Worship

Worship.

There is an awful lot of chit chat online at the moment about Worship and the USA DNB heads are well and truely rattled.

On top of that, UK DnB and Jungle DJ's are also rather upset too.

Why?

The issue is this article which you can read here : "Things Had to Change": WORSHIP on the Drum & Bass Revolution in the United States - EDM.com - The Latest Electronic Dance Music News, Reviews & Artists

The issue is, drum and bass and jungle in USA has been going for a long time. There is a massive difference as Jumping Jack Frost states as "EDM and Drum and Bass." He stated "PS. DON'T GET DNB confused with that mess that's known as EDM."

EDM standing for "Electronic Dance Music" and DNB which is our staple bread and butter are 2 different forms of music. One is commercial and one is not. Underground dance music crosses the lines into commercial music, it blows up, it's on the Radio and then eventually it all slides back into the underground. At present in the UK we are experiencing a huge influx of commercial drum and bass everywhere. This isn't to say that for the last 20-30 years it hasn't existed.

The issue is the complete lack of regard for all the people who paved the way for this to happen. Can we at least pay homage to the legends that have created this platform for us? Not just in the States but here in the UK too, the history and the roots have quite frankly got a little lost. All the EDM music that is out there atm, love the music but can we at least look at the real pioneers please? Can we educate the newbies and spread a little love to the ones who have gratted for the last 20-30 years and not start thinking we are suddendly blowing up because we are great, you are blowing up thanks to years of underground hustle.

There is no doubt that the techy, harder sounds of dnb aren't as big at the moment but the scene did this last time LK and SHY FX's tracks were huge, except at the time they wern't regarded as cheesy or commercial as they were the staple of our roots. Then we went back underground. 

The difference is that the scene of underground artists in America, are quite frankly bigger than you can imagine and have been completly overlooked in this article. 

The clear issue here is the complete lack of regard to all the artists is the USA who have built and still uphold drum and bass in the States and have paved the way for the rest to follow. 

The "Respect" brand which is based in Los Angeles doesn't even really need introducing. They have been pioneering drum and bass in USA for as long as I can remember and that's well over 20 years. If you want to update a bit of USA history read this article from UKF on Respect. 

Armanni Reign has been touring the world reppin' DNB for USA for years. Reid Speed. The list of names go on and on and that article basically disrespects the whole of the USA Dnb community and that is why everyone is vexed.

Karen Iris stated "Only a handful of well to do white dudes could have the audacity to make a claim they single-handedly saved the US from dnb disaster."

The roots of our scene lie in everyone working together as a cog. Smaller local artists and promoters run events, bigger artists come along and help smaller events. Small events get big and book bigger artists.

Now I can remember playing in rooms with the likes of Sigma and Benny Page 15/20 years ago on small events and we all grafted, all helped out each other and helped promoters. You work from the bottom up and stay humble and level headed. What happens when you blowup too quick and make some dnb anthems but then play on big EDM stages, is you kinda forget where the roots are.

The problem with big EDM acts is they don't seem to regard the scene in the same way we do. Can they though? Have they forgotton or are they literally that uneducated or, is this just click bait and we are the idiots for being sucked in?

If they don't give props to the hard working smaller artists in the USA or even the bigger artists like Liondub for instance in New York, DJ Empress who has been a staple in the States for years. Iris in Washington etc, is it because they don't care or is it just a marketing act? 

The article however references Tiësto, John Summit, David Guetta and Dom Dolla. "Drum & Bass for the Vegas pool party crowd"as Jack Shifter stated and hes not wrong is he.

I mean, if we are going to talk about Worship and how cringe it is, in the same breath can we then all uphold a list of our favourite Stateside artists? Let's at least not be hypocritcal now. The likes of John B, Jumping Jack Frost, A Sides, DJSS and our MCs in the UK have been taking our sound over there for years and these guys will have lists longer than you know of promoters and people Stateside that deserve props, and the local drum and bass artists and Stateside promoters are the ones who bring us over, they are the ones we should be celebrating and worshipping and no wonder they are a tad upset.

The American Jungle wrote "Congrats EDM.com for making the entire American / US DNB /Jungle scene cringe in unison! Might do a lil more research next round.. (i.e. a certain article I'm sure we are all aware of) Will post in comments."

Mac at Konkrete Jungle (New York – founded in November 1994) hasn't just taken the brand around USA, that brand has been repped hard around the globe. 

DrivenAM (New York – founded in 2006), DnB Tuesdays (Seattle – founded in November 1998), NOLA DNB (New Orleans), and Kontrolled Kaos (South Eastern U.S. – founded in 2023), Mississippi Drum & Bass, in addition to the Bassrush stage at EDC each year, and a very select group of others. The fact is I could be here writing lists and lists of promoters, artists and i've probably left people out which I apologise for but at least let's educate people on our American friends who bring us over and who do a really good job over the pond.

"A tip of the hat should also be made to Ritesh Patel" the article states, founder of the LOCUS Festival held each year at the beach resort destination of Tulum Mexico. LOCUS is, hands down, the largest drum and bass festival in the Americas.

Jump Up And Roll have an interesting article here around American DNB if you want to educate yourselves.

Dogs On Acid probably was the place where USA and UK DNB merged, we were always having banter there. I remember finding artists like Evol Intent - a hardstep drum and bass group from Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. and from around the 2000's. It was a place where the UK artists got hated on for jump up and the UK artists tended to have a bit of a pop at the USA Crew for the "nerd step" but all in all DOA (Dogs On Acid) has probably the largest source of USA DNB info online. 

That's where Doc Scott resided reguarly, on the DOA forums, alongside John B and could be a good reason how and why they have good connections with our Stateside friends.

Diesalboy was one of the biggest USA DJs I knew of and alongside Dara. Reid Speed as well, but most of all the people like Skynet I used to talk to, has always been reppin' the harder sounds of dnb. Hive was a staple sound I grew up on, again from the States, I remember he got fed up with the dnb scene sadly and started his own mastering company. His last release on Violence was in 2007. Dylan, Robyn Chaos... i'd be here all day.

There was a 404 forum which really did help the Northern side of dnb too but I don't think it exists anymore.

You have promoters like MC Ridda in San Diago bringing UK artists out all the time. These are the staples of people in DNB in the States.

But rather than me educate you on whos who of DNB in the States, it would be better to ask the Stateside community themselves. Talk to them and get involved. We might just be the other side of the pond but the lack of inclusivity of USA artists over here is hard for them. 

One thing you have to also remember is we live in a time of hard marketing. People want clicks, they want you to see news and content, so was this written with the intent of you clicking it, reading it and where you may not of heard of Worship before, the fact is you have now. All news is good news? Or is it when you piss off a whole heap of hard working muscians, artists and promoters in the process?

Educate yourselves on where our music come from, who's pioneered it and support those who care about the pioneers. Yes it's about the music but our roots not just in the UK but around the world are important too.

I think the statement in that article that has annoyed people is "It’s been unbelievably humbling seeing a new community of fans grow, with crowds and venues increasing in size. We like to think we've played a key role in this growth." People who have been pushing jungle and dnb from day one, 20-30 years who helped build our music scene from the beginnning deserve to be recognised here. Goldie, Bryan Gee, Nicky Blackmarket, Fabio, Grooverider, Doc Scott, John B, Simon Bassline Smith. Hype. Pascal. These people are staples here in the UK. Jeez Pascal is still working distrubuting mine and others labels and have been the backbone of dnb longer than most. Yes i've missed out loads of names but the lists are endless.

I honestly could be here all day but the fact is people are upset and rightly so. People work together to make this music scene an inclusive happy place but forgetting the roots or giving thanks to people who deserve it really should be remembered. Just so the Stateside crew know we don't disregard you at all. Keep up the hard work.

Written By Missrepresent April 1st 2024 and no the original article here wasn't an April fools though maybe it should of been!