"Knowledge and Wisdom started, yeah, after I had been with previous labels,
foundation jungle labels, labels that put out some of the first tracks back
in '92, '93. Back then I was in a group called Noise Factory, yeah, and I
had been around in the early days listening to hardcore tunes and
underground tunes, certain underground classics. I was responsible for some
of those underground classics. After time, moving around with other labels,
I think I found my feet in 94, and I started Knowledge and Wisdom."
"Demolition Man and I are family, so it's like we've always been together,
from way back, doing music. My father used to play in different sound
systems, and I grew up around records, stuff like that, so it was a natural
thing really going into music. I had a sound system when I was younger,
playing reggae and hip hop, and so that was like a foundation for jungle,
the mix of what people were listening to in London, hip hop, reggae, UK
soul, everything. We had everything to listen to, so it was only natural
for jungle to develop and to come from London since London youths had all
these different types of music around them. When the technology came, and
we started playing with it, the beats became faster and, man, jungle was
coming, but no one at the time had a name for it, so for a little while, it
was just something that we liked doing."
"The reason why I stayed with ragga is because to me, reggae is the
foundation for all music and if you move away from the root, you lose the
whole element of the music, yeah, and you end up taking away the core and
you have nothing except for the shell with no substance. I take the raw
element of reggae and keep that with the jungle because that's what got
people liking jungle in the first place. It never came in the way people
hear it now. There's nothing wrong with the way it is now, it had to grow,
and there's nothing wrong with growing and expanding, that's what life is
all about, but at the same time when you take away the natural ingredient,
it becomes weak."
"OK, for a second let's get down to the base of these issues really . . .
the reggae side of things in the UK is like a ruffneck element, hardcore
reggae style. That style of music, was then stereotyped and it got branded
and although people wanted to hear it, you didn't always hear it in the
clubs. In the UK I keep a low profile for the fact that I had a certain
height when I done 'Fire' and plus originally going back before Fire, I had
done some underground tunes which to this day, if you play old school sets,
you have to play them. So I'm not really on an old school level, it's just
that I choose not to really be in that circle, should you say, like, of
people that are known. If you know me, you know me, if you don't, well, you
will eventually. I don't feel that I always have to be in the same arena as
them, although one day it will come to that."
"Slowly but surely, I know that UK people are coming back around to the
natural element. Before I came to Canada I went to three major events in
the UK and all they played was 94 sets and we both know what 94 sets are.
So why are all these big events going back to 94? What's wrong with? I can
show you flyers of months of going back to 94 and the reason is people want
entertainment now. As it was in the beginning, it will be in the end. The
world is a circle and if it starts here, it's got to come back. Again,
natural elements."
"A lot of people might of thought that we weren't around anymore, but we've
been building up our music. All our ten inch dubs will soon be released as
twelve's, and we're willing to start small again and grow. That's how this
all started, a few men just building a different style of music and look
where we are now, jungle is large."
"I've been doing underground music for years and I've been working with the
Canadians for years, a company called SPG. I heard about Toronto way back
since 93, 94, but I never imagined it would be the way it is. I mean,
Canadian people, enough respect to you. This tells me that UK people are
letting something slip and they don't realize it. I'd just like to say that
there's so much love coming from the Canadian people and the way people
received us and the way they treated us, I could never imagined, and it
tells me that the music, jungle, is very strong here and it can influence
and change people's lives. A girl came up to me after the set and told me
that she had just passed her grades and that being there at that venue and
taking a picture with me made her, you know, it meant so much to her and
I'm grateful that I can do that for people through this music with people
like Demolition Man and Frisky and all the other people associated with
Knowledge and Wisdom. That's what music is for, it's to set people free and
that's what this style of music is about. I think that this place has much
potential and that this place is very cosmopolitan and the way people are
living here gives me hope that there will be peace in the world. The amount
of nations of people I've seen in this place and there's no violence, well
maybe I haven't been here long enough, but what I've seen is amazing."
"I've been fortunate enough to travel this year and I've learned that the
young people, universally, are all the same. There are no barriers.
Everyone is riding on the one love vibe it seems at the moment regardless
of what colour, race, shape, size, it doesn't matter. There's a great love,
a oneness with the people, with the youth."
Well? It's intense, I know. Terry tells me that he wants a full three hour
set when he comes back! "I need three hours with you lot!". Knowledge and
Wisdom will be coming back soon. And when they do, that my friends will be
one sick party, let me tell you. And, of course, TorontoJungle.com will be
there in full to represent.
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