Dub 101 Tour / April 6 / The Union

By: Kyle Rutherford, Staff Writer
Photos By: Kyle Rutherford

The Union exploded Thursday night when the Dub 101 crew rolled in, bringing along quite possibly the biggest electronic music act ever to Athens

First to spin was DJ Pro Bono, a 5th year recreation management senior from OU. Pro Bono's set was chill, with a high emphasis on hip-hop and rap mixed into drum and bass, drumstep, and classic dubstep. It took him most of his set to bring in some bangers, but he was able to make everything he played danceable. Pro Bono says that he is just starting to produce his own music.

Second up was Easty, an Athens local and Casa employee, who played a heavy dubstep set. His set had an emphasis on classic British style, but it also brought in super heavy bass songs. There was less rap and hip-hop influence, but glitchy stuff progressed into heavier stuff that was better to dance to. Easty said he will be releasing some original material soon.

The first touring act was Thunder St. Clair, who countered Easty's heavy dubstep set with another heavy dubstep set. He was able to mix any kind of dubstep together, transitioning well and throwing in a tons of dance tracks, all with a heavy bass twist. Thunder St. Clair got his start about four years ago, stemming from his college graduation party. He put on the first ever dubstep party in Cleveland, and still continues to put on these parties. He is heavy influenced by producers like Machine Drum and Starkey, and has opened for huge producers, like !2th Planet and Datsik.

Fourth out was Carma, out of the company My Best Friends Party. A DJ of about 7 years, Carma played more of a dance dubstep set, using tracks like "Fire Hive" by Knife Party, transitioned into remixes of popular Top 40 songs, like "Niggas in Paris" by Jay-Z & Kanye West. Since his initially playing dance music, Carma has risen to playing a mess of club shows in Columbus through MBFP.

A little background before I go into Crizzly's set. Born in Texas as Chris Marshall, Crizzly has only been DJing for about 4 years, which isn't band, considering he is only 19 now. Chris started his career playing high school parties and school dances, progressing into producing about two years ago. Marshall's sound can be described as crunkstep, a near epileptic mixture of mid-2000's style rap and hip-hop, mixed with drum-and-bass, heavy dubstep and drumstep. Though he doesn't have any original music slated for release, Crizzly's remixes are being spun by popular DJ's/producers worldwide.

Only one word can truly describe his set: insane. From start to finish, the music was heavy and the crowd was going crazy. Pro Bono's alter-ego as MC Drunken Assassin conducted the crowd through the insanity, rarely straying from spitting commands into the mic, as well as hyping everyone up. Some of Crizzly's most memorable drops were his remixes of "Hard in Da Paint" by Waka Flocka Flame, the internet famous "Big Booty Bitches" and "Go Hard" by Dream. The most memorable mix for me was his remix of "Dat Ass" by Logun and "Bass Cannon" by Flux Pavilion. The track about literally blew my mind, and I know for a fact that the faces of everyone in attendance were melted off.