Brostep
A concise, evidence-based portrait of brostep as a late-2000s dubstep offshoot that sharpened the genre’s edges and found its biggest audience through UK pioneers and Skrillex-era mainstream exposure.
Origins and context
The style is documented as emerging from late-2000s dubstep discussions in the UK, then gaining much wider visibility in North America through Skrillex and related festival-oriented bass music.
The sound
Instrument palette
The voices and tools most associated with this sound.
- Synthesizer
- Digital bass production
- Drum machine
- Sampler
History
Brostep took shape in the late 2000s as listeners and producers began using the label for a harder, more aggressive strain of dubstep. Documented discussions of the style link its rise to UK artists such as Rusko, whose track “Cockney Thug” became closely associated with the wobble-heavy sound, and to Skrillex, whose early-2010s breakthrough brought this variant of dubstep to a much wider mainstream audience. By the early 2010s, brostep had become one of the most visible faces of dubstep in North America, especially in high-volume club and festival settings. Sources differ on whether the label began as a neutral description or a slightly mocking shorthand, but they agree on the basic shape of the style: heavier emphasis on the midrange, a metallic edge, and a more explosive, crowd-rattling presentation than earlier UK dubstep.
Notable artists
- SSkrillex
- RRusko
- EExcision
Essential listening
- 1
- 2
- 3
Skrillex
- 4
Rusko
Explore connected genres
Sources and further reading
- en.wikipedia.org
Brostep is documented as a harder form of dubstep that emerged during the late 2000s and early 2010s.
- Skrillex artist biography
- Spotify
Rusko’s “Cockney Thug” is closely associated with the wobble-heavy sound linked to brostep’s early history.
- Spotify
Spotify lists Skrillex’s Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites release from 2010.
- Dubstep style overview