way really. Ebay, Popsike and patience. Discogs is for mugs.

You might wanna try a few online reggae shops as well. They often have jungle comps and 12s hidden away in their stock.