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The roots of 2Step are embedded in (US) garage, a form of house music named after the legendary New York club Paradise Garage, where some DJs (e.g. Larry Levan) started playing this style of dance music during the 1980s.
In the UK, where jungle and techno were strong at the time, Garage was played in the second room at Jungle parties (as counterpart to chill-out rooms at techno parties). As Jungle tracks are usually much faster compared to (US) Garage, DJs in the UK started to speed up Garage tracks to make them more suitable for the jungle audience in the UK. The media started to call this fast-played garage music "Speed Garage", 2Step's predecessor. DJs usually played dub versions (arrangements without vocals) of Garage tracks, which do not sound odd when played faster. The absence of vocals left a lot of empty space for MCs, who started rhyming to the records. Since then MCs became one of the vital aspects of Speed and UK Garage parties and records. Early promoters of Speed Garage included the Dreem Team and Tuff Jam and many pirate radio stations like Magic FM, Deja Vu, Erotic FM or Kiss FM. The Speed Garage scene was also called the "Sunday Scene". The reason behind this was that it was difficult to hire a club at that time for a party playing any other sound than the predominant Jungle or Hardcore. So the only available night for Speed Garage was Sunday night. Popular party labels who focused on this kind of music were Deja Vu, Spread Love and Twice as Nice.
MJ Cole's first album "Sincere"
Speed garage already incorporated many aspects of today's UK Garage (and 2Step) sound like sub-bass lines, ragga vocals, spin backs and reversed drums. What changed over time, until the so called 2Step sound emerged, was the addition of further funky elements like RnB vocals, more shuffled beats and a different drum pattern. The most radical change from Speed Garage to 2Step was the removal of the 2nd and 4th bass kick from each bar (see "Characteristics" for more details). So you could say that 2Step actually has taken the speed out of Speed Garage. This energy-deficit is compensated by syncoping bass lines and the percussive use of other instruments like pads, strings and pizzicatos.
"Re-rewind": The 2step anthem from Artful Dodger and Craig David
While there were many key players involved in making UK Garage the most hyped dance music genre around the turn of the century, some of them really stand out. Among those Todd Edwards, who is sometimes cited as the most influential person on the whole UK Garage scene. The producer from New Jersey, who never actually made any 2Step track, changed the whole way of working with vocals. Instead of having full verses and choruses, he picked out vocal phrases and played them like an instrument. This became possible trough the use of sampling technology. Edwards' way of chopping vocals and using them in a very unusual manner was adopted by many UK Garage producers and is still a very characteristic element of the whole UK Garage vibe.
The UK's "answer" to Todd Edwards was MJ Cole, a classically trained oboe and piano player, who became very successful with his own songs "Sincere" and "Crazy Love". Even more successful became the producer duo The Artful Dodger, aka Pete Devereu and Mark Hill, who (together with Craig David) were very successful with the track "Re-rewind", which became an anthem for the whole 2Step scene.
Recent developments are showing an evolvement into two main directions: firstly, 2Step is moving away from its glamorous appeal into a darker direction called Grime. This sound is much harder and rougher than its predecessor. This is one of the reasons why 2Step is being pushed back underground again, as more and more people turn away from the "negative" sound. Secondly, you see 4x4 Garage gaining popularity, which is a convergence towards UK Garage's mother House music. This sound abandons the classical 2Step patterns used for UK Garage, as it employs the old "4 to the floor" drum pattern (see "Characteristics) as it is used in many forms of electronic music.
4x4 Garage is a variety of UK garage with a 4/4 time signature and drums consisting of a bass drum on each beat in the bar, similar in style to house music.
4x4 garage was the most common form of garage before 2 step garage became more popular. Since the "death" of garage in the mainstream and the increased popularity of grime, 4x4 has once again become the favoured drum pattern for producers of UK garage.
The terms "4x4", "Speed Garage" and "Bassline House" have become interchangeable in today's 4/4 garage scene, although speed garage is often used to falsely identify 2 step or UK garage. Bassline House and 4x4 Beats will sound the same to most people, unless they listen to it often, in which case it is easy to distinguish these two different styles.
Since the turn of the new millennium, this brand of garage has re emerged as a firm favourite with UK clubbers, resulting in the return of the term "raving" among clubbers. A number of new producers, DJ's and nightclubs have also emerged of the back of its success, including DJ Joe Hunt, Danny Bond, Naughty Nick, and big ang. Many major clubs such as Air, Moonlounge and Radius have hosted speed garage nights and promotions, while the longstanding champion of the 4x4 garage sound Niche Nightclub from sheffield has now sadly shutdown, it was the original home of Speed Garage.