The BBC2 documentary on jungle depicts the genre as London's answer to hip-hop and reggae. A mostly black genre, "jungle gets people moving by sampling the old songs that everyone loves and mixing them in with fast dance beats." Similar to hip-hop and reggae, jungle deals with DJs and MCs structuring a track. It takes influence from soul and reggae, appropriating black music while speeding it up and adding intense breakbeats. Jungle also follows the structure Les Back outlines, where "a cultural form developed in Jamaica is transported to Europe, re-made, and then, re-connected as a tradition, becomes re-cast in the present" (211). The idea of the bedroom producer persists, as the documentary takes us inside a bedroom studio. The bedroom producer helps enforce the point that jungle is a music for everyone, and that the people producing the music are exerting explicit control over its creative outcome.
In the second half of the documentary, we hear about General Levy finding chart success with a jungle single and being the first jungle act on Top of the Pops. This comes in stark opposition to the scenes before, where DJs discuss the value in having records (dub plates) that nobody else can play. The end of the documentary portrays jungle as something that will be immediately influential because of the waves it has stirred.
Discussion questions: Is there anything wrong with General Levy finding mainstream success? This is a conflict we've been dealing with all semester. Is it possible to release authentic music through mainstream channels? To use the mainstream in a way that doesn't contradict the message of originality and artistry? Does music that has a strong tie to place have a harder time utilizing the mainstream? An easier time?
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