Behold the crowd at DnB AllStars festival in Gunnersbury Park, West London, late summer 2023. There’s a bloke wearing bin bags for shin pads, a bucket hat printed with the word “cunt” about 50 times, a full Tinky Winky suit, short skirts, long skirts, fishnets, ketamine chic T‑shirts, mullets, and some joker who circumvented the no umbrellas rule with a rainbow coloured umbrella hat, queried by security until the boss stepped in, declared it “classic” and waved him through the gate.
All of this is to say, drum’n’bass is alive and well. Some may argue that it always has been, that since evolving from jungle in the late ‘90s, the genre has sustained itself thanks to a cult fanbase and a dedicated division of DJs, even while subsequent sounds like garage and grime and jungle (again) dominated the column inches of more trendy media outlets. Now, TikTok trends and breakout stars like PinkPantheress, Becky Hill and Kenya Grace are taking d’n’b high into the UK charts. And jump-up – the rowdiest iteration of the d’n’b sound – is dominating raves and festivals around the country.
As drum’ n’ bass’s new gen ravers rush to the clubs, it is those at the front, the masters of ceremonies, who are chaperoning the sound into the future. Where once the drum’n’bass MC was a footnote on a flyer or an anonymous voice in a rave, streaming services are increasingly encouraging MCs to take centre stage. On the summer’s foremost anthems, MCs rock the mic: Bou and Chase & Status’s Baddadan (with MCs Trigga, Takura, Flowdan and Irah) Vibe Chemistry’s Balling remix (with Songer, OneDa, Mr Traumatik and Devilman) and Nottingham MC Bru‑C’s No Excuses have all broken the Top 40 with MCs front and centre.
Following in the footsteps of legends such as Stevie Hyper D, Shabba D, Skibadee, Det, Harry Shotta, Strategy, GQ, DRS, Stamina, Chimpo and Eksman, there’s now fresh talent the mic and d’n’b raves. Below, four new gen MCs share their perspective of the past, present and future of drum’n’bass.
