The Ragga Twins, also known as RTC, are an English

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 ...

and

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'' ...

MC duo of Deman Rocker (David Destouche) and Flinty Badman (Trevor Destouche). Originating from Hackney,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, they started out on

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 ...

's Unity

sound system Sound system may refer to: Technology media * Sound reinforcement system, a system for amplifying audio for an audience * High fidelity, a sound system intended for accurate reproduction of music in the home * Public address system, an institution ...

, and are regarded as pioneers of the scene.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

called them "crucial cogs in the development of U.K. dance music."

History

The Ragga Twins originated as part of London's Unity

, operating under the name in 1989. They first came to prominence with a number of groundbreaking singles in the early 1990s including "Spliffhead", "Wipe the Needle", "Hooligan 69" and "Mixed Truth", with production by Shut Up & Dance. This was followed by album '' Reggae Owes Me Money'' in 1991. They resurfaced in 1995 on

Positiva Positiva Records is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group and concentrates on releasing dance music in the United Kingdom, UK. The record label was set up in 1993 in music, 1993, by Nick Halkes, who previously ran XL Recordings. Its headquar ...

, and continued to release tracks intermittently into the 2000s. The Ragga Twins longest musical relationship is with Aquasky, a partnership that was first cemented in 2001 when the tracks "All in Check" feat. CoGee and "Loko" were written for Botchit & Scarper. Four months later, the tracks "Coffee" and "Dem No No We" were recorded for drum and bass label

Moving Shadow Moving Shadow is an English breakbeat hardcore, jungle and drum and bass record label which was founded in 1990 by Rob Playford. History The label began in 1990, operating from Playford's Stevenage home. Playford had become a focal point for ...

, and in 2002, the

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

track "Dirty Entertainers" was recorded with Aquasky on their now defunct Sonix label. The following year, a remix was created and white labels distributed but the single was never released due to Aquasky leaving their distribution deal with ST Holdings and moving to SRD. A series of 12" singles have been released with Aquasky on their Passenger label since 2002, including new tracks for the 601 album ''We Do Bass'' and a Ragga Twins 2002–2013 compilation album. In 2004, Aquasky were approached by

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

for the usage of the tracks "Loko" or "Dem No No We" to be used in the

Ali G Alistair Leslie Graham, better known as Ali G, is a satirical fictional character created and performed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. A faux-streetwise poseur from Staines, England, Ali G speaks in rude boy-style Multicultural Londo ...

series '' Ali G in Da USA''. HBO finally settled on "Dem No No We" which took the Ragga Twins' new breakbeat output to

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. A video was shot for the "Superbad" single in 2011 by b-boy and film-maker Charlie Marbles, a friend of Aquasky also from

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

. In 2008, the Twins lent their vocals to the Backdraft single, "Rock the Mic". In 2010, they were featured on Mason and the Fraudster's track "U Appear". Flinty Badman & Deman Rocker appeared in the Plan B crime film ''

Ill Manors ''Ill Manors'' (stylised as ''ill Manors'') is a 2012 British crime drama film written, co-scored and directed by Ben Drew AKA musician Plan B. The film revolves around the lives of eight main characters, played by Riz Ahmed, Ed Skrein, Ke ...

'' in 2012. In 2014, they featured on "All is Fair in Love and Brostep" and " Ragga Bomb" from

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the ...

's debut album '' Recess'', and "Zipper" from MUST DIE!'s album ''Death & Magic''. In 2008,

Soul Jazz Records Soul Jazz Records is a British record label based in London. Outside of releasing records, the label also publishes books, occasionally films and performs as a DJ set. The music releases labels from a variety of genres, including reggae, house, ...

issued a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

of their early 1990s recordings entitled '' Ragga Twins Step Out''. Ragga Twins play regularly on the Kool London

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

Discography

Albums

* '' Reggae Owes Me Money'' ( Shut Up and Dance Records, 1991) – UK No. 26 * ''Rinsin' Lyrics'' (

, 1995) * ''Keep On Chant'' (Solid Vinyl Music, 2003)

Compilations

* '' Ragga Twins Step Out'' (2008)

Singles

* "Illegal Gunshot" / "Spliffhead" ( Shut Up and Dance Records, 1990) – UK No. 51 * "Wipe the Needle" / "Juggling" (Shut Up and Dance, 1991) – UK No. 71 * "Hooligan 69" (Shut Up and Dance, 1991) – UK No. 76 * "Mixed Truth" / "Bring Up the Mic Some More" (Shut Up and Dance, 1992) – UK No. 65 * "Shine Eye" feat. Junior Reed (Shut Up and Dance, 1992) – UK 63 * ''Freedom Train EP'' (

, 1995) * "All in Check" feat. CoGee / "Loko" with Aquasky (Botchit & Scarper, 2002) * "Coffee" / "Dem No No We" with Aquasky (

, 2003) * "Jerlipy lipy" (Solid Vinyl, 2003) * "E Legal Gunshot" (Solid Vinyl, 2003) * "Shut Em Down" with TC Izlam & Ed Solo (Solid Vinyl, 2003) * "Dirty Entertainers" with Aquasky (Sonix, 2003) * "Ready for This" with Aquasky (777 Records, 2005) * "Everybody Hype" feat. DJ Go with Aquasky (777 Records, 2006) * "Let Me See Your Hands" / "Let Me See Your Hands" with Aquasky (777 Records, 2007) * "Rock the Mic" with Backdraft (Passenger Records, 2007) * "Bring Forth Ya Booty" with 10 Sui & La Resistance (Mob Records, 2008) * "Give It Up" with Aquasky (Passenger Records, 2008) * "Living Legends" / "Raggatron" with Aquasky (Passenger Records, 2010) * "Humble" feat. Tenor Fly with Aquasky (Passenger Records, 2011) * "Heatwave" feat. MC Spyda, CoGee, Pedro Slimer & M-TEK (Passenger Records, 2012) * "Hot Like We" with Realecta (2015) * "All Is Fair in Love and Brostep" with

( Big Beat Records, 2014) * " Ragga Bomb" with Skrillex (Big Beat Records, 2014) * "Bad Man (Skrillex Remix)" with Skrillex (

Owsla Owsla (stylized in all caps) is an American record label and creative collective. It was founded by Skrillex, Tim Smith, Kathryn Frazier, and Clayton Blaha in 2011. Skrillex announced the label on August 17, 2011. The label's first release was ...

, 2015) * "Get Ready 4 tha Drop" with Charlotte Devaney (Karma London, 2015) * "Windpipe" with Barely Alive (Disciple, 2015) * "Worldwide" with

Metrik Tom Mundell, better known as Metrik, is an English electronic music producer from London. He has been releasing records since 2007, primarily through Hospital Records, the UK-based independent dance music label. He has found success in the UK D ...

(

Hospital Records Hospital Records is a British independent record label based in South London. Primarily releasing drum and bass, the label was started in 1996 by Tony Colman ( London Elektricity) and Chris Goss and has grown in recent years to become one of t ...

, 2016) * "Madman" with RIOT (Play Me Too Records, 2016) * "Watch Out" with Dirtyphonics and

Bassnectar Lorin Gabriel Ashton (born February 16, 1978), better known under his stage name Bassnectar, is an American Disc jockey, DJ and electronic music producer. With a career spanning several decades, Bassnectar has gained recognition for his innova ...

(Monstercat, 2017) * "Move It Up" with MDE (Get Twisted Records, 2017) * "Kingston" with Mekanikal (Harsh Records, 2018) * "Hammer" with Mr Quest (Solid Vinyl Music, 2018) * "Ready" with Ndrew LG (Nelation, 2018) * "For the People" with Seanie T (Fatback Records, 2018) * "For the People (Dub)" with Seanie T (Fatback Records, 2018) * "Ragga House" with Sentinel Groove (Tumbata Records, 2019) * "Ragga House (Radio Edit)" with Sentinel Groove (Tumbata Records, 2019) * "Toppa Top" with Full Kontakt & VEGAS (Bad Taste Recordings, 2019) * ''War Start EP'' with Dr Meaker, Krucial & Lexxus (Kartoons, 2019) * * * "Computa Hakka" with

Pegboard Nerds Pegboard Nerds is a Dano-Norwegian electronic music group, consisting of Norwegian DJ Alexander Odden and Danish DJ Michael Parsberg. The name Pegboard Nerds is an anagram of the duo's surnames, Odden and Parsberg. The duo first met in 2005 and f ...

(Monstercat, 2019) * "Blood" with Gray (Born On Road Records" 2019) * "Fruity" with Krucial (Kartoons, 2019) * "We a Dem" with High Roll (Formation Records, 2021) * "Mad Again" with Krucial (Kartoons, 2021) * "Mad Again (Dub)" with Krucial (Kartoons, 2021) * "Depolarize" with Dirt Monkey (19K, 2021) * "Bloom" with Sammy Virji (self-released by Sammy Virji, 2022) * "Gyal Factory (Radio Mix)" with Rumble (Liondub International, 2022) * "Bring the Fire" with Iskia (Jungle Cakes, 2022) * "Party Starters" with J Wilz, LOAD B & BlckHry (self-released by J Wilz, 2023) * * * "Big Hammer" with James Blake (Polydor, 2023) * "Bruk It Up" with Charlotte Devaney & M-Tek (Karma London Records, 2023) * "Bring the Fire" with Iskia (Jungle Cakes, 2023) * "Keys to the City" with Iskia (Jungle Cakes, 2023) * "Fix" with Nasser UK & Teej (Jungle Cakes, 2023) * "Allstars Mic" with Krucial (DnB Allstars Records, 2023) * "Pull It Back" with Bully & DJ Millz (Kartoons, 2024)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Musical groups from the London Borough of Hackney English electronic music duos English hip-hop groups Drum and bass duos English male musical duos Breakbeat hardcore music groups British drum and bass music groups Ragga musicians Black British musical groups Musical groups established in 1989