Junglist guru Congo Natty celebrates his recent Ancestorz (Rootz Of Jungle) album by blessing us with a blazing selection of tracks for Beatport’s Playlist of the Week.
In the beginning, there was BASS
The Word is Sound
And Sound is frequency
Tones can break glass and solid structures,
Tones can heal & repair us.
We have been systematically detached from our ancestral bassline, and Ancestorz (Rootz of Jungle) is a journey through many millennia and time travels into a liquid crystal time portal.
Bass Gate opens every 3000 years
We are time travellers on a journey with our great Ancestorz
— Congo Natty
Congo Natty – Junglist (feat. Peter Bouncer) [New State Music]
Jungle Army Defenders, 3 am, Camden Town. This track is a story of the great UK bassline robbery and how a bunch of producers were robbed of their musical rights. We all gathered and sat in a room to create a voice, because we weren’t counting on magazines to talk, there was no social media, so music had to talk. So we as the junglists had to stand up and make a statement that we’re still junglists.
Congo Natty, BlackStar – Emperor Selassie I (feat. Bounty Hunter) [New State Music]
“I recorded this one in Jamaica, Kingston, at I&i studios. I had to take the trip there to represent jungle music because there was a big frequency that was going round the world, called jungle music, and Jamaica is the heartbeat of jungle. I had to go on a pilgrimage and bring my jungle beat to the Jamaicans for them to bless it for me, and it was blessed by Bounty Hunter.
Tenor Fly – Jah Sunshine (Chopstick Remix) [Distrokid]
This track is an anthem for the great Tenor Fly and it’s based on his original track that went to number one in the reggae charts in the UK. We got together and started to create a revolution, and this is one of the tracks. This track is like a unification of the original sound system in the UK meets the new sound of the UK; that’s how it is with Tenor Fly, he’s from a sound called Sir Coxone Outernational and they were one of the biggest sounds in the UK.
Bob Marley – One Love [Epic/Legacy]
We always play Bob at the beginning of the set to bless us and to guide us, as he’s the original junglists along with Peter Tosh & Bunny Wailer & all the Rasta Elders.
Congo Natty, Super Cat, Reggie Stepper – Code Red [New State Music]
So Code Red again was a UK/Jamaica link-up, and it involved Super Cat, who at the time was the number one DJ in the dancehall circle. You’ve got Vybz Kartel now, and Beenie Man, Ninja Man, and Super Cat was the don. We went to where he’s from, got blessed by all the mandem, and we shot a beautiful video with Super Cat and Reggie Stepper in Jamaica, but it got banned after that. But it was beautiful, and I hope to release it to the people again.
Congo Natty – Jah Set It (DUBPLATE) [New State Music]
So Dungeons was a very important venue for the underground revolution in the UK, it was based in Clapton, East London. One night, “Jah Set It” got dropped, it was just one of those tunes that had to get dropped, and there were different drops in the track, so any time a different drop came, you got a reload. The dance was a massive studio for me cause I could listen to the bassline and think, “is the vocal loud enough? Are the people feeling it?” So “Jah Set It” was one of those tracks that I had no idea how it was gonna drop cause it was so different. Yeah, it was special.
Congo Natty, Lady Etak – Gvnshott (feat. Bee Rosebud) [Distrokid]
“Gvnshott” is a special community project based around open mike sessions I run in the area & lady Etak is part of the project – it’s an anti-knife and anti-gun track. It’s all about trying to give the youths an alternative to the lifestyle they have been programmed to be a part of. Positive energy for the youth to shine.
Congo Natty, Monkey Jhayam, Alienacao Afrouturista, Falle Nioke – Ancestral Hi Tek [New State Music]
Taken from my new album Ancestorz (Rootz of Jungle) — featuring some of the next-gen of junglists from South America!
Jah Cure, Tribe of Issachar – Kunta Kinte (94 Dub Plate) [New State Music]
Inspired by the Roots TV series and The Revolutionaries band. The Revolutionaries built a track when I was a yute man called “Kunta Kinte.” This track was a signal and a wake-up for our inner chi. “Kunta Kinte” got played and woke us up. So the frequency of “Kunta Kinte” was a dubplate, it wasn’t a released tune at the time, and only certain sounds had that dubplate, so it was a big signal. I didn’t know anything about my roots or culture, yet I got roots and culture, so Kunta Kinte was the one to come along and say do you know you’re from Africa, got taken away and stripped down naked and for 400 years you didn’t even know who you were. So this music called reggae is more than just a genre. It’s a revolution to wake up the sleeping people that were put under hypnosis. All of us in the western world are under hypnosis. That’s why we think a certain way. Until we go through a trauma in our life, we ain’t even seen — we’re just going along with the roll of the river, and who we think we are and who we’re told we are. So we give thanks for the gurus of the world who come in different forms and just wake us up.
Pendulum, $pyda, DJ Fresh, Tenor Fly – Tarantula [Breakbeat Kaos]
The great Tenor Fly alongside DJ Fresh and $pyda. A big track that always has to get dropped. Blaze up da place!
Congo Natty’s latest album Ancestorz (Roots Of Jungle) is out now via New State Music. Buy it on Beatport.
