 The Jungle Emcee is a bona fide underground UK phenomenon; you’ll find him (and occasionally her) spitting flows at illegal raves, squat parties and pirate radio stations and generally setting dance floors alight. And now we have one right here in Bali. MC Drift first stepped to the mic last NY Eve and totally ripped it up. Since then, he’s been a regular at 66’s Thursday night Global Hedonism drum and bass gigs.
Drift started out in a skate-punk band in the UK, spending most of his days playing music, skating and blazing. Then in 1990 a friend came back from Ibiza with a tape by a DJ called SlipMatt. “That was it, I’d never heard anything like it and pretty soon the skate band was done with and we were going to outdoor raves all over the midlands.” It was here that Drift first encountered rave emcees. “I thought they were wicked but there wasn’t much lyrical content – so I figured I’d have a go.” He started out just grabbing the mic at free parties and by 1994 had established a bit of a reputation on the underground. “Then I got approached by this guy from Show Us records who’d heard about me and liked what I was doing – I put together a tape for him and off the back of that he got me my first major gig.” Drift was pretty much thrown in at the deep end, emceeing alongside legendary DJs Randall and Zinc of the True Playaz crew. “I was well nervous, but I dropped some ragga style lyrics and afterwards Zinc came up to me and gave me a massive hug, thanked me and said I’d smashed it.”
After this, the gigs started rolling in and Drift found himself playing with the likes of Danny C and Jumping Jack Frost. He moved up to Birmingham for a while where he really made a name for himself with a regular Saturday night slot on the city’s biggest pirate radio station and a residency at Q Club. Moving back down to London, he worked with Moving Shadow doing a regular night at Mass, a converted church in Brixton. And then he came Bali. “Honestly, I thought there’d be no kind of drum & bass scene here but it seems to be growing. I’m performing at the Two Tribes party in August and also at a birthday bash up in Singapore for Subvert, one of the biggest party promoters over there.”Drift is also doing his first recording with local artist DKronix out of Singapore.Whether you’re a seasoned junglist or just into musical creativity, come check out Drift’s flow at The Beat Party – After Party on 10 June, backed by some laid back jazzy drum and bass. Soundz of da Bali Underground….
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