Jungle | |
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Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | Early 1990s, Bristol and London, England, Jamaica |
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Jungle (sometimes oldschool jungle), is a genre of electronic music derived from old school hardcore that developed in England in the early 1990s as part of rave music scenes. The style is characterized by fast tempos (150 to 200 bpm), relatively slow and lyrical reggae-derived basslines, breakbeats, and other heavily syncopated percussive loops, samples and synthesized effects make up the easily recognizable form of jungle. Long pitch-shifted snare rolls are common in oldschool jungle. The terms "jungle" and "drum and bass" are often used interchangeably by the layman but this should not be the case. Jungle originated out of oldschool and in the late 1990's the term "drum and bass" was used in association with music that did not have the same emphasis on breakbeats and complex production.
Producers create the drum patterns, which are sometimes completely off-beat, by cutting apart breakbeats (most notably the Amen break). Jungle producers incorporated classic Jamaican/Caribbean sound-system culture production-methods. The slow, deep basslines and simple melodies (reminiscent of those found in dub, reggae and dancehall) accentuated the overall production, giving jungle its "rolling" quality.
Producers and DJs of the early 1990s, including MC 5ive '0, Groove Connection and Kingsley Roast place the origin of the word in the scene with pioneers like Moose, Soundman and Johnny Jungle. According to MC Navigator of Kool FM, 'jungle' stems from the term 'junglist', which refers to people from Arnett Gardens, an area of Kingston. Navigator states it was Rebel MC who popularised the term in the UK, after sampling the phrase 'alla the junglists' from a tape of a sound-system party in Kingston.