22 REAL Drum & Bass Pioneers

Recently, we openly spoke about the issues we saw with Vibe's "20 Drum & Bass Pioneers" list. And while its easy to stand on the soapbox and point fin

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Recently, we openly spoke about the issues we saw with Vibe's "20 Drum & Bass Pioneers" list. And while its easy to stand on the soapbox and point fingers, it's another thing to put those thoughts into action and teach by doing. So, we here at DAD came up with our own list. 22 drum & bass producers, DJs, MCs, and labelheads that have truly helped pioneer this sound, be it with ground-breaking production or through their leadership. And while some of the names are mirrored (we didn't say it was ALL bad), we definitely made sure we delved into each artist's path, highlighting why they are part of this elite group. Here are 22 REAL drum & bass pioneers.

Goldie

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What can be said about Goldie that we've not covered already? When drum & bass was being slept-on and neglected, Goldie forced it on the masses, and was a huge part in drum & bass' explosion in the mid-to-late 1990s. He's one of the first true dnb superstars, and has leveraged that stardom into TV, movies, and the world of art. He is also the figurehead behind Metalheadz, one of the most important drum & bass labels in existence. Face it: Some of your favorite producers' favorite producer is Goldie.

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Grooverider

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Without Grooverider, many drum & bass talents might not even be around. Grooverider is one of the forces that helped push a young Goldie to create the Metalheadz sound we know of today. Grooverider helped ease the shift of the early '90s UK rave sound into what we now know as jungle and drum & bass through his truly visionary DJ sets. He's produced, both under his own name and as Codename John, helping further captivate junglists with his twisted, funky sounds, and has held down groundbreaking radio shows on Kiss FM and BBC Radio 1, helping break emerging talent (including the likes of Pendulum and Heist), and injecting some personality into a scene that's always been seen to take itself a bit too seriously.

Fabio

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Andy C

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Andy C's been a part of the jungle/drum & bass scene since 1992, where at the age of 16 he helped produce the classic "Valley of the Shadows" as part of Origin Unknown. He started his imprint Ram Records, which has not only released some of the most forward-thinking releases over the last two decades, but has found a way of creating stars that exist outside of the drum & bass bubble, from Chase & Status to Sub Focus. His skills behind the turntables are well-documented, and he's slowly become one of the fiercest DJs in the dnb spectrum, earning the nickname of "The Executioner."

LTJ Bukem

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Bukem has been seen by many as one of the innovators in the "intelligent" or "atmospheric" styles of drum & bass, helping push the jazzier, more calm sounds into a genre that's predominately keeping things dark and moody. He's been making tracks since 1990, but it was the emergence of his Good Looking imprint (especially the Earth and Logical Progression series of CDs) that helped expose many fans who might not have dug the more aggressive tones into something more suited for at-home vibing.

Doc Scott

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Doc Scott has been pushing future beats from the very beginning. Being one of the core individuals at the start of Metalheadz, Doc's "VIP Drumz" was featured on the first single from the seminal label. Doc kicked off his 31 Records imprint with the deadly "Shadow Boxing," one of the staples in any dark drum & bass set from that era, and the imprint has put out huge tracks from Digital ("Deadline") and Pendulum ("Vault"), helping push their careers to the next level.

Shy FX

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Shy FX, with his third single for S.O.U.R., scored a legitimate pop single with the classic "Original Nuttah," gaining loads of mainstream recognition for a genre that was still in its infancy. And while his major label record deal didn't pan out, he recharged his career, first with his Ebony imprint (and cuts like "Bambaata"), but later on with his Digital Soundboy imprint, where it felt like he finally understood his voice, dwelling in the jungle/drum & bass scene that draws loads of inspiration from the soundclash days in Jamaica. He's taken on more of a mentor role, helping acts lilke B.Traits, Breakage, and Benny Page nurture their own careers, while still being able to churn out a pop smash seemingly at will.

DJ SS

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The former DJ Scratchenstein from the UK group Formation Five is another one of the early figures within the jungle scene. While a number of the releases on his Formation imprint are just DJ SS under different aliases, he's crafted a number of seminal tracks on his own, from "The Lighter" to "Those DJs," but one of his biggest strengths has been finding talent. Formation has helped push acts like John B, Twisted Individual, Distorted Minds, Influx UK, and others, giving them a platform to showcase their skills. His label has been around since 1991, and his World of Drum & Bass tours have traveled worldwide, bringing the biggest and brightest in the dnb scene whenever it touched down.

Dillinja

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Dillinja's legacy will be littered with a number of moments, from his intricate detail to sound, and that "feeling" when you know one of his classics hits the sound system. Once Dillinja started experimenting deeply with the amount of bass he could throw into his tracks, the game had definitely changed. Dillinja, along with Lemon D, forged their Valve Recordings imprint on beautiful music that hit you where it counted, to the point where they felt normal club soundsystems weren't sufficient, and built their own Valve Sound System.

Stevie Hyper D

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The drum & bass scene isn't just about DJs, producers, and labelheads; one important part about dnb in a live setting is the MC, the person seen as the representation of the crowd on stage. Dope MCs are in abundance now, but Stevie Hyper D was seen as the first, the one who really epitomizes what it is to bring vocal talents to drum & bass. The ever-present double time flow over drum & bass? That's all him. He was also the first MC to get his own major label release when Island dropped "The Next Step," although it came out a year after Stevie's untimely death. He may not have been around to see his hard work pay off, but he is remembered and heard within any MC who touches the mic and starts rhyming at breakneck speed.

Technical Itch

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There are many producers within the drum & bass scene who make hard tracks. There are many who also make tracks that, at a breakneck pace, take the idea of editing breakbeats to a new level. Technical Itch is one of the first to combine both of those sounds, and do it well. He'd long been producing tunes that came out on Moving Shadow before establishing his own Tech Itch record label, fully letting his hair down and creating some of the most twisted, thought-provoking dark drum & bass, ever. The "technical" in his name is well-deserved, as he brought a surgically-precise awareness to his productions and sound quality, and over the years he's churned out some unrelenting, maniacal tracks to the world. He's even engineered for Goldie on his Rufige Kru project for a spell.

Digital

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Many producers would have just stopped at being aligned with the Metalheadz, but not Digital. That was literally just the start of his career. As he grew, both with production partner Spirit and on his own, he helped mold the dub-wise side of drum & bass. Much of his early 2000s output was built on the subwoofer-melting basslines that were reminiscent of the dub producers of old, bringing in a different mentality to the scene. Outside of dancehall, outside of ragga jungle, this was pure dub ecstacy. Along with Amit, Digital also helped usher in the halftime drum & bass beats, putting an spin on the whole idea of what a drum & bass drum pattern should be.

Roni Size

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One of Roni Size's early classics said it all: "It's Jazzy!" While he might not have been the first to bring in the sound of jazz into drum & bass, Roni really helped innovate it. Whether it was sampling classic jazz artists or working with the Reprazent crew, Roni also helped usher in live instrumentation to live drum & bass shows, regularly having a live drummer and double bass player recreate their intoxicating rhythms. Their spell-binding forumla worked, as the debut Repraznt album, New Forms, won the prestigious Mercury Music Prize.

Dieselboy

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Was Dieselboy the first American drum & bass DJ/producer? Definitely not. He was one of the fiercest, though, captivating crowds throughout the US with his technically-precise mixing and superb selection. For a time, American producers and DJs couldn't get the respect of the UK scene, but Dieselboy broke that down, being the first American dnb DJ to be voted into the Drum & Bass Arena top DJ poll in 2004. Dieselboy's also put dnb production on the map, releasing tunes with artists like Technical Itch early on, and establishing his Human Imprint label as a threat with quality releases and richly-inspired compilation projects.

Photek

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Photek brought a complexity to the scene that left many listeners dizzy. If junglists wanted drums, he had drums, but his patterns were so intricate, balancing sparse melodies (with a hint of a jazz influence) with beats that blew way past the simple two-step that many dnb tracks were built on. And while he worked with the double bass at times, it wasn't the brighter, more soulful sounds of Reprazent, but more cold and sinister, almost maniacal in its approach. Add to the fact that he was part of the first wave of dance music acts that signed deals with major labels, only to then buy himself out of that contract and take up putting his music out on his own.

DJ Hype

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DJ Hype had been producing since the late 1980s, and had been involved with pirate radio broadcasts in the early 1990s. His label, Ganja, had released a number of classic jungle tracks, including the massive "Super Sharp Shooter" (produced by DJ Zinc), and his affiliations with Zinc and DJ Pascal (who created the beautiful "P Funk Era") lead to the formation of the True Playaz camp, which also included Rude Bwoy Monty. This crew focused their efforts on creating undeniable dancefloor anthems, but also working in their love for hip-hop, be it through scratching or the way they'd manipulate their samples, and helped provide something different than the deeper, more serious side of the drum & bass sound. To this day, DJ Hype (through his Playaz imprint) is helping nurture the next class of drum & bass producers, including DJ Hazard and Original Sin.

DJ Marky

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Along with DJs like Patife and XRS, DJ Marky helped the world realized that drum & bass was more global than we realized; when V released "LK," the Brazilian drum & bass movement had its own anthem. The summery sounds were immediately felt, and this modern classic touched ravers worldwide. To Marky's credit, he's also a talented, multi-dimensional DJ, one who is not only well-versed in styles outside of drum & bass, but can mix and scratch (!) with the best of them. When he's not releasing tracks on his Innerground Records imprint, he can be found at one of his "Marky & Friends" nights, probably holding down the main room... by himself... for six hours.

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Bad Company

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During drum & bass' time, there have been a number of quality groups making timeless tracks, but none have had the impact like Bad Company did. The foursome, made up of DJs Fresh, dBridge, Maldini, and Vegas, had crafted a number of tracks together for Renegade Hardware, but it was the release of their debut single as a group, "The Nine," that set everything in motion. This debut album, Inside the Machine, was seen by many as a true classic within the scene, highlighting a sound that many were making, but not crafting as well as they were. Their string of singles were both critically acclaimed and tearing down the rave. Another feather in their cap was the bcrecordings.com website, which featured a forum that, unlike other fan sites, featured a number of the dnb scene's luminaries chatting regularly with fans and each other, later turning into the hugely popular forum Dogs On Acid.

Over time, the group started to dwindle, with DJ Fresh starting up Breakbeat Kaos with Adam F, while dBridge went on to form Exit Recordings. Maldini and Vegas are not to be forgotten, as they formed Bad Taste, and the best part is all of their imprints were dedicated to providing outlets for newer artists.

Dom & Roland

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You can't talk drum & bass and not bring up Dom and his Roland sampler into the discussion. Dom was signed to Moving Shadow, putting out a string of albums and singles, many being some of the most sought-after releases during drum & bass' late-90s/early 2000s boom period. And while the "tramen" break was popularized by a trio of DJ Trace tracks during his own heyday, the actual loop is a Dom & Roland creation, and one that he (alongside Bad Company) helped perfect and excite dancefloors with for years. It's just one of those instantly infectious, adding some meat to the amen like no one before him.

Ed Rush & Optical

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Ed Rush & Optical were both cut from the Metalheadz cloth, although Ed Rush did spend some time crafting tracks with Nico and the No U-Turn crew, helping birth the sound many came to know as "techstep." Optical wasn't just dragging his feet; he was off engineering for the likes of Grooverider, helping craft Groove's Mysteries of Funk album. Sometime in their travels, these two decided to not only craft tunes together, but take their sinister, technically-advanced sounds and mesh them together, elevating the techstep sound into the new millenium with neurofunk, a pretty apt description for their next-level tunes. They started up Virus Recordings, which not only housed their tunes, but tracks from Ryme Tyme, Matrix, Fierce, Cause4Concern, and other like-minded producers, many of which went on to spread their own version of the sound onward.

Konflict

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While Ed Rush and Optical are credited as being some of the early innovators of the neurofunk sound, many consider Konflict to be the ones to really shape and mold the sound. This duo, made up of Kemal and Rob Data, spent two years churning out bangers for Renegade Hardware, their "Messiah" making the biggest impact. They had a knack for taking elements of techno and turning up the intensity, making it a perfect fit for the rough-and-rugged drum & bass sound. Oddly enough, it was "Messiah" that caused the rift between the duo and Hardware, from which they left the label (although by 2004, neither were producing drum & bass at all). Their innovations could still be felt years after they stopped creating tracks.

London Elektricity

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This duo (Tony Colman and Chris Goss) are part of what was being termed as the "fast soul music" craze from the late 1990s/early 2000s. As a group (although Goss is no longer producing as London Elektricity), they would create rich, vibrant tracks in studio, but when performing live they took it a step further than even Reprazent did, employing an entire band to recreate their music, winning awards for their productions and everything. As labelheads, their Hospital Records imprint has gone from a well-respected labels, boasting projects from High Contrast, Nu:Tone, Danny Byrd, and others to becoming a true behemoth, and positioning itself as one of the most important drum & bass labels out there, catering first to those who wanted tracks outside of the darker, aggressive dnb scene to people who just want quality drum & bass.

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