"Incredible" is a song by British

jungle jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅgala'' ...

producer

M-Beat Marlon Hart (born 1975), known professionally as M-Beat, is a Jungle music, jungle musician and record producer. The nephew of Sly Dunbar, Hart scored three top 20 Hit song, hit singles on the UK singles chart: "Incredible (M-Beat song), Incredi ...

featuring

General Levy Paul Scott Levy (born 28 April 1971), also known as General Levy, is an English ragga deejay, regularly employed on studio tracks by drum and bass DJs. He is best known for the track "Incredible" which he recorded with M-Beat. A remixed version ...

on vocals. It was first released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in 1994, by Renk Records, and reached number 39 on the UK Singles Chart. A re-release a few months later featuring new mixes was much more successful, peaking at number eight, and remaining on the chart for 12 weeks. "Incredible" was the first jungle track to reach the top 10 in the UK. General Levy's vocals on "Incredible" were adapted from a song he had previously written, titled "The Wickedest General". "Incredible" uses lyrics from Levy's song "Mad Them" as well as the beat from M-Beat's song "Style". In response to General Levy's remark, following the runaway success of "Incredible", that he was "runnin' jungle", an ad hoc "Committee" of DJs and others influential in the jungle community launched a campaign against the song. The song was featured in the 2002 British comedy film ''

Ali G Indahouse ''Ali G Indahouse'' is a 2002 comedy film written by Sacha Baron Cohen and Dan Mazer, directed by Mark Mylod, and starring Baron Cohen as Ali G, the character he originally played on the Channel 4 comedy series '' The 11 O'Clock Show'' and ''D ...

'' and appears on the film's

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

Critical reception

Upon the release, Andy Beevers from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' gave the single a score of four out of five, noting that "this combination of hardcore

beats and rapid-fire toasting from UK

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

star General Levy has been generating a huge buzz and could well crossover." Maria Jimenez from ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' remarked that "jungle is the energy supplier" to "Incredible". Ben Willmott from ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' said, "Poppy and infectious, it's totally uncompromising on the new style jungle beats but has a breathtaking

ragga Raggamuffin music (or simply ragga) is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music with heavy use of sampling. Wayne Smith's " Under Mi Sleng Teng", produced by King Jammy in 1985 on a ...

rap from veteran General Levy. A huge hit too". Another ''NME'' editor,

Dele Fadele Ayodele Fadele (8 August 1962 – March 2018) was an English musician and music journalist who was active from the mid-1980s. He wrote for the ''NME'' in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was one of the first music critics to introduce then eme ...

, wrote, "This is the first proper sign of an underground music – which rules

Pirate Radio Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rec ...

in London – going overground. Speed is of the essence as a sampled

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat ...

gets sped-up and superimposed over a start/stop ragga rhythm". Paul Ablett from the ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...

'' Dance Update stated, "From dub plate to a rumoured

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

release, this live voiced cut will undoubtedly go all the way, proving that jungle can be voiced with some confidence by ragga DJs without them tripping over themselves while chasing the breakneck riddim."

James Hamilton James Hamilton may refer to: Dukes *James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton (1606–1649), heir to the throne of Scotland *James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton (1658–1712), Scottish nobleman *James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton (1703–1743), Sco ...

wrote in his weekly ''RM'' dance column, "Eagerly awaited 'jungle' breakthrough smash in frantically ragga rapped 165.5bpm original mix and more, the week's hottest hit, actually reviewed over the 'phone as not sent to me in time!"

Legacy

"Incredible" received a nomination for Tune of the Year at the 1994 International Dance Awards in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Track listing

* UK 12" (first release) :A1. "Incredible" (original mix) :B1. "Incredible" (Booyaka mix) :B2. "Incredible" (instrumental) * UK 12" (re-release) :A1. "Incredible" (original mix) :A2. "Incredible" (Rhino mix) :B1. "Incredible" (underground mix – drum & bass) :B2. "Incredible" (underground mix – deep bass) * UK CD single # "Incredible" (original mix) – 4:56 # "Incredible" (Jungle Steppers mix) – 5:02 # "Incredible" (underground mix – deep bass) – 4:54 # "Style" (Sweet Girl mix) – 4:23

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

1994 songs 1994 singles M-Beat songs General Levy songs UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles {{1990s-UK-single-stub