Golden Era - Part Two (The Womp)

(DUBSTEP)

In my previous Golden Era post I talked briefly about the Golden Era in hip hop and how I could only ever look at it in retrospect. Dubstep is a different story. When I went to Shambhala in 2007, I was told by a fast friend made out there named Sev (HxdB) to go see some guy named Skream in the Village. Life changed that day.

What I witnessed was the very beginnings of a movement. I came home a convert like Paul telling all his Jewish friends how cool this Jesus guy was. I witnessed from afar the evolution of a new music that I described to them as "kinda like listening to some dubby reggae shit but only with the sound sources being similar to the ones used for drum'n'bass... and with a helluva lot more bass." In the last 3 years the genre crafted it's sound, spread into a hundred different styles, took over the UK and eventually the world. Hearing my friends complain about the douches that come out to shows now puts a smile on my face because I know I'm witnessing a movement where the influence and reach is growing with every day, even including those trendy little bandwagon hoppers. And for every fist-pumping Ed Hardy boy that mean mugs the whole show, there's another 3 people who begrudgingly come out to experience a sound system shaking their bowels into the time of their life.

Yes folks, whether or not you realize it, we're in the midst of the Golden Era of the Womp right now. The soundsystem culture catered to this nouveaux garage sound in the early 00's, moving through it's formative years to become the sound championed by Skream, the man who introduced me to to it. Furthermore, due to the digital revolution we are also all living in, it spread and matured at an incredibly rapid pace while the whole world was a download away from every artists latest work. Love it and live it, you don't get to experience something like this often in the music world.

To commemorate this era of bass, I'm linking you folks to a mix (props to my buddy Chad for showing me it) that was made by three of the people who pushed it to this point. With tracks like 'Night' and the 'Going in for the Kill' remix, everyone knows who Benga and Skream are. They are the biggest names in dubstep (Rusko might be bigger but for different reasons, he's got an accessible bro-step sound and incredible stage presence that has turned him into dubsteps most lovable rockstar) and were pushing it forward in the aforementioned formative years. The man who mentored them through the early stages was a man known as Artwork. These 3 have formed like Voltron to create 'Magnetic Man', dubsteps new supergroup, kinda like Dwyane, Chris and LeBitch dowin in Miami, minus the attitude and likely including a whole lot more narcotics. The quality, the names, the formation, and the time of this mix were a perfect backdrop for a post about dubsteps golden age. Download, listen, love...

Magnetic Man - Essential Mix

And with that, I head out to see what life changing experience Shambhala has in the cards for me this year. Hitting the road folks, hope to see you there.

Peace!