the two step invasion April 12, 2008
no genre of music has ever divided clubgoers like uk garage. after speed garage, which was basically still 4/4 and just like us garage but faster, 2 step garage emerged. a significant proportion of the first wave of 2 step records were r&b covers or bootlegs.
i seem to remember that after an initial bang in 1997/8, garage went back underground in 1999, bar ’sweet like chocolate’, before a resurgence of interest later in the year that eventually took it mainstream. i was in london, so it never really went away, but there was little evidence during 1999 that it had a presence beyond the m25.
this was an expensive scene saturated with champagne and designer labels, and many of the clubs such as twice as nice operated an over 25’s door policy. the attitude was reminiscent of the wine bar scene of the late 80s - only now you needed to be cool and have the cash (credit…come on, most of the clubbers were on less than £20k a year, those promoters should be ashamed).
my man did not like uk garage at all. to me, it was the house/r&b hybrid i’d often tried to imagine.
ramsey and fen - lovebug
dhl - favourite girl
lenny fontana - spirit of the sun
n’n'g - right before my eyes
future underground nation - the way
sweet female attitude - flowers
destiny’s child vs jameson - bug a boo
brandy and monica vs architechs - the boy is mine
richie dan - call it fate
tin tin out and emma bunton - what i am
artful dodger and romina johnson - movin’ too fast
dem 2 - destiny
kele le roc- my love
christian falk- make it right
n’n'g and rose windross - liferide
doolally - straight from the heart
Leave a Reply