Oneman

Oneman emerged on the radar of grime and dubstep fans in 2006-2007 as a result of the House Party squat parties he organised with journalist Melissa Bradshaw, he was one of very few people who’d mix garage and dubstep records (in his own words, from a 2008 interview with Martin Clark, he “basically play[ed] 98-02 UKG 2step B-sides and 2005 dubstep”). More importantly, he was the only one who mixed them to the degree he did. A superlative DJ from a technical perspective, his multi-minute blends between garage and dubstep (such as Mala’s ‘Forgive’ with Groove Chronicles’ ‘Stone Cold’) became infamous. In the words of his regular host, Asbo, he takes “two tunes and makes ‘em sound like one, man.”

Most telling when it comes to Oneman’s impact on dubstep was Loefah, talking to Radio 1’s Mary Anne Hobbs in 2008. Hobbs had organised a show titled Generation Bass, where each of the six dubstep DJs from 2006’s Dubstep Wars Radio 1 show (also organised by Hobbs) picked a DJ each to perform a ten minute set. Loefah chose Oneman, and in his introduction, revealed that he never particularly liked UK garage until he heard Oneman mix it.