Jinglist Massive Lion Christmas Hoodie

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Whenever we are talking about the evolution of Drum & Bass, there is one common reference that you will most certainly stumble upon, that it was oddly referred to as the b*astard child of Dance Music. From its emergence in the English rave scene in the early 90’s, Drum & Bass has evolved and stood as one of the most energetic and influential genres in electronic music. That’s what rave was about. I learnt from it, though. If I can get that attention then what I’m doing is having an effect and I should take it seriously. So I redefined my brand as Aerosoul because – as you mentioned with the graffiti – that’s what everything was founded on for me. I bought the two together. It was everything that represented me; hip hop culture, graffiti, wordplay, the music, fashion.

The Amen Break was drummed on ‘Amen, Brother’ by the late Gregory .C. Coleman which was the B-side of The Winstons’ 1970 single ‘Colour Him Father’. Exactly. We push the music from a cultural point of view and play a big part in the movement. I do feel that gets overlooked a lot. I’ll give you an example; some very big artists have used my logo and own my brand in their content to get stripes, but not reached out to me and worked with me. That’s a culture vulture move. I might not be on the frontline but my work is out there and I’ve been here in the game for 20 years, just reach out to the originators and work with us positively. Another of the ‘should have beens’ from the drum & bass scene, Peshay was taken out of action by an illness that left him bed-bound for almost two years. Miles From Home, his debut album for Island Blue arrived too late have the impact he so richly deserved. One listen to ‘Psychosis’ is enough to reveal his production talent. Like ‘Pulp Fiction’, this was a defining tune for Metalheadz with its anxious cries, shrill noises, and jittering drum rolls that build towards the introduction of the Plastic Jam break that dominates from a minute in. The tune instantly evokes memories of a smoky basement in mid-1990s Hoxton. It’s been a consistent mainstay on both dancefloors and raver wardrobes since the mid 90s when designer and founder Leke Adesoye printed his first run of T’s for his crew. His mission was simple; to create garments for the burgeoning jungle community. Founded in Leke’s years of hip hop culture, the clothes a nod for those who know and an alternative to the standard Versace/Moschino style in London or the bright hippie baggies in the raves at the time. The iconic Technics-inspired design hit the spot and its message has remained relevant and virulent ever since; pushing the jungle cause well beyond the confines of the genre. Fans of the brand range from Groove Armada to model Bee Philips via D Double E, Joel Dommett, Ed Sheeran and Ghostface Killah. And that’s before we even consider its presence on the cult clubbing movie Human Traffic.

You just did a collab with Hospital for Hospitality In The Park, too. Do you have any other big collabs you can reveal for 2020? Perfect example. He’s family. I’ve been sponsoring him since he was 17 years old. Before Intrgue or any of that. I heard a tune of his on Defunked and went to Bristol for a meeting. Now Intrigue is the longest running night in Bristol. That’s a good example of us spotting someone who’s still going to be smashing and influential 10, 20 years later.

Terminator’ was the first time that the timestretching technique had been used on the breaks, an effect that allowed you to alter tempo of a sample without changing the pitch. The effect was like an experiment with the temporal flow of music, as sonic futures became historical loops. Time itself simultaneously collapsing in and building out. ‘Terminator’ proved to be a key signpost in the emergence of the cyber driven ideologies of drum & bass tech, while also providing a jaw-dropping dancefloor moment. Influences from the breakbeat hardcore styles were chopped up and glued together to create an accelerated, rolling, syncopated rhythm; and with the Hardcore scene giving way to their euphoric style of music for darker and industrial samples with faster and heavily edited drum programming in turn gave birth to Jungle. Lennie De-Ice’s ragga-tinged release ‘”We Are I.E.” in 1991 was the earliest prototype of Jungle music and it also laid the foundations for the genre for years to come. Green had been a hip-hop and happy hardcore fan. Increasingly he was getting into jungle. He viewed the club nights he attended as extensions of the house parties of his youth: front rooms cleared of all furniture, huge sound systems, alcohol served in plastic cups, dim lighting, lots of motion. He found jungle intimate and immersive – a sometimes demonised music to which young kids, in darkened spaces the size of chill-out zones, were still figuring out how to dance. It was a music that was impossibly accelerationist. Its rhythms thrillingly alien. Its darkness radiant. Ahead of that, however, Leke will be taking over Fabric’s Room 2 on February 28 to celebrate the 20 th anniversary of Junglist Movement and his main brand Aerosoul. Just like the movement he’s been immersed as an integral figure in since day one (he was a founding member of Mixrace, an experimental rave/rap act who went on to be signed by Moving Shadow) the line-up covers all bass bases with a line-up of Aerosoul and Jungle Movement endorsed artists: Makoto, Kenny Ken, DJ Ron, Bailey, Zero T, AI, Seba and MCs Verse, Moose and 2Shy. Definitely. For me collaboration is about mutual respect, when you get that balance the product is going to be dope. All my collaborations come about because we love what each other are doing. Even with the artists who I sponsor, that’s a collaboration for me. It’s not just product placement, it’s like A&Ring. People I’ve sponsored early on are now massive. That’s the A&R side, being able to spot a talent and seeing it if fits in with your brand and whether they’re going to be around for the long game. I ask myself where they’re going to be in five years time or 10 years time and we grow together.

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Aligned with artists such as Degs, DJ Die, General Levy and Colette Warren, no brand is as entrenched in the foundations of this music and culture quite like Junglist Movement and no other aspect of the culture tells a story quite so personal as fashion. Take one bassline created from the sound of rotating helicopter blades, another that shifts deep rolling funk and dancehall. Add it to a break built from Blowfly’s filthy ‘Sesame Street’ that occasional erupts into a snare roll that echoes the helicopter blades. Add horn stabs, gunshots, discordant strings and a jittering Afro sequence and you’re left with a tune that oozes tension and drips with suspense. A huge anthem in 1993, its metronomic flow had all of the detailed production that would mark out drum & bass in this era. It also offered a different vision to the ragga fused jump-up jungle sound that was dominating things at the time. I lost every booking I’d ever worked for. When the police came to my house they said, ‘so, you’re the DJ everyone hates’. I had no idea the guy had been stabbed but people didn’t believe me,” she told me in 1996. Nonetheless, ‘Mr. Kirk’s Nightmare’ is a pivotal tune in the development of the darkcore scene.

Fashion is also a very broad church. It’s meant you’ve worked with people from so many industries. Film, sports, not just music…

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Absolutely. That’s another foundation. Aersosoul is inspired by typography. The book Subway Art had a big influence on me. I grew up in boarding school from the age of about 7 till I was 16. I was pretty much by myself, very independent, people around me from different cultural upbringings. We were doing graffiti, skateboarding, breakdancing, BMX. We’d take our lino down to the Madison Jones club in Bournemouth and battle these guys who ended up being the massive crew Second To None. We’d bury them every time! Hip hop culture during the 80s was huge, so I spent my years soaking it all up. Then when I met Dev it all fell into place. Since the release of ‘”We Are I.E.”, sounds kept blurring and artists started finding their own niche in Jungle. Some artists preferred softer, ambient, and textured melodies while some preferred darker and heavier sounds which could create maximum sonic impact. Jungle music also became a way of expression for London’s streetwise and marginalized youth. They saw Jungle as “England’s answer to hip-hop”, by merging the Jamaican reggae scene with then 4-to-the-floor basslines and erasing racial boundaries by advocating unification of people from different walk of life through its multiculturalism.

Yes! We’re taking over room two at Fabric with Makoto, Kenny Ken, DJ Ron, Bailey, Zero T, AI, Seba with MCs Verse, Moose and 2Shy. We’ve got the jungle and drum & bass. A celebration of everything. The full spectrum of the music and the full spectrum of what I’ve been about. We’re going to shut down London that night. It’s brilliant – it’s time to celebrate the full culture. The term itself is connected with the origin of the name jungle. During the time of junglists, they were sometimes referred to as "rude bwoii", a slang term originally used by Jamaicans (as rude boy), meaning "gangsta" or "badbwoy" ("bad boy"). The term refers to an inner city area of West Kingston, Jamaica, called Jungle (the subject of the Bob Marley song "Concrete Jungle", from the Wailers album Catch a Fire).Definitely. I was raving a lot. I got my flat in London when I was 18 and the whole crew was 20 deep by then. Dev and Dave were doing beats all day, I was studying at London College Of Fashion. Then at night we’d be raving either in London or in Essex. It was an inspiring mix. The Versace, Moschino champagne vibe in London then ravers in countryside with baggy stuff, bright colours, all that. I was loving elements of both and wanted to bring the two together because I didn’t see anything for the culture. Something that represents who you are, that all our boys would resonate with and want to wear.