Watch a fascinating jungle documentary from 1994
America had hip hop, Jamaica had reggae and, in the early 90s, the UK gave birth to jungle. This wonderful BBC2 documentary from 1994 charts the rise of jungle and its impact on multicultural British identity. It’s a fascinating insight into one of the most influential musical revolutions and features interviews with key scene players like Shy FX, LTJ Bukem, Fabio, DJ Rap and UK Apachi. The latter spoke movingly on how jungle changed his life:
“Jungle, because it’s from England, I can really relate to it. It’s important to me because I’m born here. I’m from England, and London and no one can’t tell me I’m not from here. One time I was going around and I was ashamed of being British. Jungle has drawn me back in to my roots, where I’m from. Because although my parents are from…I’m half Arab, half Asian, African – I can relate to those countries only up to a point. When I talk to my children or whatever, I can’t talk to them about Africa. I can’t talk to them about where my dad’s from because my life has not been there. My life has been in England, London. I can talk to them about Balham, Tooting, where I’m from. So if you’re born in England, be proud of it. Don’t let nobody tell you no different, no BNP or anything like that. Jungle is British, I can really relate to it and it’s our music.” UK Apachi
Watch part 1 above and parts 2 and 3 below.
