HISTORY OF BHANGARMUFFINS- taken from uktribes.com

Parallel lines…
Bhangra Muffins take their name from the Jamaican-inspired raggamuffins, a word whose etymology suggests the old English word ‘ragamuffin’ for shabbily-clothed, dirty child – perhaps the polar opposite of the look both raga and Bhangra Muffins aim for. Many similarities can be drawn between the two cultures. Both share an obsession with materialism, particularly visible status symbols like watches, jewellery, trainers, cars and designer clothes. They strive to project a can-do persona to make anybody think twice about disrespecting them – verbally or physically. The whimsical Bhangra Muffin (long gelled hair, neon yellow Moschino drainpipes, incorrect use of patois) that roamed the street in the late 90s is fading into obscurity, if indeed they ever truly existed outside of style magazines.


…but dual identities
Sliding between mainstream street culture and their own Asian street culture, Bhangra Muffins are creating dual identities – subtly altering slang, jewellery motifs and musical references, depending on where they are and who they are mixing with. Driving through non-Asian areas they blast UK garage, US gangster rap and ragga – only switching the CD changer to Desi Beats Part 2 as they near predominantly Asian populated areas.

The future
As Asian youths become an accepted part of British street life – particularly with such a growing demographic of mixed-race youth – Bhangra Muffins will become less distinct from their black and white contemporaries. However, they’ll become and increasingly everyday force in British culture. Over the past five years bhangra samples have become a standard part of hip hop and dancehall. The music and culture that feeds the bhangramuffin will continue to be absorbed and appropriated by the tribes closest to it – and eventually into the mainstream, just as black Britons have found their culture absorbed by the mainstream (listen to the elongated vowels and slang of Britain’s playgrounds for proof of that). The Bhangra Muffin is aware, however, that’s where, for the time being, their influence in mainstream street music ends. Instead their scene incorporates ever-increasing amounts of outside influences from the garage, drum’n’bass, hip hop, R’n’B and dancehall scenes and this is likely to continue.