Jungle, which came out of the rave scene when DJs began experimenting with "black sounds" in the late 80s, is a diasporic music that mostly borrows from Jamaican music. This type of dance music often incorporates reggae vocals, vocals similar to rapping, or samples from films or other found material, on top of jungle's distinguishing sound which is an exaggerated use of bass. The music is definitely produced and consumed mainly by urban youth (one junglist puts it simply, "Jungle is about making music that adults hate and kids love"), but while jungle redefines notions of "Britishness" and British culture from a black perspective, the music scene itself is not so racially divided. From the film it is clear that jungle is a genre that black and white urban youths make and listen to together. However, one interviewee defined the rise of jungle as "a coming of age for black Britain," and the music definitely involves consciousness of multiple identities (i.e. diasporic identity) for many of its participants.
As such, the development of jungle is "fuelled by the creative tension between tradition and improvisation" (Les Back), and the result is a sound that some DJs close to the genre consider distinctly underground. Authenticity is highly valued in this genre at the time the film was made, and the jungle records of the early 90s were mainly released on independent minor labels. In a time and place (Britain) where blacks deal with racism and poverty, does jungle serve to redefine "black Britain" and the place and history of blacks in Britain? Is the backlash against jungle's mainstream success an attempt to preserve the integrity of this diasporic sound, or is this simply jealousy of mainstream success (as one of the interviewees says in the film)?
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