Jungle is a style of electronic music that incorporates influences from genres including breakbeat hardcore, and reggae/dub/dancehall. There is significant debate as to whether jungle is a separate genre from drum and bass as many use the terms interchangeably. For those that consider them separate genres, drum and bass is usually considered to have started to separate musically from jungle in the mid to late 1990s.

While the use of the word to describe what is now known as jungle is debatable, the emergence of the term in relation to electronic music circles can be roughly traced to lyrics used in Jamaican toasting (a pre-cursor to modern MCs), circa 1970. References to 'jungle', 'junglists' and 'jungle music' can be found throughout dub, reggae and dancehall genres from that era up until today. Interestingly, and possibly just coincidentally, the term "jungle music" was used to describe music by Duke Ellington in the 1920-30's. With African musical and drumming influences they played a rhythmic, exotic sound advertised as "jungle music" and "the jungle sound", the band at that time was often named The Jungle Band on flyers. It has been suggested that the term 'Junglist' was a reference to a person either from a ghetto of Kingston known as 'The Concrete Jungle' or from a different suburb, 'The Gardens', which was a leafy area colloquially referred to as 'The Jungle'. The first documented use of the term is within a song featuring jungle producer and lyricist Rebel MC. In which a sample was taken from a much older dancehall tune containing the lyrics "Rebel got this chant - "'alla the junglists". Smiley & PJ from Shut Up and Dance were once not let into a club by a bouncer claiming "We don't play your jungle music here", referring to the more drum oriented oldskool hardcore. They started to use the term themselves.

At one time there was even some confusion and debate as to whether the use of the word "jungle" was a racist referral to its apparently blacker, reggae-influenced sound and fans as it was the black youth of Britain who fueled the early Jungle and drum and bass scenes. Jungle shares a number of similarities with hip hop. First, both genres have been referred to as "black music." When jungle first gained popularity, it received many of the same complaints that hip hop music first did: It was "too dark" and downbeat, glorified violence and gangs and had a focus on rhythm. Both genres of music are produced using the same types of equipment: samplers, drum machines, microphones and sequencers. Furthermore, the music contains the same sort of components such as "rhythmic complexity, repetition with subtle variations, the significance of the drum, melodic interest in bass frequencies and breaks in pitch and time." Some early proponents preferred to define the "jungle" element as representing the deeper and darker sound of the heavy beats and bass lines, while others saw a connection with tribal drumming, percussion and simplicity. Producers and DJs of the early 90's MC 5ive '0, Groove Connection and Kingsley Roast, place the origin of the word in the scene with pioneers like Moose, Soundman and Johnny Jungle.