Raggamuffinski  Isaac Maya Rmx

Jamalski, agitator since 1991. This is not a marketing slogan. Who else but this MC born in New York City can boast about driving BPM counters crazy, making clubbers and party people going hysterical and breaking the barriers between Hip Hop, Ragga, Jungle, Funk, House, Dub, Techno and Drum’N’Bass? From his debut featuring KRS One in 1990 to this inflammatory Ruffnecks Revenge release, Jamalski has always put himself above cliché, easiness and well-established genres.

When he talks about his vision of Drum’N’Bass through this album, Jamalskidoes not speak about what we think we already know: “For me, Drum is futuristic Punk-Rock, a very underground sound which takes its roots in Hip Hop, Dub, Rave scene or Techno from Detroit but also in Bad Brains music and from all the artists who broke musical barriers…I’m part of the people who don’t make music to please radio programmers.”

very time he holds the mic on stage, Jamalski brings an enormous charge of adrenaline to the audience. The strength of this new album is how well this adrenaline has been transposed onto a CD. This sound, the Sound Systems vibrations, the amplifiers almost bursting and the furious beats are all there.

The MC has surrounded himself by international producers known for doing neither polite nor proper: coming from France (Brusco, Kafra, Chakal 900…), from Belgium (System D), from Canada (Capital J) or from Norway (Future Prophecies).
Their sounds are as aggressive, electrifying, and without any concessions as Jamalski’s lyrics and flow. 

This album is just fat. It’s like a paving stone thrown into the window of the music industry wanting to sell records like yoghourts to silly and disciplined consumers.

“I don’t have anything against cars and clothes, I just think that we need to call upon people’s intelligence and originality instead of pushing them to consume more and more. I feel like I’m making a battle. I handle a form of violence with words as a metaphor. The essence of the message is positive though: move to question yourself, to break the frontiers, to build connections between people and music, to push limits away…”

Some important dates:

1990: KRS One give the mic to Jamalski on Seven Dee-jay with Boogie Down Production (Edutainment album). On the same year, he performs for the first time in France with notably Cut Killer and Kheops spinning.
1993: First album Roughnecks Reality (Sony) is released
1994: Jamalski launches Concrete Jungle, the first jungle residence in New York City at The Village. He invites there Shy FX, UK Apache…
1995: Jamalski joins the club and rave scene of San Francisco which is at that time the principal home for Jungle in the US.
2000: Jamalski moves to Europe
2005: Release of Ruffnecks Revenge, first 100% Jamalski’s album since 199


Comments

Ibe Van Durme

Ja!Nine

Arthur Boillot

Scibes

oxybox

Rosie MissChief

Kittie_Kaos

LokoBeats

djpabz80

Ludwigvandub