For Grammy award-winning British soul group Soul II Soul, The Africa Centre—a communal art hub formerly located in London’s Covent Garden—was the centre of their universe. Founded in 1964 and standing strong to this day, the space sought to unify Black Brits in the name of creativity. Filled with B-Boys, graffiti artists, musicians and poets draped in FILA sweats and buttery yellow Adidas shell toes, it was a place where the youth of yesterday could kick it, congregate, and unknot themselves from legislative warfare, racial inequality and job insecurity. To the masses, this was Generation X: the rebellious, the lost, the no-hopers. But to those safely housed under the cultural confines of The Africa Centre, it was a bastion of bliss.

Before Soul II Soul, Jazzie B’s first North London soundsystem fixture, Jah Rico, leaned heavily on reggae and dub before pivoting to back-to-back electro, hip-hop and, of course, soul records—summoning their now-iconic moniker. Before long, their gigs were packed, and the group’s ‘Funki Dread’ iconography, threads and style got them signed to Virgin Records in 1988. Soul II Soul assembled a neo-soundsystem crew that held down a regular weekend slot in Covent Garden. Led by Jazzie B, they embodied a DIY ethos, blending collaborative expression with a bold, self-made spirit with ears close to the Black youth of the late 1980s. The crew was cutting edge and polymorphic, yet human and warm.

Some things in life are better in reverse, and Soul II Soul know that all too well. Take their prophetically-titled debut album, Club Classics Vol. One—released on April 10, 1989 (and known Stateside as Keep On Movin’)—along with its narrative linchpin and closing track, “Jazzie’s Groove”. Here’s the twist: the outro is actually the intro. Forget parallel parking and reverse engineering—“Jazzie’s Groove” feels less like a curtain call and more like a roaring, philosophical kick-off.

On the track, the group airlifts a deep crate of artists: Beau Dollar, The Honey Drippers, Pleasure, Maceo & All The King’s Men, Dennis Coffey and, most prominently, Gary Byrd’s funk number, “Soul Travelin’ Pt. I (The G.B.E.)”. Melting their sonic forerunners, the group crafts a breakbeat and hip-hop manifesto that feels both rooted and revolutionary. With “Jazzie’s Groove” and many of the LP’s tracks, the group reshuffled their pre-existing dubplates into fully fleshed-out singles for the album.

Soul II Soul’s debut taxied into a crucial junction in the history of Black British music. Whilst acid house had all the clubs languishing in corrosive, liquid grooves, the 1980s also saw R&B acts like Loose Ends take the States by storm (a prelude to Soul II Soul’s impending invasion). Equally, modest cult acts like UK hip-hoppers MC Duke and DJ Leader One, soul-funk outfit 52nd Street and future legends Sade dominated the swanky bars and inner-city speakers. With the knowledge, pitfalls and lessons learned from their musical peers before them, Soul II Soul did the impossible.

I imagine when industry execs and press pundits asked Jazzie B how many genres were on Club Classics Vol. One, he simply grinned and said, “Yes.” The elastic, nightclub-themed LP weaves through listeners' ears as if they were still performing rousing gigs at The Africa Centre—tapping into the superpowers of their genesis. The Caron Wheeler-assisted opener, “Keep On Movin’”, is soulful, anthemic and aspirational. Then there’s “Feeling Free” and “Holdin’ On”, the spoken-word-dance cuts that command feet to move. And then Nellee Hooper (of Gwen Stefani, U2 and Björk fame) co-produces “Fairplay” and sees Rose Windross take the reins for an ‘80s US hip-hop and R&B club tune, effortlessly setting pace. “African Dance” is the standout instrumental cut (of many), with Jazzie B sculpting an extended, mellow jazz interlude that marches the album into its middle arc.

As scribes foretell, Club Classics Vol. One was charting well in 1989, but the album lacked a clear follow-up single after “Keep On Movin’”. Like Biggie’s post-“Juicy” dilemma on 1994’s Ready To Die, which needed the Faith Evans and Mary J. Blige-supported “One More Chance” remix to propel the record to catastrophic heights, so too did Jazzie B for Club Classics Vol. One. The solution? Track 9: “Back To Life”, an a cappella number that highlights Caron Wheeler’s vocal range, inspired by real-life trauma. Already a stellar track—and a future cinema soundtrack and sample staple (just ask Hype Williams and his 1998 movie, Belly)—it just needed a chart facelift. Enter, the Grammy award-winning “Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)”.

For Club Classics Vol. One’s 36th lap around the sun, we could list 36,000 great things about this one track. We can’t reinvent the wheel regarding the song’s extensive press coverage and documentary placements over the years, nor fully canonise the song's impact on cultural consciousness, but here goes nothing: Effortlessly symbolic yet fully equipped with its party-pop utility belt, “Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)” is percussive perfection. It thumps, stomps, and thuds its way to the finish line—having a damn good time while doing so. Simon Law’s sharp piano cuts through. Caron Wheeler’s larger-than-life vocal delivery soars. And the hip-hop-coiled bass and string sections are crisp, sounding a good decade ahead of their time.

Its influence remains undeniable. Recently flipped on Bashy’s “Midnight in Balans” and Burna Boy’s “Update” (amidst countless other sample flips), the track has left its mark everywhere—from The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air to VH1’s 100 Greatest Dance Songs Of All-Time. It didn’t just rumble dancefloors—it stormed the charts, hitting #1 across the UK, Europe, the Netherlands, Canada, and multiple US Billboard categories, cementing itself as a transatlantic club and radio juggernaut. Oh, and it was recorded in North London by a bunch of wide-eyed Black kids.

Almost four decades on, Club Classics Vol. One is more of a cultural timestamp than just a standard album. In the years since its original drop, a fair share of B-sides, bonus cuts and the radio version of “Back To Life” have been added to the record—but these minor alterations are nothing compared to the cultural monolith the record represented. There was Funki Dread clothing and merch, millions of records sold and a new precedent set for Black British music. Club Classics Vol. One is R&B. It’s dance. It’s hip-hop. It’s electronic. It’s jazz. It’s dub. But more accurately, it resides within its own ecosphere.

In Soul II Soul’s wake followed a half-dozen stack of chaptered LPs (notably Vol. One’s underrated successors, Vol. II: 1990 – A New Decade and Vol. V: Believe), and a battalion of musicians followed in their wake; on the R&B front, the likes of Tongue N Cheek, Cool Down Zone and Innocence hit HMV and Our Price shelves immediately afterwards; in the hip-hop-adjacent realm, Massive Attack took inspiration from Soul II Soul’s global soundsystem formula on their 1991 debut, Blue Lines, bringing in Nellee Hooper for an electronic diversion. Meanwhile, more traditionalist acts like London Posse, MC Mell’O’, Monie Love and 2 Tuff followed suit. I guess we have The Africa Centre to thank…