DJ SS

Leroy Small, better known as DJ SS and originally from Leicester, England, helped shape drum'n'bass during its formative early-1990s years by issuing multiple foundational tracks on the Formation label he co-owned beginning in 1990, only to step away briefly before flooding the scene again with abundant new material in the mid-1990s. His roots in the music stretch back to the preceding hardcore period that gave rise to the style. During the early 1990s, as hardcore gradually transformed into drum'n'bass, he delivered a string of influential releases on Formation, among them the early classic "Breakbeat Pressure." By around 1993, when the genre moved away from its hardcore origins toward a ragga-inflected sound, SS withdrew from production, uninterested in that direction, and instead concentrated on other labels he operated. Several years later he reentered drum'n'bass with considerable impact. Across the late 1990s he issued numerous records on various imprints under several aliases, including Keen and Tekniq, and emerged as one of the more prominent producers in the U.K. drum'n'bass community.