Ragga Twins, The - Illegal Gunshot / Spliffhead

'Illegal Gunshot' is not only a damn good tune but the subject matter is as relevant now as it was then. The track managed to approach the menace of gun culture with humour and clever imagery. Flinty Badman talks about hearing people in the street talking about guns, he hears 'gun talk' lyrics in the songs in the dance and finally 'then me ere a man bawl/eh, me bredren get shot' where Flinty manages to convey the danger and panic of a gun fight in a packed club but still uses rhymes that make you smile.

Whilst the A side "Illegal Gunshot" is a fairly solid piece of conscious ragga set on top of a breakbeat, its the flip that has secured Ragga Twins deserved place in dance music history.

Although the routes of hardcore were seeded a bit earlier, Shut Up and Dance were one of the pioneers to really push the sped-up hip-hop breakbeats, with acid and house influences, but also add a touch of reggae/sound system culture too, and hardcore emerged.

The first time I heard this dropped in amongst a mix of predominantly Belgian techno (which was king at that time on rave dancefloors), it was absolutely devastating. Certainly some of the purists weren't having it, but for many there, the b-line and that drop signalled something very special to come.