This Side:
DJ C - Billy Jungle (featuring Shinehead) mp3
That Side:
DJ C - Billy Jungle (version) mp3
In 2003 DJ C started the Mashit label to release hard-hitting ragga-junglistical
mashups. Mashit 001 featured rough and rugged remixes of Capleton by DJ
C and Aaron Spectre, and sold out within weeks of it’s release.
All the Mashit records have garnered nuf respect from Japan to Australia,
Budapest to Brooklyn. Mashit 004 is no exception. Advanced promos were
already killing dance-floors across Europe and the US before it's release.
What’s the buzz about? DJ C has outdone himself this time, remixing
the remix. Versioning the version. Making a classic classic classic, a
raging dance-hop-jungcore masterpiece.
BBC Radio One DJ Rob Da Bank writing in URB Magazine about Billy Jungle:
"One of the most forward-looking [US] labels (if you like your electronics
mashed up) finally releases this version of the Shinehead original,
which was a corking reggae version of Michael Jackson's "Billie
Jean." If
you ever need a record to get a party started and you've forgotten
your copy of Blue Monday, whack this on."
**** Four Stars - Pitchforkmedia - Jess Harvell
"DJ C takes us back to a time when [MJ] convinced the world he was an inveterate
seed-spreader while seducing us into feeling sorry for him. (Which, in a much
grosser way, he's still doing.) I actually think it's a new vocal or some contemporaneous
lovers rock version over a heavy stepping intro (kicks holes through that light-up
sidewalk) and a tear out that proves even at his slickest, our biggest public
pervert was rugged never smooth.
Grooves Magazine - Sean Portnoy
"Mashit head honcho DJ
C has added to the fray with his label's string of 12-inches straight
outta Boston. He's behind the controls for the latest EP, which features
a version of Shinehead's "Billy Jean" – itself a version
of "Billie Jean" – and then offers a version of C's version
on the flip side. Of course, fourth-generation versioning is just a start
of things in dancehall culture, where a new rhythm can spawn 20 different
versions in the time it takes to smoke a spliff.
You can't miss with anything based around "Billie Jean," and
Shinehead added a distinctive little whistle based on "The Good,
the Bad, and the Ugly" to his version. C frames the verses with
those all-so-familiar frantic breaks, but the see-saw effect of the tempo
changes gives this a bopping, almost paradoxically laid-back feel in
an otherwise-manic genre. C's versioning of the A-side strips our the
lyrics, bringing focus to the whistle and the beats – probably
a more palatable trak for the breakcore massive, but it isn't quite as
much pop fun."
www.musicalbear.com - Masta G
"The most recent outing from DJ C has been rinsed out by John Peel,
Resonance, Ninja Tune and happy junglists in Europe and the U.S. –
no surprise there as he’s really excelled himself this time with
a scorching version of Shinehead’s classic, old skool dancehall
take on Billy Jean (it’s all about versioning the version). There’s
just enough of the morricone sampling original to lull you into a
skanking reggae vibe before the amen breaks come crashing in, leaving
you clinging on to that elusive melody – ‘they told me
her name was billy jean...’. It’s hard to make an impact
when you take on one of the most versioned tunes in dance music but
this more than succeeds and has kept us at the Bear entertained and
amazed since we first dropped the needle on the test pressing. We
don’t usually review stuff that’s
not available to buy in the U.K., but this is well worth paying u.s.
postage costs for – a proper anthem."
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