DJ S.M.L.

Shunji Moriwaki, recording and performing as DJ S.M.L., first drew notice as one of the earliest American selectors to champion 2-step and additional variants of U.K. garage. Production work he began in the closing years of the 1990s quickly proved successful, landing three of his tracks inside the Top 20 of Billboard’s dance chart. He took up 2-step selections in 1999, just as the sound was emerging as a dominant force in Britain. By the close of 2000 he had founded Hatch, a weekly 2-step night in New York that supplied the city with steady servings of the style’s changing shapes, weaving in touches of R&B, dancehall, and house. His first major mix album, 2Step+Future Soul, appeared on Topaz and brought him to listeners across the country.