One aspect of the video I found fascinating was that new nodes of the “Black Atlantic” not mentioned in the Back article were celebrated by jungle DJ’s. For example, MC Lenny mixes an Anita Baker soul track, presenting a take on Afro-Diasporic fusion music that is distinct from the reggae and hip hop flair that we have observed thus far.
Also interesting is the parallel between rap criticism and jungle criticism. For example, gangsta jungle is perceived as a purely negative influence on British youth in the same way that gangsta rap has been pitted as a negative influence among American youth.
The film portrayed an almost entirely male cast of singers and rappers associated with jungle. This matches up with Back’s assertion that “men dominate the sound systems” of dub, reggae, and even bhangra in the sphere of British popular music. It’s interesting that DJ Rap, the first woman interviewed in the film, is very light-skinned, and harkens back to Maira’s assertion that a caste-system in many Desi communities, among other diasporic communities whose members encompass a wide variety of skin-tones, is an entrenched component of female desirability and the mobility of women within the cultural economy.
I am curious as to how the very heavily multi-diasporic nature of jungle influences the way race and gender is complicated within the genre. The people portrayed in the film encompass a wide variety of racial backgrounds, corresponding with the high level of transcultural musical production implicit in the genre. How does this variety influence the way women are inscribed as sexual objects in many jungle tracks, or their lack of participation in the genre’s production?
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