DJ Nut Nut – Special Dedication (Ladies Mix) (Hard Step Records, 1994)
Given the later use of the term “hardstep” it is somewhat ironic that the only release on Grooverider’s Hard Step Records was a ragga jungle tune. DJ Nut Nut was Nana Ansong, a young DJ and producer who released material on several labels in ’93/’94 including Production House and Rough Tone while also doing shows on the Essex pirate Sweet FM 101.6. After a few years hiatus he briefly reappeared on True Playaz with a 12″ and a track on the Real Vibes LP before disappearing again.
‘Special Dedication’ is one of those classic jungle tunes that everyone knows. It opens with deep pulsing synths along with a sample of David Rodigan from the beginning of a clash with Waggy T at the Mahi Temple, Miami on the 6th February 1993:
“Tonight, you are going to hear music you never heard before. Tonight you are going to hear the most cantankerous, roughneck, poisonous dubplates you ever heard!”
Hear these words in their original context here, they appear at around 2:11. The exclamation is the cue for Think/Sesame Street drums and a wicked bassline to come in. The other vocal samples on the track all come from Fashion Records releases, with Top Cat and Frankie Paul being credited as featured artists on the 12″ although it’s Poison Chang whose vocals appear next, taken from the beginning of ‘Over Yu Body’. Top Cat’s opening lines from ‘Gallist’ are what the track is best remembered for though: “”Phenomenomenon one, Special dedication to all the woman…”, with Nut Nut adding some soulful vocals from Frankie Paul’s ‘The Kissing Game’ to complement them while spacey synths in the second half add further depth. As Rodigan would put it, a cantankerous and roughneck tune.
Jungle Mania 2 included a VIP of ‘Special Dedication’ which used different Rodigan vocals from the Waggy T clash (“Okay, showtime now special request… You see tonight is going to be a night of musical pleasure”) and replaced the Think/Sesame Street breaks with the Amen – check it out below. You can also get the digital of ‘Special Dedication’ from Drum&BassArena and Beatport thanks to its inclusion on a recent Sigma remix Nut Nut’s Bandcamp page. Head over to Hardscore to download a rare recording of a DJ Nut Nut set on Sweet FM with Mad Ragga Jon and SLB from 1994.
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