rill music and TV will come collectively on Jungle, a brand new six-part collection that arrives on Prime Video on September 30.
We’ve been given a sneak preview of the primary two episodes — and we like what we’ve seen. These early instalments are centred on a personality known as Gogo (performed brilliantly by Ezra Elliott), a conflicted determine swept up in a lifetime of crime, however desperately making an attempt to wriggle free.
Jungle’s story is advised in an progressive manner, with characters ceaselessly breaking out of regular dialogue and into rapping, dropping verses over drill beats. To execute that, creators Junior Okoli and Chas Appeti have put collectively a solid dominated by musicians, from each the most recent wave of UK drill and the sooner grime and rap scenes.
Right here, we’ve picked out the musicians featured within the first two episodes, with some huge names nonetheless to reach later within the collection (the likes of Massive Narstie, AM, Skengdo, Dizzee Rascal, TeeZandos and others). Learn forward for extra, and be cautious of some minor spoilers.
RA
- Character: Slim, one of many foremost villains of the early episodes, who leads Gogo on a botched housebreaking, which unleashes all kinds of bother.
- IRL: In any other case generally known as Actual Artillery (and by his actual title Josee Hylton-Reid) the Brixton rapper was a key participant within the early days of grime as a part of the Roadside G’s collective. Now, he’s a part of the most recent wave of UK rap, releasing his newest album Parabellum earlier this 12 months.
- Take heed to: Rewind 07
M24
- Character: 6IX, one other of Gogo’s most fearsome enemies within the first two episodes. He believes his brother was murdered by Gogo (or a minimum of that he was concerned) and units about exacting revenge.
- IRL: One other Brixton rapper, actual title Dorai Harrison, who’s extensively considered some of the thrilling skills within the new wave of UK drill, releasing his debut mixtape Drip ‘N’ Drill in 2020.
- Take heed to: We Don’t Dance
IAMDDB
- Character: Mia Mor$, one of many extra mysterious figures within the early episodes — a type of underworld bohemian who sells different folks’s stolen items for a lower of the revenue.
- IRL: Lisbon-born, with Angolan and Portuguese heritage, and raised in Manchester from childhood, Diana De Brito’s sing-rap fashion brings collectively flavours of lure, jazz, dance music and extra.
- Take heed to: City Jazz
Jaykae
- Character: Willow, certainly one of Slim’s associates, whose comparatively easy-going manner is underscored by a steely consciousness.
- IRL: Janum Khan is a hero of the Birmingham rap scene, who performed an enormous position in placing the town on the grime map when the style was going by means of its growth within the 2010s.
- Take heed to: Toothache
J Fado
- Character: Chapo, certainly one of 6IX’s menacing henchmen, equally intent on discovering out who was accountable for the dying of 6IX’s brother.
- IRL: Oxford may not be identified for its rap scene, however that’s the town from which J Fado sprung — and now he’s one of many quickest rising rappers within the nation, with a smoother fashion than a few of his drill contemporaries.
- Take heed to: Elevate
Tinie Tempah
- Character: Tinie (his character title is similar as his stage title), who solely makes a short cameo within the first episode as a type of mentor/elder determine to Gogo.
- IRL: In all probability the perfect identified musician on the solid, a minimum of amongst an viewers past drill obsessives, Tinie Tempah (actual title Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu) got here to prominence with a string of hits in 2010, similar to Move Out, Frisky, Written within the Stars and Miami 2 Ibiza.
- Take heed to: Move Out
Rimzee
- Character: A minor character within the first episode, showing as certainly one of Tinie’s associates.
- IRL: The Clapton rapper, actual title Ricardo Miles, launched his first mixtape, The Higher Clapton Dream, all the way in which again in 2012 — after which adopted it up with a sequel, Higher Clapton Dream 2, eight years later.
- Take heed to: G Wagon
Unknown T
- Character: Okay, an eccentric however nonetheless intimidating legal who joins Gogo on one other housebreaking within the second episode.
- IRL: A Homerton rapper, actual title Daniel Lena, who was one of many musicians accountable for serving to UK drill emerge from the underground to pierce the mainstream. His debut observe Homerton B is a traditional of the scene.
- Take heed to: Homerton B
Jordan
- Character: Bully, a part of a nefarious duo with Okay.
- IRL: Full title Jordan McCann, the Salford rapper has change into a cult determine on-line along with his music, which bristles with lyrics taking a searingly sincere look and his personal tangles with the legal justice system.
- Take heed to: Little Hulton
Double Lz
- Character: Credited beneath his stage title, he seems as certainly one of 6IX’s mates throughout one of many drill music sections.
- IRL: Actual title Andre Deer, he’s a part of the OFB drill collective with roots in Broadwater Farm, Tottenham — Headie One, whose debut album Edna grew to become the primary drill album to ever prime the UK charts in 2020, additionally associates with the group.
- Take heed to: Out In The O
Bandokay
- Character: Additionally credited beneath his stage title, he’s one thing a double act with Double Lz, dropping verses alongside facet him and 6IX within the drill part.
- IRL: Kemani Kane Duggan has shut ties in actual life with Double Lz, too, releasing music as a part of the OFB collective — in actual fact, in 2021 he launched Drill Commandments, an album co-created with Double Lz.
- Take heed to: Ambush