Jungle

Jungle runs at 160-170 BPM with chopped breakbeats — most famously the Amen break — replacing four-on-the-floor drums. The breaks are time-stretched and re-sequenced to give the rhythm a constantly varying, often syncopated feel. Underneath sits a sub-bass line that frequently borrows from Jamaican dub and reggae production, sometimes literally sampling ragga vocalists. Vocals when present are MC-style toasting or chopped phrases rather than sung verses. Tracks are usually instrumental and built around two main 'drops' for DJ mixing.

Jungle came out of the UK rave scene of 1991-1993, as hardcore breakbeat producers sped up and broke apart breaks, combined them with ragga samples, and reduced the four-on-the-floor influence. Pirate radio stations including Kool FM and clubs such as Roast and AWOL were the early hubs. By 1994-1995 the genre had defining producers — Shy FX, Roni Size, Goldie, LTJ Bukem — and started splitting into a cleaner, more musical 'drum and bass' direction and a darker 'jungle' wing. The jungle name itself fell out of fashion for most of the 2000s and 2010s but has had a revival from the late 2010s through producers like Sherelle, Tim Reaper, and the Hooversound label.

Listen for the constant variation in the drums: unlike a four-on-the-floor pattern, the breakbeat is being chopped and reordered every few bars, so no two phrases are identical. The bass is usually a low sub-tone played in a melodic line and is at least as loud in the mix as the drums. Ragga vocal samples — short shouted phrases in Jamaican patois — often act as a rhythmic hook rather than a verse.

For a defining single, Shy FX featuring UK Apache, 'Original Nuttah' (1994). After that, Goldie's 'Inner City Life' (1994) and SL2's 'On a Ragga Tip' (1992). For the modern revival, Sherelle, '160 Down the A406' (2019).

The 'jungle' name was contentious from the start — some scene members embraced it, while others worried that British media used it as a coded racial label for Black-led music. The genre largely rebranded as 'drum and bass' from 1995 onward partly to escape that connotation, only for 'jungle' to be reclaimed in the late 2010s revival.