Goldie Let Loose.

The hardcore scene first ‘Darked Me Up’, after I’d heard Manix doing a PA at the Astoria, they passed me a copy of Athema by Nebula II. That tune convinced me the break beat style was going to develop fast. It’s like the way the UK dealt with Hip Hop, people saw break beating at it’s best, watched acts like ‘Rick Steady Crew’ compare that scene with today. Those people now respect the DJ’s Grooverider, Fabio, Randall, now they make hardcore tunes.

They’ve been to raves, heard the sounds, felt the atmosphere and want to put they’re idea of the badest rave tune on to plastic. There’s a down side to this, the big bandwagon. There’s too many people making shit plastic like the bous ragga house element. They take samples even thoughy they weren’t around when those Ragga sounds were being played, so they loose their soul, they even become dried out and stale. When it come to this you have to star doing your homework.

Ibiza on the other hard are perfect at creating the Jungle sound of London. Then you have Reinforced with Bad Boy image sounds. Like Doc Scott who inspired me, Absolute 2 is a different sound again, as is Movin Shadow. Every stable seems to develop it’s own feel. Four strong labels to name but a few, with all these variation on a hardcore theme surely there’s no need for a sell out.

It’s not difficult to make a hardcore tune. I’m a graffiti writer and artist, I make music with the same rules as I paint - it’s like a picture and it must be put together right – just as a picture has to be pleasing to the eye, so the sound has to be pleasing to the ear. Aesthetics are an important facet in Rufige Cru tunes. As for money personally I made my money in another time with the graffiti scene. Money is not my No 1 priority, so I have a different perspective on the whole scene. I feel the Rufige Cru are in it for the right reasons.

Hardcore will service as long as people continue to make quality tunes. If you make a lot of shit tunes little kids will sample from shit ‘cos that’s all they’ve got. Tunes like 2 Bad Mice and Blame have been sampled the most because they were excellent tunes – the basic tunes may not have belonged to 2 Bad Mice buy they brought the basic break of the tune from a Hip Hop, B-Boy angle to a new forefront. Rhythm Section will bring out a break and somebody will say ‘Have you heard that Rhythm Section break?’

It might not necessarily be Rhythm Section, it’s probably something like a Luith Van Dross break for example, but because hardcore take it and somebody from Rhythm Section have now fucked that break up and then somebody sucked in everything you can think of. So hardcore cycles on it’s own. If you were to make a hardcore record now you could line up all the current tunes samples from them and produce something completely different, it’s how you go dark on it. Because it works on it’s own cycle hardcore itself has created it’s own sounds like the old European sounds, the UK can now sample from it’s self.

I see the Rufige Cru as a door to the scene we’ve got to make the music acceptable, to turn other people on to it. Anybody doing it any other way is being selfish. Reinforced work as a stable of ideas and is able to vary those ideas Reinforced are the driving force behind me. I respect their attitude and that the driving force behind me. I respect their attitude and that makes us want to produce the tunes. As far as our 2plate” label is concerned, this just takes it into another mode so that from 1st concept dubs, our stable is taking care of getting our ideas across and giving the sound to ravers at raw source.

That way we don’t sit and become stagnated, setting the pace for ourselves. People then get on it and start ticking and clickin… so we got to move on and get the “mechanics off getting the tunes out”.

We’ve got a new four tracker coming out called Terminator. We’re going at a fresh angle , at the so called end of the breakbeat scene. Purely Experimental, playing around with ideas and patterns at the current rate and speed 150bpm but turning back on speed at that point and making things slow down in rhythms.

A couple of years ago when tunes were generally simpler, everything sounded new. Now hardcore must be restocked, Rufige if it is to survive. Listen up for a new breed of tune for a new breed of DJ that’s out there who has to deal with mixing, phrases, rhythms, intricate B-lines and tricky vocals, and that’s how it should be.

I’d like to think all front runners in hardcore, felt they had an obligation to themselves, and ravers to strive for innovation and quality, even if the tune was made in their bedroom. I’m not just saying being on a label is the main place to be at. Tunes that I was schooled on were often white labels that kicked ie GCG. You could tell by the buzz of the tune they were out there breaking fresh ground with the new sound. Now these white labels due to certain mechanics of the way these things are run means white label = $.

It’s making it hard for the fresh generation to come through and be identified that’s why it’s good to be out at the rave s and clubs to home in one fresh talent – roll them on your label so they can develop in a stable and bounce off one another internally. The thing I find working with Reinforced is the boys back you up 100%. It all boils down to chillin out and still having fun without getting para, keeping the music at the heart and the dogs at bay.

All I know say Manix De’Bout wid sum been-up business, 4 Hero are caning it, and Nebula II are back… and certain man are rollin wid metal.

Republished with kind permission of Dave Diehard of Blaze Magazine October 92