![]() They had no idea what I had in mind, but we booked the studio in Victoria, and I went in and did something new, which never got released in the end. We met up with Shy and Dave Stone, who ran SOUR they wanted to do something new, but I wanted to use the “Gangsta Kid” riddim. I told Sam I wanted to meet Shy and voice the riddim. I never did a reggae version of it, but when I heard the jungle riddim, I knew it was the right time for it. My friend Juxci, who ended up having a big record with 2Play called “So Confused,” said to me that the tune was absolutely mad. I used to bunk school and invite my friends from the sound system around, and one day we had a video camera, and they filmed me doing a version of “Nuttah.” This was in the late ’80s. I was sharing a flat with a singer called David Boomah and Sam came to me with a Shy FX track called “Gangsta Kid.” I listened to it and was singing bits of “Original Nuttah” in the gaps, as I’d actually written the lyrics about six years earlier. Some producers wanted to get into that and start using live artists. Coming from reggae, writing whole songs was what I did. I loved the Jamaican culture, and I would walk and talk like a Jamaican, but I was a Ja-fake-an!īack then jungle producers were mostly sampling and didn’t really make tracks with full vocals. We used to play a lot of parties and clash each other. from Kingston and Spanish Town, and we built up a sound system. That connected to me and my South African roots, so I took to reggae, I became friends with some Jamaicans that had come to the U.K. Bob Marley was a big influence on me because reggae at that time was representing the people and singing about justice and the fight against the system. I would hear people like Bob Marley, Papa Michigan and General Smiley, Lone Ranger and all these reggae artists. There were Jamaicans living in my neighbourhood, and I got introduced to reggae. The Black people were more accepting, though. ![]() I was mixing with some white English people, but they didn’t really look at you as being proper English, so you’d be almost scared of your identity at that time and wouldn’t feel proud of it, so I was still finding myself. There was a lot of National Front things going on, and it wasn’t the multi-cultural society we have now, it was very difficult. I was born and raised in London as an only child, and it was quite rough in the streets. ![]() UK Apache: I’m half South African, and my grandmother was Nelson Mandela’s first secretary, so from an early age I was around revolutionary people that were involved with the ANC and the anti-apartheid movement, and that influenced me in listening to certain types of music. The combination of the Goodfellas sample and horns on the intro leading into Shy FX’s rapid-fire breakbeats and Apachi’s infectious dancehall chat made for an undisputed classic. As infectious as M-Beat’s “Incredible” but with more energy and a streetwise edge to it, the track caught fire and hit the national Top 40 in October 1994. ![]() UK Apachi’s distinctive vocals on the anthemic “Original Nuttah” came to represent the jungle explosion of ’94 perhaps more than any other record. A record that could only have come out of London.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |