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Fuck Drake, Harry Hill was the Original UK Funky Revivalist | US | Translation

Remember when the slapheaded funnyman introduced an entire nation to Crazy Couzins?

You can't escape UK Funky right now, can you? Just last night my mum rang me and said, "Josh," she said, "what did you make of that last Lil Silva EP?" Before I'd had a chance to reply she was banging on and on about the good old days and how "Sirens" by Hard House Banton always smashed the rave. Then she passed the phone to my dad and he started playing the Marcus Nasty Boiler Room set down the line. He played it in full, occasionally chiming in with a "Hold tight…selector!" By the end of it I was exhausted.

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For some people the Funky revival started just last week when Canadian cheeseball turned inexplicably 'important' cultural figure Drake sampled the Crazy Cousinz remix of Kyla's seminal "Do You Mind?". Those people don't deserve UK Funky, because Drake's just jumping on the coattails of the scene's original don: Harry Hill.

A few years ago now, as part of the slapheaded funnyman's Saturday night sensation TV Burp, we were introduced to Calista, a rising star on the nascent funky house circuit. Calista, in a strange twist of fate, was actually working with…Crazy Couzins! The track the threesome conjured, "Bongo Jam," is known to millions of ITV viewers up and down the country thanks to Hill's spirited rendition of the song's memorable "I love to play my bongos in the morning" hook. So there we have it —Drake didn't kickstart this: Harry fucking Hill did.

Josh is on Twitter