Everybody knows about the famed Detroit-Berlin connection when it comes to Techno. But what about Jungle/Drum'N'Bass? I did some digging and got to the core with veteran MC Jamie White...
K: Hi Jamie. How are you? I am a Chicago writer documenting the growth of Drum'N'Bass in Berlin/Germany.
J: Hi Kahlil, sounds interesting. How come you’re focusing on the Berlin scene?
K: Because all we ever hear about in The States is Berlin Techno. I want to learn about (the history of) Berlin Drum'N' Bass.
J: Well .. I guess I’m the right one for that. I am part of Berlin's first generation of Junglists.
K: That's what I'm told. How would you describe the German influence on DNB - given the different culture of the UK?
J: We have been close to the British scene from the very beginning. In my circle of friends, there were a few British people who provided us with rave tape packs from the U.K. That was around 1990/91.
We immediately picked up on it and started throwing our own little events. That was before Jungle/D&B. They called it Hardcore Breakbeats back then.
K: Gotcha. Would you say that Berlin Jungle/DNB has always had a distinct sound from the UK - given the different history and demographic patterns of the country?
J: Not necessarily, when people over here started producing themselves their sound was heavily influenced by the London sound. Some productions were leaning more towards the typical jungle sound with lots of reggae/dancehall samples and others were going in other directions such as the LTJ Bukem type of Liquid Jungle/D&B sound.
K: Gotcha. What's your MC name and how did you get started?
J: My MC Name is Jamie White. I don’t have another AKA.
K: You were the first person the Berlin Drum and Bass Facebook (ATB) group mentioned when I asked for a history.
J: Oh wow … feeling humbled. I...started (at) 16 years old on illegal underground raves back in 1992 .. It all started as a silly joke - I was just copying U.K. MCs that I heard toasting on these tapes. Fellow DJs were asking me to do that on some events. But as soon as promoters started offering me money for it, I started taking it serious. This is when I started writing rhymes. Back then I wasn’t sure yet what to call myself and one of my friends suggested to call myself "White MC" because there weren’t many White MCs at the time.
K: Nice.
J: I had a friend I grew up with. We started together - his MC name was ONE MC. Unfortunately he’s not active anymore. He was super talented.
K: What DJs were spinning back then? And what were the promotions/who were the promoters?
J: There was this weekly event series which was called "Junglemania" at a tiny little basement which started in 1993. Every Thursday. This is where the Berlin scene came together and formed for the most part.
The promoter's name is Lars. He then later opened up his own club together with his girlfriend, Pamela. This is where we started “Recycle - Berlin’s Finest Drum’N’Bass” in 1996. This event series still exists and we are celebrating our 28th birthday on October 2nd.
K: Wow!
J: The club was called "Icon". It was closed due to stress with neighbours (basically gentrification) back in 2011. But we moved into a new location, the Club Gretchen.
K: Right. OK cool.
J: Hard:Edged was also a big thing back in the 90’s in berlin. I was also part of this camp.
In the early 2000’s, however, this camp broke up and people went different directions. The promoters behind the project opened the Watergate Club, where we had a few events in the early years before they decided to not to do any D&B anymore.
K: What was the most popular style back then? Ragga, Jump-Up, Tech Step, Ambient or what?
J: That was the great thing about the Berlin scene we had it all. DJ's such as DJ Apollo and DJ Sebel were playing the typical Ragga and hip-hop influenced jungle D&B. DJs such as Dj Metro and DJ Bass Dee would be playing a more Liquid, deep type of D&B.
K: Cool.
J: The 90’s were absolutely amazing. Everything felt so fresh and free of boundaries and restrictions. This music was still learning to walk and talk. And also Berlin as a city was so special .. there was still a huge difference between the East side (the former GDR) and the West side.
K: How did the difference between East & West impact the scene?
J: I grew up in the ghettos of the East side … what we had to go through in the 80’s .. people oftentimes don’t believe me when I’m talking about it...
As soon as the (Berlin) wall came down, artistic people rushed over (to the East side) and took advantage of it. East Germans, like myself, never knew what a club was before 1989 .. to be fair .. I was 14 when it happened.. but all these illegal underground clubs and raves didn’t care about no age limit anyways. I’ve went to my first rave end of 1990 .. 15 years old .. but I looked 18.
Google "East Berlin 1980-1990" and check the pictures .. East Berlin was kind of like the Bronx (New York) in the late 70’s early 80’s.
