Kenny Ken Interview – Vibration Club, Germany

Jungle has come quite far since its beginning, deep in London town. It looks like the UK has discovered a new No. 1 export article.

Quite appropriate then, to be able to grab one of the hardstep leaders, Kenny Ken, for a little chat at Vibration, Germany’s No. 1 club as far as Jungle intelligence is concerned. Especially as it allows for a different perspective of the British scene, as well as a healthy discussion of some of the misconception and prejudices that have only served as distraction of late. This is the reason why Kenny ken’s initial reluctance is confused with the false impression of being exclusive, it has more to do with the fact that,

“The media have got it all wrong. Only recently they’ve started interviewing the right people, but before they were interviewing the wrong people and giving them credit for putting Jungle where it is today. The people that have been pushing the forefront of Jungle, people like Goldie, DJ Ron, the Fabio, Grooverider, myself, Micky Finn, Randall etc, those are the people behind Jungle, not the General Levy’s”.

Surely all of the media hype cannot have the Jungle unscathed?

“It has affected the scene in a positive way by letting people know that Jungle is here and here to stay, but the wrong people are getting big’d up, the wrong people are getting the credit”.

In fact, one of the few media institutions (involved in the dance music scene) that Kenny Ken approves happens to be Eternity, seeing as how the rest of the media landscape is afflicted by insufferable hypocrisy from one issue to the next. And, if Jungle isn’t being insulted then it’s being portrayed as a few, “black kids trying to make money to buy their gold and their Mercedes. They’re trying to glamorise Jungle and that’s not what it’s about. Jungle is from the street. A lot of the music that’s being made in Jungle is being made in someone’s bedroom. It’s street kids that have found something to do now. They’re making something with their lives and the government in the UK is trying to put us down with the Criminal Justice Act”.

Indeed, glamour and fame are two vices that Kenny ken does not approve of for he is a man of outstanding modesty. Many regard his audience nominated victory against the likes of DJ’s Rap, Brockie, Micky Finn, Devious D etc at least years Jungle Sound Clash, as one of the pinnacles of his career so far – a career that started in 1989 during the embryonic phase of rave. However, Kenny Ken considers this success as merely having gained a little more exposure.

“I’ve been there from day one, but I’m not worried about the spotlight. I don’t go out of my way to expose myself, so winning the Sound Club just got me noticed a bit more”.

So far, Kenny Ken’s main medium of exposure has been his DJ’ing with the odd excursions into producing, but one clearly defects a desire to enter the field more seriously. After his first release on Boogie Best Records, for which he was ripped off, there ensued an artistic break which has broken at the end of last year with the release of Everyman. One can expect follow-up remixes on Fashion Records as well as the completion of his own studio, which will allow Kenny more time to experiment with the intricate drum pattern composition that are his trade mark. The main aspect of Jungle’s essence.

“Jungle’s sorting itself out. The production’s getting better. It’s still young, we’re still earning. Jungle music is a form of everything, you can make what you want out of Jungle. There are no rules. Jungle is all about finding new ways of doing things, finding new ways of making music. It doesn’t follow the pattern of mainstream music. The artists are programming their drum patterns: 2-step, 3-step or 5-step, it doesn’t matter. It’s not just based on the breakbeat anymore!”.

However, what these young artists could never have foreseen, is the magnetic effect their sounds would have, not only in the UK, but throughout the rest of the globe. Kenny Ken is a much travelled man these days: Canada, Australia, Germany and who could blame his proud undertone when he explains as only an ambassador can, that….

“Jungle is England’s culture. England never had a culture before Jungle started. Jungle in England is what Hip Hop is for the USA. But at the end of the day, we didn’t make it just to be English, we made it so that the whole world would appreciate it and so far we haven’t done too badly. Jungle is gonna be a universal thing, different styles are put together and people can relate to that”.

“What us English DJ’s do is bring out the groove in the people that don’t know if they’ve got it in them. Once we’ve played here tonight and we get it out of them they’ll be going into their studios with a different feeling, a different attitude”.

Touchy subject that one; a German magazine recently published an interview with Bassline Generation, one of Germany'’ few Jungle P.A.'’, in which they lamented a distinct lack of interest for their productions in Great Britain. Kenny ken’s reaction displays none of this discrimination….

“It’s not that England is closed off. England is the centre of Jungle so a majority of people in England find it hard to accept an outsider coming in because they aren’t on our level. It’s not because we think they’re shit, we’re just going to automatically think that they’re not ready yet. A lot of DJ’s outside of London had a hard time breaking in London and now that we’ve realised that they’re serious about Jungle they’re breaking it in London. We don’t respect Germany (I wouldn’t be sitting here otherwise). They should keep on with what they’re doing and when they think they’re ready they can send it across. And that’s coming from Kenny Ken!”.