Jon E Cash

Music never exists in a vacuum — every scene and sound evolves from the non-stop exchange of ideas between different groups and cultures. Traditions get passed down from one generation to the next, and then individual heads take influence from their own unique perspective. Sometimes, certain people strike upon fusions that spark massive new movements, but even those rarest innovations came from somewhere.

Jon E Cash knows this more than most — the legendary beats he started putting out at the turn of the millennium had their own disparate roots and influences which he had the motivation to put together into a sound he called sublow. There wasn't any other reference point for this music — when he took the first white labels of 'Drop Top Bimmer Kid' into Blackmarket Records in Soho, London, he had to describe it to a puzzled Nicky Blackmarket and J Da Flex as being, "between garage and hip-hop."

𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝-𝙪𝙥 𝙞𝙣 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟰, 𝙍𝙚𝙥𝙝𝙡𝙚𝙭 𝙍𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙧𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙚 𝙖 𝙬𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙪𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙. "𝙂𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚. 𝙎𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙬. 𝘿𝙪𝙗𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥... 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘. 𝘿𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩." 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙅𝙤𝙣 𝙀 𝘾𝙖𝙨𝙝'𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙐𝙆 𝙜𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙙𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙗𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝟵𝟬𝙨, 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙚-𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙥-𝙝𝙤𝙥 𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙩𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙐𝙆.

25 years on, it's a fine time to reflect on the impact of the music Cash made at the turn of the millennium. History looks back favourably on what he and the Black Ops crew were doing with sublow in the early 00s. The timing meant it ran in parallel with what was happening over East with Pay As U Go, Roll Deep et al, and of course there was crossover. Every DJ and every MC was on the hunt for the best beats they could find. But there's a whole different swagger to sublow — a different web of influences, a different intention and so a different outcome. It's still there in the beats Cash is making more than 20 years later — his 3dom Music label is carrying upfront productions with that sublow DNA coursing through their veins. Whatever the beat or the tempo, the drums are still hard as nails, and the bass is tuned for maximum rave damage.