The Uk music scene/Tom Jenkinson
mark givens (markeg@hotmail.com)
Tue, 05 Aug 1997 13:28:09 PDT
dear List:
1) Who is Tom Jenkinson/ What has he Out ?
2) What makes The U.K scene Different /Better .
Ahhh good topic . I like the U.k scene myself especially in the area of
R&B , triphop,and of course Jungle( of course because they invented it
and have all the best practitoners). I like to read mags like the
Touch , Hip hop connection and the fly online. My take on the British
scene is they have more enthusiasm- often over less talent -and they are
open to new things . Musically a U.K. remix of an American tune is
highly prized as it is 1) Rare-since it is limited to spinners b)
different,the britsh style, as exemplified by Linslee(see Erykah
Badus another lifetime Uk 12") is smoother cooler and just different.
The U.k. mix of Naughty by nature "Craziest " was so fly I looped it
and used it on demos by clueless local rappers who didnt call me on it.
If i had sent it to an A&r i may have gotten razzed but things didnt
develop that way. The Uk remix of Mary J Blige's first single(You Remind
Me)was pretty nifty also. The
Upshot is that ,beatwise, the Uk is in there but the reason the u.K
scene for R&b and rap will not take off (mark Morrison notwithstanding)
is that the Brits cant write a proper R&b song. As rappers the styles
are derivative of East coast styles but you cant front on the beats
except when they take a beat used in the US and just jack it ( see my
post on Nightmares on wax). I guess thats why you have Trip
hop and Jungle : top notch beatmen and no rappers or singers worthy of
the name. These two styles of music are refreshing and I love the
energy of the jungle scene. I guess on advantage Brits have is that
London is as big a town (well close) as New York and there are musicians
around. Plus being a compact country an indie label can distibute its
product to the few places where it will move . So there are a lot of
jungle 12"s about. I wrote this on the fly and probably
shifted gears from start to finish but that is my take on the Uk scene.
markeg@hotmail.com
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com