Shut Up and Dance sped up hip-hop breakbeats to house tempo, creating the foundation for jungle and UK garage

Shut Up and Dance took the break beats from hip-hop culture, ‘put it into our music but we sped it up to a house Tempo.’ This crossing of the breakbeat (hip-hop’s rhythmic engine: chopped and looped drum breaks) with the four-on-the-floor tempo range of house created a hybrid that neither scene initially claimed. The result ‘laid the foundations for both jungle and UK garage’ — jungle by developing the fast breakbeat further, UK garage by incorporating a garage rhythmic feel. The key move was tempo manipulation: existing breakbeat material changed genre by changing speed.

Examples

The Shut Up and Dance warehouse parties charged £2 entry at a time when commercial raves charged £10 — ‘we were like no no no taking a piss.‘

Assessment

Explain the specific production move Shut Up and Dance made (what they took, what they changed) and trace the lineage that led to both jungle and UK garage.