What a year 2023 has been for drum and bass in the UK, Venbee and Goddard. hit the top spot in the charts with their crossover banger ‘Messy In Heaven’ and Chase & Status’ track ‘Baddadann’ peaked at number 5 in the charts as well as undoubtedly being crowned the track of the summer across the festival circuit- proving that drum and bass doesn’t need to be watered down to be accepted by the masses. We’ve heard 170bpm in TV adverts and Amens all over video games. Drum and Bass is having a moment in the spotlight, extra commercial exposure brings new ears (and opportunity, growth and money) to the scene, and some of those ears may even venture into the underground. It’s all love and we’re here for it all.
This December, just as every December for the last 15 years Drum&BassArena invited us to celebrate our scene with the Drum&BassArena Awards. With rounds of open voting the fans of drum and bass crown the champions of the genre providing us with a snapshot of where our scene is right now- whether you agree with the results or not I’m sure you’ll agree they’re a great conversation starter.
Our old friends Dave Columbo Jenkins and Jenna G welcomed artists, including the winner of Best Vocalist- Becky Hill, to the black and yellow apartment to have a retrospective chinwag about our scene and of course, announced the full list of winners.
Big shout out to the mighty A.M.C who has won Best DJ for the fifth year on the bounce! Congratulations! And another huge shout out to Chase & Status and Flowdan who were not only the winners of Best Track (love to Bou, IRAH, Trigga & Takura too), but also winners of Best Producer and Best MC respectively. We’ve also got to send a special mention to Simula who finished as a runner-up in a whopping total of four categories, including Best Producer, Best Album and Best Track and Mandidextrous who was awarded the Critic’s Choice.
Best Newcomer is always a hotly contested category- this year’s much-deserved winner is Sota and in a sparkling show of changing times and a testament to the diversity of talent within the drum and bass scene our two runners-up are women. [IVY] and Anaïs are a wonderful illustration of why gender-splitting awards categories is completely unnecessary. While we’re talking newcomers keep your eyes peeled for Best Newcomer Label- Nueroheadz who climed from last year’s third place to the gold position.
After the event space’s closure earlier this year, in a bittersweet farewell, the Best Club category was claimed by Printworks- London. Second and third place taken were by The Warehouse Project- Manchester and Motion in Bristol, proving the strength of the scene up and down the country.
This year’s Hall of Fame sees the posthumous induction of Leke Adesoye and MC Fats. Through originality and creativity both men have left an indelible mark on our scene. May they rest in eternal peace.
We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again. While the winners always split opinions and breed numerous discussions, it’s important to remember it is the richness of variety and depth of difference that make our beloved drum & bass community so strong. Enjoy the awards, debate with vigour but please, be kind.
You can watch the whole awards ceremony and see all the winners below.
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