Ian Wright Carpools With Shabba Ranks And The Spirit Of Dancehall

When James Corden decides to carpool with a celebrity on The Late Late Show, it usually makes for light, chummy entertainment. James will pick up Adele, or Chris Martin, or some other universally acclaimed mainstream artist, and they will pootle about the streets giggling about contemporary pop culture and slapping each other on the wrist for being, like, proper cheeky. Occasionally, conversation will veer to such controversial topics as – gasp – drinking alcoholic beverages, daily tea consumption, Corden occasionally preferring to eat his dessert before his main course, and so on. These are harmless quirks, celebrity non-confessions.

It's this sort of safe anecdotage, this sort of benign insight into the lives of others, that forms the staple of conventional carpool programming. It is exactly this sort of sheltered, wholesome broadcasting that Ian Wright has now sought to destroy.

In the early '90s – in a febrile, politically charged time – Wright was a loudmouthed young striker with Crystal Palace and Arsenal. He was brash, unpredictable and happy to tread the thin line between competitiveness and controversy both on and off the pitch. More importantly, he was a lethal finisher with boundless talent – a massive asset to his teams.

He was at the cutting edge of football culture. Now, he's at the cutting edge of carpools.

Ian Wright bmt pic.twitter.com/173BRZk5au
— Complex UK (@complex_uk) April 23, 2016

At the same time that Wright was in his pomp, Shabba Ranks was flooding the airwaves with the infectious beats of digital dancehall. Ragga was massive, reggae fusion was massive, jungle was definitely massive, and pirate radio was at its unchecked best. While Wright was running riot at football grounds up and down the country, Shabba was banging out tunes like Ting-a-ling and shouting "Booyaka! Booyaka!" in everyone's faces.

Now, Wright has used his very own carpool to resurrect the vital essence of the '90s pirate scene. He has taken a long car journey with only the music of Shabba Ranks, the spirit of dancehall and his driver, Kenny, for company. He has filmed himself grinding to Ting-a-ling, shouting at Kenny for encouragement and belting out Shabba's slack lyrics with wild abandon. Society isn't ready for this, the mainstream isn't ready for this, in fact, we're not even sure Kenny the driver is ready for this.

But that's the thrill of it – the sheer, unadulterated thrill.

Ian Wright, Shabba Ranks and Kenny the driver are the carpool guests who television executives are too scared to invite onto The Late Late Show. Together, Wright and co. have created the carpool that James Corden doesn't want you to see. Corden will never have the raw power, the faultless machismo required to evoke the spirit of dancehall on a long car journey. Can you imagine him interrupting an interview with Elton John to blare out the entirety of X-tra Naked? Or suddenly shouting "Booyaka!" in Justin Bieber's face? Or grinding to the sound of Shabba Ranks and Friends, as the horrified members of One Direction look on? No, of course you can't.

Ian Wright has shown us what the cutting edge of carpool programming looks like – and we can never go back to the mainstream again.