http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDSkQ8XnFiw

Thanks to Droid for alerting me to this surprising addendum to the Papa Levi story.

So this is an undisputed classic UK MC tune, OK? If you had a Papa Levi acapella in the early 90s, you’d seriously consider doing a jungle relick, right? No brainer!

But… would you make it a lounge-jazz version with completely pointless Malcolm X samples? Well, these guys did. And they also pitched up the acapella so it goes all Minnie Mouse. Which is probably par for the course, but not helped by the crappy bitrate here.

Sounds like the vocal is taken off Levi’s own ragga relick of the original, which was released on Birmingham’s Spider Ranks label – probably around the same time. That cut is wicked and I think I played it on RSI Radio vol 3.

I’m pretty sure Spider Ranks was allied to the Luv Injection soundsystem, so I guess this jungle tune (credited to “The Link (Love Injection Music)”) had something to do with them. There was a fantastic TV documentary about Luv Injection clashing Ricky Trooper in Birmingham in the 90s, which I have on a VHS tape around here somewhere.

Anyway, Papa Levi is still tearing it up. Check the most recent RSI Radio for a wicked 2010 tune by him on a grime tip, produced by Saxon-affiliate Dot Rotten.