If you've been to a club or a party in the last year, you have definitely heard the popular hip hop song "Twerkulator" by the City Girls duo. The trance-like chorus cannot exclusively be accredited for the song's hit nature but the song's nostalgic first 8 bars. "Twerkulator" samples the Afrika Bambattaa's electro single "Planet Rock". While this record may not trigger nostalgia in Gen Z listeners, it transports Miami-bred old heads to the vivacious 1980s where the subgenre Miami bass first originated.
The United States in 1980 was experiencing waning of the record industry and the global reigning genre disco was "dead". This was prime time for a new sound other than the mainstream electro music spearheaded by artists like Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Afrika Bambaataa. The origin of Miami Bass as a subgenre really starts with Amos Larkins II, a classically trained bass player and self-taught engineer. He was employed at the Miami Sound Studio just as a teenager and acclimated himself with the Miami club scene. Nightlife is what introduced him to bass music and he amassed influence from current electro hits like Ose's "Computer Funk" or Zapp's "I Can Make You Dance". The release of the Roland TR-808 drum machine which was instrumental in electronic music's popularity and eventually Larkins's creation.
As his engineering abilities polished, Larkins received more attention most notably from Sunnyview Records who hired him for musical production. Despite Larkins gradual career expansion, he was still a frequent in the Miami club scene dominated by roller-skates, champagne, and cocaine. One post-strip club night in 1985 catalyzed Larkins finding of the Miami Bass sound. The story goes that Larkins had invited a stripper to the Sunnyview recording studio to accompany as he finished mixing Double Duce's "Commin in Fresh". As he played the song for the visitor, he tinkered with the song's levels with an emphasis on the 808 bass. At some point, Larkins completely forgets about the record in a daze with the stripper in another room and before he knows it, it's time for him to record the song. He admits to never doing a final sound check and putting faith into his abilities that the song would turn out good.
When Sunnyview dispersed the Double Duce single to local music shops, Larkins had the chance to listen to it at his friend's mixtape shop. Larkins realized he screwed up the record when the bass had been so low it could've destroyed the store's speaker. Though with a quick scan of facial expressions of in-store customers, they seemed to really enjoy the single and some even asked for the track ID. Larkins relayed this information to Sunnyview and upon further production experimentation, he crafted the trailblazing hip hop subgenre that is Miami Bass.
What in particular makes Miami Bass so unique in its sound? Here are some quintessential characteristics noted on the Hip Hop Electronic website:
"sexually explicit lyrics, heavy bass and sustained kick drum, fast percussion using 32nd notes, wide range of electronic percussions, hissy cymbals, looped drums and samples, fast, low-end bass, bpm b/t 100 and 140, scratching, raunchy vocals and lyrics"
This excitingly fresh subgenre of music was most helpful to producers, djs, and rappers with MC Fresh Kid Ice becoming the first Miami Bass rapper with his single "Throw the D" from 2 Live Crew. A fun fact about the 2 Live Crew is that they were the first artists to receive a parental advisory label on their 1989 album 'as nasty as they wanna be'. Miami Bass has made unforgettable history through its speaker blowing bass, explicit lyrics, and widely talented creatives. The "Twerkulator" sample was not only an ode to the post-disco era but a commemoration to the impactful legacy Miami Bass set for the music industry to come.
Check out my Miami Bass playlist below and watch some Miami Bass videos under the section!