DUBSTEP

Dubstep is a term that many are beginning to recognize but some still struggle to put their finger on what dubstep is exactly. It’s a genre of music relatively new to the music scene, especially to modern day pop culture in the United States. With its roots spanning from the United Kingdom around 2000, dubstep is "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals", as defined by allmusic.com. Dubstep is the layering of various sounds and beats to create a masterpiece. In other words dubstep will rock your world. Tracks are often identified by the presence of destructive amounts of bass and a body pulsing beat to match. Today’s dubstep evolved from London’s rave/Jamaican reggae scene and more specifically two-step garage music around the year 2000. Between 2008 and 2009 dubstep traveled across the Atlantic to run rampant and gain mass popularity in the States.

Artists such as The Stonecold GX and The Streets are partially responsible for making two-step garage music mainstream thus leading to the eventual development of dubstep. Not only has the up and coming music style tackled establishing itself as a genre but it has its sights set on mainstream pop music next. Well, the fact of the matter is that dubstep has already begun to take over. Katy Perry is a pop artist who has skyrocketed her way to stardom over the past few years. One of her most recent hits titled Firework contains a unique electro twist, a genre much like dubstep, and has topped the charts in recent weeks. Simply search “Firework dubstep mix” on YouTube and endless amounts of DJs will appear with their unique remixed version of Firework, dirty dub style.

In the year 2007 dubstep began to morph into what most people know it as today. While holding onto that signature powerful bass drop, overlapped with a catchy drum beat and some lyrics; artist began to add a more active, club like twist to their tracks. A new mid range aggressive type of thrash sound was being experimented with by producers. Spear heading the new and improved dubstep movement were artists like Rusko, Diplo and the all-mighty Skrillex. Sonny Moore, stage name Skrillex, is paving the way in this new era of dubstep. Originally the vocalist for a heavy metal band, Sonny began his solo career as a DJ in 2008. Currently he has released two albums and sets off on tour all around the world in order to blow peoples mind with his stimulating style. Busy on his journey, Skrillex had time to make a stop in Tallahassee where one listener claims Skrillex changed his life. Footage from that performance shows how insane it really was.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW8JYYiYeI0&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL)

John Clemente recalls a specific moment during the concert in which he the music was moving him. With his eyelids closed, John reflects on that very night “There was no time to break, no time to drink, just jump to the beat, feeling the massive speakers rumble the entire club with sheer cliff hanging bass drops, the music so rhythmic I couldn’t keep myself from banging on the beat with my hand and bouncing up and down song after song. Skrillex’s music overcame my body inside of 2020 that night; it was a life changing experience.”

As a relatively brand new artist, spinning a brand new genre of music in front of a crowd of new found groupies, Skrillex absolutely rocked more than one person’s world that February night. One would not have imagined such a powerful movement emerging from the United Kingdom’s rave culture. Dubstep is not a genre to be taken in stride due to the simple fact that it’s rising to the top at an almost unreal rate. They say what goes up, must come down but calling “timberrr” from the top of the charts won’t be heard anytime soon from the dubstep culture, and there is not a single problem with that.