Inside the Listening Lounge with Skream and Benga: 25 Years of Dubstep

As the Dubstep genre marks 25 years, two of the most cited pioneers of the genre, Skream and Benga headed to Spotify’s immersive 30-capacity listening lounge, designed by Friendly Pressure in the heart of London as part of DIA/LOG, a new live event series created by Spotify and Drumsheds built around artists whose sounds, histories, or instincts have something to say, and an understanding that artists, genres, and music forms always exist in conversation with one another, to reflect on the past, present and future Dubstep landscape.  For over two decades duo Skream and Benga have engrossed themselves in the Dubstep music landscape, starting out as teenagers in the early 2000s, meeting through their brothers and bonding around the iconic Big Apple Records in Croydon, where they undoubtedly helped forge the genre. A staple in majority of conversations of the genre, their musical prowess has spanned from creating one of their earliest releases The Judgement EP to their partnership with early mentor and producer Artwork to form the electric trio, Magnetic Man with their project blending raw Dubstep bass knowledge with Pop, R&B and Electronic crossovers. 

Their friendship began long before records did. “We met through our brothers,” they explain, with a younger Skream introduced by an older sibling who walked into the record shop where he worked and what bloomed was a friendship built on the phone line. “We used to ring each other and play music down the phone,” Skream recalls. “It’s so weird now, trying to explain that to someone.” Soon they were DJing together at house parties as part of the crew ‘Flip Mode Squad,’ turning up uninvited with a group of MCs. “We wouldn’t be booked [for the parties] but we’d turn up everywhere,” they laugh. 

Big Apple Records became the centre of it all, a shop set in the middle of Croydon’s Surrey Street Market. Skream remembers it was an old school pub mentality, where the banter was constant and everyone was in on it, including the 'Apple Scratch,’ similar to putting a ‘kick me’ sticker on someone’s back for a laugh. It was the only place outside a club where they could hear music played loudly, on the shop’s speakers.  Upstairs Artwork (Arthur) was teaching Benga how to make tracks during work experience. “Benny’s upstairs learning how to make songs with Arthur,” Skream continues, “I had to stand downstairs and get shouted at.” Artwork remains their biggest influence. "Artwork is probably the biggest inspiration directly," they say and the record shop made them feel like pursuing this was very much doable. 

One of the tracks played in the listening lounge was Horsepower Productions' "Log On" (Elephant Man remix), which Skream calls the tune that changed everything. "It weren't garage anymore," he says. 

Then it was Benga's turn, and his pick was his own "Flame,” which he dropped at Plastic People Night Club after North London’s Heartless Crew on a night when the room was fuller than he'd ever seen it. "I could still see DJ Hatcha's face. He was grinning, when I dropped ‘Flame.’ It [the club] just erupted," Benga remembers. Skream was candid about ‘Midnight Request Line.’ which turns 20 this year. "No one played it around the time it was made," he says. "I didn't play it. I thought it was crap." He says British Dubstep DJ, Youngsta, was one of the earliest supporters. He was cutting several tracks a week at the time and made some of them on Christmas Day. "I'd wait for everyone to get a little bit drunk, and then slip off and make tunes." Played in the stereo room, it landed differently. "I've never heard it like that," he said. 

As dubstep spread far beyond Croydon, the pair were open about how they felt about its journey. "We wanted it to go worldwide," they say. That ambition sometimes drew criticism, particularly over the aggressive sound some called "Brostep,” but they never worried about it. "We loved it. It was carnage," Benga says. "We weren't there to be cool. We were there to leave a statement.” 

The conversation then moved to the present. They credit lockdown, with Skream in New Zealand, for bringing them back to writing together and the first Skreamizm night at fabric in 2023 for confirming it. "It just felt right," Skream said. "And here we are."  On the new generation, they pointed to Flava D, Rohaan and Nitepunk, noting that the sound has changed since 2006. "People ain't got time to focus on one drum," Benga says and many producers now prefer UK bass to being tied to a single genre. As for their own sets, the old tracks stay in the past. "We only ever pushed forward," they say. 

For years they closed their sets with Rage Against the Machine [Killing in the Name]. They also push back on the neat version of dubstep history. "Everyone likes to have this idea that we all rolled as a scene together. We didn't," they insist. For them, being well-known and sought after meant sharing stages with Guns N' Roses, Pharrell Williams and MIA, something they say would be harder today. "You could actually hold your own on a stage around loads of people," Skream says. "Now you couldn't have a line-up of ten house DJs and stick a drum and bass DJ in the middle." 

That openness to mixing genres is the idea behind DIA/LOG, which comes to Drumsheds on Saturday 17 October. Skream and Benga headline a bill that includes LTJ Bukem, SBTRKT, Flava D, Plastician and Jammer alongside the next generation of bass music.