1995 DnB was defined by a productive conflict between 'elegant urbanity' (jazz-influenced) and 'ruffneck tribalism' (hiphop/ragga/dub)

Reynolds frames the mid-1990s DnB scene as a ‘productive conflict between two rival models of blackness’: elegant urbanity (jazz-lite, smooth soul — connoting sophistication and upward mobility) versus ruffneck tribalism (hiphop, ragga, dub — rooted in ‘African music principles like bass frequencies, polyrhythms, repetition’). This binary is both a cultural analysis and a compositional taxonomy: it predicts where the genre will split (liquid/jazz-step vs. techstep/neurofunk) and names the aesthetic stakes. Reynolds argues the deeper artists are those who refuse jazz-legitimacy in favour of the tribalist tradition — not out of ‘an ill-conceived notion of maturity but simply because they’re impelled to plunge ever deeper into the anti-populist imperatives of the art’s core.‘

Examples

The ‘elegant’ camp: Bukem, Photek, E-Z Rollers — jazz textures, ambient calm. The ‘tribal’ camp: Dillinja, Roni Size, Droppin’ Science — polyrhythm, bass detonation, ghettocentric menace. Reynolds writes that the latter ‘are doing things for which we don’t yet have a language.‘

Assessment

Name two artists Reynolds places in each camp and describe one sonic feature that distinguishes them. How does the elegance/tribalism split map onto the later liquid vs. techstep/neurofunk divergence in DnB history?