Benga

Filthy two step bass sounds

You may or may not be familiar with the UK’s new burgeoning Dubstep scene; the filthy two step bass sounds currently ricocheting from the nation’s innercity areas. For fans or even as a perfect introduction then look no further than Benga – a young Londoner who is making some of the rudest tunes to emanate outside of the M25.

As a kid he was into drum and bass, jungle and like any healthy and curious male, a smattering of hardcore. At the age of 10 he was tape editing his families record collection, at 12 he was counterfeiting the sounds of the pumping Croyden pirate radio stations on his Playstation. Around this time he got his first DJ gig and also landed ‘sponsorship’ for his talents from the now defunct Big Apple Records, a local haunt of Croyden garage heads and a vital hub which has helped power today’s healthy Dubstep scene.

“The Dubstep scene however there’s nothing to hold it back so it can go for as far as it wants to.”

“I used to take my tunes down to Big Apple on minidisk and it was almost like a sponsorship, they used to give me my records for free.’ chuckles Benga ‘They couldn’t understand how young I was but by 13 they thought I was one of the best DJs so started helping me out.”

At this time Benga was listening to the Artful Dodger but it wasn’t until he heard Wookie that his revolution in dub got fully mobilised. “Wookie flipped the script for me’ explains the 20 year old ‘I started making that music straight away. Wookie was the most important person in the scene; I wouldn’t have been so hooked if I hadn’t heard his riffs.”

Whilst the Croyden Garage scene stretches back beyond seven years, the new dubstep scene has found its own course within the last two. Benga and long-time school friend Skream are heralded as the underground legends who have galvanised the sounds of the innercities into a more coherent scene – now settling in niches in far flung places such as Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow as well as in New York and even young producers taking to the pads in Texas.

However such sweeping overviews make Benga laugh: “It’s mad because me and Skream were just like just making tunes and playing them down the phone to each other “What do you reckon to this?” Before taking them down to Big Apple and playing them to Hatcha; another one of the scene’s key players.

Importantly over the last year Grime and Dubstep have peeled apart and have gone their distinct ways. The artists hardly crossover from either side but with a few exceptions such as MRK 1 from Manchester

Benga weighs up the divide: “Grime is good to a point but its people; I think, are all holding themselves back. The raves are all getting shut down because of the violence but the MCs keep portraying it. For me if I want my scene to grow then I wouldn’t be saying what they say. Not all of them are killers but they all chat like they are killers – there are many other things to talk about. But its just all followed.’

“The Dubstep scene however there’s nothing to hold it back so it can go for as far as it wants to. As long as we are coming out with new music then it keeps growing. It’s down to hard work. Tempa and DMZ just keep plugging away with releases and Hot Flush are doing good work. People like that have just always kept things moving forward. There’s more raves and more people getting involved. It’s well healthy”

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