Whenever bass heads gather to pick over the new blood pushing drum & bass right back on top, Dub Phizix is one of the few names everyone can agree on. Over the last two years the Manchester-based producer has had an insane string of hits, including the filthy, ubiquitous bashment 'n’ bass bomb 'Marka' (alongside Skeptical and MC Strategy) — which burst out of the scene and rampaged into record boxes worldwide.

“There is no other music in the world where an MC stands on the stage for an hour and continuously sprays lyrics with such clarity and power over so many frequencies,” Eksman, one of the d&b scene's foremost MCs, tells DJ Mag. “The life and evolution of the drum & bass MC has grown from strength to strength over the years, and I have no doubt that down the line many more great things are in store for the future generation of MCs in our music.” 
Undoubtedly so. The role of the drum and bass MC has steadily progressed simultaneously with the scene it resides in, although in the early days MCs experienced negativity from some DJs. But the MC has fought for its corner, and now overwhelmingly basks in the same golden glory as the DJ.

When DJ Mag enters a disused pub in south-east London’s Rotherhithe, we find LTJ Bukem has arrived early and is waiting patiently for us on a sofa in the pub’s old bar area. A true originator of drum & bass, Bukem, aka Danny Williamson, then throws himself into his part of the photo-shoot in a small, sparsely-lit room, which, much to everyone’s amusement, was once the gents’ toilets in the now-converted boozer.

I've just asked Thomas Green, aka Rockwell, one of d&b's hottest producers and DJs of 2013, who is No.1 on his wish list of collaborators. He's thinking about it. I ponder which jungle/d&b legend he's going to opt for. 
“Ian Mackaye,” he says. Nods affirmatively. “Definitely. I'm obsessed with Fugazi and Minor Threat. It's my first love in music — hardcore punk, I love Black Flag and Henry Rollins as well — in fact I went to see his spoken word show a few weeks ago. Ian MacKaye I think probably wouldn't be very into the kind of music I'd make so the results would be... interesting. But, yeah, I would love to work with him.”
Of course, such genre-bending surprise should be of NO surprise to anyone who's properly listened to Rockwell.

We decided to talk to the man himself to learn a little bit more about it...

DJ Hype has hosted his Playaz night at Fabric in London on the last Friday of the month for the last 13 years. He's held his Kiss radio show for 18 years straight and still manages to find time to DJ all over the world – spreading the 360 drum & bass gospel.

He started off making hardcore and jungle before concocting groundbreaking tracks like the dystopian 'Police State' and the seductive 'Mutant Jazz', and then going super-ambient.

He's made house, electro, techno, done it all, but it's still breakbeat culture he returns to time and time again...

We grill him on his early musical loves, his approach to tune construction and what's going on for him at this moment in time...