Oneman plays a lot of old tunes, an exception in a scene obsessed with the perpetual "moving forward never backwards" motion of dubplate culture. Again, as such a DJ, he should be confined to the ranks of the many DJs out there. But over the last few years Oneman has most definitely moved ahead of the pack.
'I just wanna make people dance and people dance to good beats,' says Oneman.
Few epitomized what an incredible year 2010 was as DJ Oneman, this column's DJ of the year. When Loefah put him forward for Mary Anne Hobbs' Generation Bass showcase in 2008, his talent as a DJ was undeniable, yet mixing early DMZ releases into old UK garage records will only take you so far. Instead he spent the next two years walking a new path, eventually ushering in a new generation of producers and sounds distinct from the grime, funky, dubstep, and garage scenes that inspired them.
By summer, armed with peerless mixing skills and new Serato tricks, Oneman would reach Slimzee circa 2003, Hatcha '04, or DMZ '06 levels of creativity, putting clear water between himself and the very hot competition. He broke one of the records of the year, Girl Unit's "Wut", and launched his 502 label with two fresh new artists, Fis-T and Jay Weed. His appearances on the cult ustream show 'Boiler Room' have got the internet world buzzing - notably playing unknown dubplates such as the much hyped 'Sicko Cell':
And if you like the sound of that then head over to his Mixcloud page where you can find more audio heat :)
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