The Song Planner

Dubwise Drum & Bass

tagStarted c. 1993Peak 1994-2002Last big hit active through jungle revival and reggae-influenced drum-and-bass labels

Located in 1 route

Electronic / Dance → Dub / Reggae Electronic

Dubwise Drum & Bass applies dub and reggae sound-system pressure to jungle and drum and bass: chopped breaks, heavy sub, skanks, ragga vocals, sirens, rewinds, and spacious mixdowns. It is less pop-ragga than novelty jungle and more rooted in dub's bass culture. A good dubwise D&B track feels like a sound-system plate moving at breakbeat speed.

History

The style grew out of UK jungle as reggae, dancehall, dubplate culture, pirate radio, and rave breakbeats collided. Congo Natty, Shy FX & UK Apachi, M-Beat & General Levy, DJ Hype, Remarc, Roni Size, DJ Krust, Dillinja, Breakage, Marcus Visionary, Serial Killaz, Benny Page, Aries, Chopstick Dubplate, and Potential Badboy carried the dubwise line across classic jungle and modern revival. It remains one of the clearest bridges between reggae sound-system culture and D&B.

Defining artists

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Essential listening

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← Explore Electronic / Dance

Sources

  • Ransom Note Renk/Incredible feature
  • FT jungle retrospective
  • Mixmag jungle revival coverage
  • Pitchfork drum-and-bass/ragga-jungle coverage
  • ragga-jungle history references