One of the smartest things about dubstep, the sound of bass driven urban music reconstructed with a grainy, filmic sheen of menace, is it's sheer amorphousness. This is aside from it being (Like jungle in the early 90s) originated uniquely in Britain and more specifically within the pirate radio microcosm of the nation's capital. It's an ambiguity that reflects the composite nature of the movement's ingredients - splinters of grime, garage splinter two-step and dub reggae, mix to taste - and it gives a panoramic template for many a young laptop auteur who both create and devour it so voraciously.
It also remains an underground movement in it's strictest non-commercial terms, for whilst the largely anonymous Burial earned a Mercury Music Prize nomination for his second album Untrue, few outside of its burgeoning global movement were even peripherally aware of it. The evidence would suggest however that for the artists concerned, this is fine. Many of it's key progenitors seem to prefer a pseudonymous existence - a handful being Scuba, Boxcutter, Tempa, and Kode 9 - and in general interviews are rare. All of this makes those who might be labelled dubstep "stars" a rarity. But occasionally either by demonstration of talent or an equal desire to elevate the movement into the spotlight, one emerges. Benga (AKA Beni Uthman) is one of these few.
Perhaps this is because he amongst a handful can hold a legitimate claim to be an authentic pioneer of the bass obsessed sound, having emerged as far back as 2002 with his debut release, Skank on the seminal Big Apple label. Since then he's been responsible for a steady stream of top-of-its-game EPs, including collaborations with contemporaries Skream, Hatcha, and Walsh and has personally grown in palette as the sound itself has evolved, mutating his personal output from dubstep's more homogeneous roots.
Coming from the movement's South London epicenter - the concrete and bitumen sealed powder keg of Croydon - Benga's been making tunes since the age of twelve (He's 22 now), mainly inspired originally by UK garage artists like Wookie and the multifarious pirate radio stations that crackle across the cities airwaves. As his popularity has grown along with the genre, his music has found a wider audience with shows on imprints like Rinse FM.
.jpg?t=20120527181101)
Article comments