David Beckham Digs Bassline

Bassline (also known as 'Bassline House' or 'Niche') is a fresh new urban sound coming out of the UK that is taking the charts by storm. CSR's priority track, T2's 'Heartbroken' is credited with bringing the sound to the fore in the eyes and ears of mainstream. Its deep, down and dirty.

Born five years ago in a Sheffield club called Niche, Bassline is influenced by R&B, house and garage and is steadily surpassing grime, funky house and dubstep as the most dominant force in UK urban music.

Starting earlier this year in the European summer, 'Heartbroken' rang out in the clubs in Ayia Napa in Cyprus and Malia in Crete. "The song was everywhere - everybody was asking the DJs to play it," says grime MC and producer Skepta, who spent the summer performing in both resorts. When the London clubbers returned home, they took with them a buzz about a new style of music.

Producer and sometime DJ, T2, 19, is the man behind 'Heartbroken'. He takes to Sheffield's Hanky Panky's decks at about midnight. The upbeat, hook-heavy track features singer Jodie Aysha's manipulated vocals, underscored by twisting, turbulent basslines and dynamic drum patterns. It is the scene's first mainstream hit, but it has been huge at nights such as Hanky Panky for well over a year. It has been played heavily on 1Xtra, while youth lifestyle magazine RWD and MTV's urban channel Base tipped T2 as an artist "about to blow" back in August. Now, the track is being played everywhere from Radio 1 to T4.

"I started out giving my CDs to the ladies, who would take it with them to clubs and parties around Yorkshire," says T2, adding, "I've been creating my own hype for years."

T2 is happy not only with the night, but also with what he predicts to be Bassline's bright future. "Hopefully, now 'Heartbroken' has done well, we'll see the music break more into the mainstream and see it spread around the world," he says. "We're not trying to keep it northern. We want it to be international."

T2's ambitions for universal approval seem to be working. It was reported in the Sun newspaper last week that David Beckham, the world's most recognisable sports star, is a professed fan and actually has 'Heartbroken' as a ringtone. As to almost reinforce the universal acceptance of this new sound, it was 'Heartbroken', or at least a special remade version of it, that was blaring out the loud speakers prior to the world title fight between Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather. Tags

• bassline
• csr
• t2
• heartbroken
• david beckham
• ringtones
• central station
• house
• r&b
• ricky hatton
• floyd mayweather