5 UK Dance Tracks Ms. Dynamite Made Her Own...
She’s one of UK music’s most unmistakable voices, and Ms. Dynamite has featured on her fair share of hit records - with a number of these coming as collabs with the scene’s top producers. But which are her most memorable vocal tracks as a featured artist? Which tunes did she make her own? We countdown our favourites from a batch of bangers...
5. ‘What You Talking About!?’ - with Redlight
With one of the most shoutable choruses and skankable beats, this song was engineered for the rave. The production from Redlight is an archetypal blend of influences from the realms of grime, garage and house - creating a genre-defying monster of a UK bass riddim. But it’s Ms. Dynamite’s lyrics and flow that really set the tune alight. With a fiery, venomous delivery that would rival anyone in the scene right now (or ever), it’s a performance that still gets the hearts racing and arms raising to this day. There’s a reason Noisey voted her the 5th best MC of all time, and we’d be tempted to have been even more generous ourselves...
4. ‘Fire’ - with Magnetic Man
It may not be one of the most well-known of Dynamite features, but for anyone that was still in or around the dubstep scene when it spawned its first supergroup - Magnetic Man, consisting of Skream, Benga and Artwork - this will ring some bassy bells for you. Kicking off their eponymous album release in true pull-no-punches style, it’s a growler of a track with another intense Ms. Dynamite vocal delivery. In contrast to our no.5, this is less of a party starter and more of a basement brawler. It’s dark, it’s dangerous, and it’s pure Fire.
3. ‘Gold Dust’ - with DJ Fresh (Shy FX Re-edit)
One of our all-time favourite Drum & Bass floor-fillers, DJ Fresh first released ‘Gold Dust’ with the now-familiar vocal track in 2010 (with Ce’cile singing, following a 12” instrumental two years earlier). It peaked at #24 in the UK charts and became a pop D&B classic pretty quickly. However, it wasn’t until 2012 that Ms. Dynamite got involved - and with her unique flow added to the arsenal, on top of Shy FX’s inspired reggae-flavoured re-edit, it was an even more powerful formula. That version surpassed the original’s chart performance and is now the preferred in nightclubs across the land. Ms. D with the midas touch once more...
2. ‘Wile Out’ - with DJ Zinc
Where to start with this one? I’m not sure there’s a 20-30 year old in the land that hasn’t got down to this at some point in their partying career, and it still does bits on the dancefloor now (nearly a decade later). It’s a similar tale once more in the back catalogue of Ms. Dynamite features - take a brilliant but underground instrumental, and transform it for the rave and radio with an amazing vocal track. DJ Zinc even recently thanked her in a video on his Facebook when reflecting back on this track’s legacy - it reached #4 in the UK Dance chart and continues to get regular rotations today. The lead single from his ‘Crack House’ EP, which professed itself as a new genre, this is a unique collaboration from two of our finest. Jackin’ and funky flavours, menacing bassline, addictive drop, wicked vocals - it’s all here.
1. ‘Booo!’ - with Sticky
There could only be one winner here really, and what a banger it is. It’s a certified UK Garage classic, a genre-definer, and it introduced the world to Ms Dynamite in the first place. With Sticky on the buttons, the expertly-constructed instrumental offers the foundation - but it’s Ms. Dynamite’s vocal that takes this track from scene favourite to national treasure. Watch how it went down at Notting Hill Carnival 10 years ago - and we’d be willing to bet that a decent proportion of plays even now get the deserved rewind treatment. We also rate any song that is built around a phrase taken straight from a kids’ game of hide and seek. And that coordination between “Feel the bad gyal bass” and the shuddering bass coming in, the phone dialing sound effect that pre-empts the drop, the playful strings in the build-up - so much to love about this tune, we could go on all day. Just give it another listen, it never ages.
Honourable mentions to Lights On with Katy B (get that on your speakers for a dose of nostalgia) and Dibby Dibby Sound (another collab with DJ Fresh - this one hard and heavy-hitting).
Catch Ms. Dynamite in a rare festival performance at S&C Festival this year. We can’t wait to welcome her, you’re all in for a treat! Second Release Tickets now running low, book yours here…