Bassline is a sound that originates from Sheffield which is a part of Yorkshire (or near Emmerdale for all you soap fans out there) the sound consisted of House, Electro and Garage all mixed together, people still class it as this ‘’New Sound’’ but the Bassline sound has been around for nearly 10 years now, with the likes of Shaun Banger Scott, Nev Wright and Jamie Ferguson played at the raver’s favourite nightclub called ‘NICHE’ in Sheffield where the sound was first heard and that was the spot where all the hardcore Bassline raver's went to ‘get down’ (Literally all night 10pm-7am), unfortunately it was closed 2 years ago due to police raids on the club naming it a place where ‘’gangsters’’ go to sell drugs which was new to the club owner it seemed, but throughout all of that drama their name still lives on, everything it stood for, promoting and pushing the sound 100% and also because that was the first place that played Bassline or as they called it back then Niche as there wasn’t actually a name for it so people just used to call it the name of the club.
Around 1999 a lot of the old skool garage what we call now was changing a lot with people like Wiley, Dizzee Rascal and others who had started to add there East London touch to the garage sound until it became the sound we now call Grime, so there wasn’t a lot of interest in the Bassline scene as much as there once was, that is until the last 2-3 years where a lot of the midlands and up north producers and DJs started to re-invent the sound bringing it back into the rave’s with a big impact. Producers such as T2, TS7, Nastee Boi, Witty Boy, DJ Q, Burgaboy, Piddy Py others have now injected the sound with a new lease of life adding Grimeir Basslines to get people back into the clubs. You can now find Bassline music getting played all over England from the most Ghetto nightclubs ever to the most Poshest venues possible from the Midlands to up North, it has now started to filter throughout the capital London.
The artists are even becoming local celebrities within their own right earning awards such as the ceremony that club night As It Is Tv held Producer’s, Dj’s and Mc’s to Promoters were all represented. Now unless you’ve been under a rock for the past 6months you would’ve heard of a tune called 'HEARTBROKEN’ which is possibly this years biggest Bassline tune, Produced by T2 and Vocaled By Jodie which reached number 2 in the uk national charts, since then there have been many signing to Ministry of sound such as H ‘two’ 0 ‘Whats it Gonna Be’’and Wideboys Feat ex All Saints member Shaznay Lewis on the tracks ‘Daddy O’’. So expect Bassline to be around for along time whether the mainstream abuses the sound and it dies out in the ‘’industry’’ like how some people say the way Grime has turned out, you will still expect to hear it bubbling on the Underground.
THE STARS BEHIND THE MUSIC...
DJ Q & MC Bones
This DJ / Producer / MC duo from Huddersfield (or ‘THE H.U.D’ as some people like to call it) are two of the best known in the Bassline scene. Starting off as a Garage Dj, Q has been putting the work in for a hot minute now and after sending a demo in to BBC 1XTRA Headquarters they thought that he had something they needed at the station so much so they offered him a spot as one of the main UKG shows on the station alongside DJ Cameo’s Pirate sessions. Not only is he a badderman Dj he also has quite a long list of weighty productions under his belt with tracks such as ‘’YOU WOT’’ Featuring Mc Bones which has just recently been signed to Ministry of Sound with their video rotating on MTV, Channel U and other main stream music channels, Dizzee Rascals ‘’Flex’’ which you will hear at the most Ghetto events to the trendiest Shoreditch / London club nights and more. Bones who is one of the scenes leading Bassline mc’s has been in the game for a while now working his way around the club night circuit getting them well deserved reloads in. Expect alot more from this duo on their own projects also in the next couple of months.
‘You Wot’ is out on download from 14th July in shops 20th July.
www.myspace.com/djqonline
www.myspace.com/mcbonezhd5
WittyBoy
Producer from Leeds who has been in the game since Old Skool Garage days who then moved into producing grime tracks, now he is one of the Bassline scenes pioneers who has currently been on chart topping compilation Cd ‘Sound of Bassline’ which is under the Ministry of Sound umbrella. Wittyboy has also remixed the tracks for Alex Mills’ ‘Beyond Words’ and more recently remixed Lauren Masons R’N’G tune ‘’P.S’’ which has had alot of record label attention so expect to hear something massive from this guy very soon. He dj’s aswell by the way, a good one at that.
www.myspace.com/wittyboy4x4
Nastee Boi
L DOUBLE E D S resident Nastee boi made his name in the Bassline scene early last year with the club banger "Naughty", featuring the vocal group and Number 2 chart hitters Platinum, he has continued to up keep his standard of lively music in Bassline. Since then, he has had more tunes such as, Grease-proof, Bangaz, and the tune thats been on everyone’s playlist for a little while now ‘’Mussy Mad’’. He has also worked with Bassline label Northern line records on various E’ps. Nastee Boi will also be working closely with more established artists in the UK garage/ dance scene so watch out for him.
www.myspace.com/nasteebizzle4x4
JTJ Productions
Hailing from Leicester these guys are smashing up the music scene at the moment aswell as the radio airwaves, being constantly played on various BBC 1XTRA shows. I personally think they broke grounds when they released the track ‘’Its You’’ which was played on almost every school Childs phone on the bus to the biggest club nights across the country. Joshy P, Lew Trew, Tubz and J.M all have different production styles within the crew and still make tracks independently, I can guarantee you these guys are the future of not just Bassline but music in general, whether it be Grime, Garage,Dubstep even the odd Electro tune... there on this ting!
www.myspace.com/jtj4x4
DJ Total
The peoples number one choice aka ‘THE DJ TOTAL’ from Leicester, having starting out in Grime crew Midlands Mafia even before that as a Garage dj this man is definatly up there when it comes to the professionalism, with bookings rolling off his MySpace page, monthly mixes, specials to make you cry for, thousands of plays ont’ MySpace, he has it on lock.com/otherdjsbetterknow.
www.myspace.com/djtotal
DJ Smalls
Probably the shortest guy in the scene hence the name DJ Smalls from the H.U.D is becoming one of the most respected dj’s in the scene with winning the best newcomer at the Bassline awards held by As It Is Tv, you can catch this guy on literally every Bassline flyer there is, if he’s not on it then it probably wont be that live to be honest.
www.myspace.com/mrsmallz1
Tamzin
With musical influences from Micheal Jackson to MC Bashy this not only talented but beautiful lady has been on her singing grind since the age of 7 and now at the age of 18 Tamzin has already received the accolade as on of the better’ Bassline singers out there at the moment i say that because some singers in that scene are terrible. ‘THE CHALLENGER’ as she likes to call herself has worked with the main man T2 already with club smash and ladies favourite ‘What Can I Do’’. You can expect big tracks in the pipeline, she has just done a track with JTJ’s Joshy P which is going to be a sure fire hit I was told.
www.myspace.com/tamzinchallenger
Sharnell
Self proclaimed ‘Princess of Bassline’ Sharnell is one of the most respected female vocalists in the game, having worked with the big darg T2 on the track ‘Why’ which was on deck rotation in clubs for a couple of years, she definatly has done alot all at the tender age of 16. You can expect some huge things from this young lady in the future (I still think either the track she did with T2 or the track ‘What can I do’’ that Tamzin did with T2 should’ve been the second release from him, much more grimier!)
www.myspace.com/sharnellvocal
MNT
This Mc from LE2Blocks Leicester is one of the biggest mcs at the moment and I wouldn’t call him a Bassline mc as he said ‘’ I started off in Grime but I’m just an mc who’s mashing up the 4x4 scene’’. With literally the whole Bassline scene using his lingo from his tunes such as ‘Get Loco’ and ‘Hmm Yess’ this guy is obviously a big influence in the game. ‘’You will get B.O.R, you will get jacked for your C.A.R ‘’ that bar will always get a wheel up if I was a dj.
www.myspace.com/mntmusic
BullyBoys
Bomma B and Grinstar are two of the main mc’s in the bullyboys camp, coming from Birmingham which has alooot of mc’s they have defiantly defined themselves as one of the main players out there. Grinstar has been murking raves with his tunes such as ‘Flippin Hell’ and I came across Fashion designers from Paris who had that playing on their myspace, which is alot. Bomma B is probably one of my favourite mcs in the game at the moment not just even in bassline His flow is too much, Hype bars, angry flow, but you can jam to it aswell, he’s like a brummie version of Slew Dem crews Tempa T which is a good comparison to have, his track with Trilla Jermaine Trilloski ‘’Oi Oi Gstar’’ has been on my Playlist on repeat for quite sometime now (w w WOW Dutty!) Check them out!
www.myspace.com/bommab
www.myspace.com/grinstarr
Don P
The Promoter of the moment Don P, originally from Bristol has built a brand called AS IT IS TV which is an event phenomenon. Dedicated Bassline ravers all over the country travel hundreds of miles to come to his events as they know they can always have a good time. Don P and his dad aka DA Farda will be moving their events to London as they said ‘London needs to know about this nu sound’. They are taking Bassline to Africa Gambia in November, one to show take the sound globally and two to give back the the motherland. Look out for them.
www.myspace.com/asitistv
Other people to check out:
Gemma Fox – www.myspace.com/gemmafox
Trilla Jermaine Trilloski – www.myspace.com/messyorg
Lenky – www.myspace.com/godfather_hud
MC Tona – www.myspace.com/tonimontona
B.O.D.R – www.myspace.com/bigondaroadz
Burgaboy – www.myspace.com/burgaboypros
DJ Murkz – www.myspace.com/djmurkz
Subzero - www.myspace.com/zerobassline
Trc – www.myspace.com/trcccc
Apostle – www.myspace.com/apostledirtyera
Screama – www.myspace.com/screama1418
Merkury – www.myspace.com/merkury1418
Words: Joseph Patterson
Photography: Tim&Barry
A version of this was in New Nation Newspaper w/c - 14.07.08
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