Freestyles - Play The Game / Learn From The Mistakes Of The Past

Zinc’s side starts with the eerie trumpet intro off “Funkin’ for Jamaica” by Tom Brown, I guess you have to plunder from anywhere to be a successful drum ‘n’ bass producer, although actually it works really well and sets the track up nicely. There’s a sample of alcoholic chess enthusiast Samuel L Jackson saying “Some say he was the greatest player ever to play the game… play the game… play the game…” and a simple one-two beat comes in, which is then joined by quite a forceful bassline. For some producers this would be enough, but this is just an intro, and in the fullness of time the tune drops with the addition of more breaks and a nice wobbly bass sound. And then some chopped and filtered amen comes in, then a new bassline… it definitely offers value for money.

DJ Hype’s offering on the flip (the longest title in drum ‘n’ bass ever? The first and last attempt at offering lifestyle advice by a drum and bass DJ?) has loads of hip hop and kung fu samples, not particularly coherent but it is quite entertaining.