North America Beginnings and Scene
The rave scenes in the US (New York) and in Canada (Toronto) embraced the transition of hardcore to jungle around 1994. America's longest running party, Konkrete Jungle also born in NYC, discovered the first US drum and bass MC's Blaise (Naughty Ride), Panic and Johnny Z. Outside of NYC. Dieselboy in Pittsburgh, Karl K & Kaos with MC Dub2 in Philadelphia and DJ Slant & DJ Stress from the 2Tuff Crew in D.C. along with Krazy Josifer and MDF1 from the Life of Leisure Crew in Washington DC. This small handful of US East Coast pioneers spent years in the underground playing "back rooms" before the sound caught on throughout America.
Perhaps most responsible for the extensive introduction of drum and bass to the U.S.in the 1990s was Bassrush, headed by Raymond Frances, whose innovation was to present House, Techno, and Drum & Bass in separate rooms—making Drum & Bass, for the first time, a major feature at U.S. rave parties. The Bassrush DJ Agency also introduced many major UK DJs to the American scene, including Shy FX, Kenny Ken, and DJ Randall.
While New York and Toronto thrived in this culture in the early '90s, new scenes were rapidly gaining recognition in the mid '90s to late '90s in: Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Orlando, Denver, Seattle, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. Producers and DJs such as AK1200 (ORL), DJ Dara (NY), Danny the Wildchild (CHI), Krazy Josifer (DC), and in particular Dieselboy (PIT) who helped push the genre further and darker, by producing, promoting, releasing compilations available for the public, and performing at raves. He is also one of the first US producers and DJs to break out on the international scene. Evol Intent, Gridlok, Ewun and SPL have followed suit.
These artists have had a profound effect on the surrounding areas movements, causing drum and bass to spread in the majority of the United States. Clubs such as Buzz (DC), Breakdown (DEN), Seminar (CHI), Firestone (ORL), Platinum (PHI), Eklektic (SF), Science (LA), Masquerade (ATL) and Baltic Room (SEA) helped generate a scene outside of the then prosperous rave scene.
In 2000 Dieselboy joined forces with AK1200 and DJ Dara to create an annual tour, the Planet of the Drums. Since 2001 Messinian (James Fiorella, Philadelphia, PA) has been the MC. At ten consecutive years (2009), it is the longest-running annual tour in electronic dance music history.
In 2009, Dieselboy created The Monsters of Jungle, a tour concept featuring artists on his label, Human Imprint. The aesthetic is '80s metal meets drum and bass. It launched at the 11th Annual Starscape Festival in Baltimore, Maryland, in June 2009 as a multi-media stage production including custom visuals, and new music and spoken word audio prepared especially for the show. The first Monsters of Jungle tour featured Dieselboy, the Upbeats (New Zealand), Evol Intent, Ewun, Demo, Infiltrata, Joe Way, Mayhem, SPKTRM, MC Messinian, and MC Dino.
Read more about this topic: History Of Drum And Bass
Famous quotes containing the words north america, north, america, beginnings and/or scene:
“I knew that the wall was the main thing in Quebec, and had cost a great deal of money.... In fact, these are the only remarkable walls we have in North America, though we have a good deal of Virginia fence, it is true.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I’m trusting in the Lord and a good lawyer.”
—Oliver North (b. 1943)
“Tonight I will speak up and interrupt
your letters, warning you that wars are coming,
that the Count will die, that you will accept
your America back to live like a prim thing
on the farm in Maine.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“The beginnings of altruism can be seen in children as early as the age of two. How then can we be so concerned that they count by the age of three, read by four, and walk with their hands across the overhead parallel bars by five, and not be concerned that they act with kindness to others?”
—Neil Kurshan (20th century)
“An age is the reversal of an age:
When strangers murdered Emmet, Fitzgerald, Tone,
We lived like men that watch a painted stage.
What matter for the scene, the scene once gone:
It had not touched our lives.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)