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Ultra Music Festival's 'Best Of Bass' Pre-Party: Smog Vs. Basshead

Miami's Mekka hosts 12th Planet, Pendulum, Drop the Lime and more.

MIAMI -- Nestled in a series of rooms at Mekka downtown, Smog vs. Basshead, a party conceived by bass-music champions from L.A. and Miami, on Thursday night again realized a frenzied hands-in-the-air steamfest. For the third year in a row, hundreds of partygoers screamed their lungs out, pumping their arms to the warbles and drum and bass.

For all the talk of dubstep and drum and bass being mostly underground, judging by the event's attendance, the genre is booming -- and pioneers like 12th Planet (born John Dadzie), a 13-year California bass veteran and Smog label head, couldn't be prouder.

"It started off as a party at the White Room, and Basshead is a label based out of Miami," 12th explained to MTV News after his set. "The label actually put out my first dubstep release, so we were kind of always rooted together, and we just decided to join forces because, being from California, it's hard to break into other markets.

"We got the opportunity to work in Miami, and the first show was a hit. And the second show, last year, was the biggest Smog vs. Basshead. And then this year, just as many people. So, I'm totally excited -- totally stoked."

The world SVB creates bears a comparison to the large-scale EDM event taking place a few blocks away. While the bass get-together might not reach the scale of the [article id="1681568"]Ultra Music Festival[/article], a variety of artists gathered for a series of fiery performances, taking fans into daybreak.

"It's just five rooms of bass -- straight up!" 12th proclaimed. SVB featured 16bit, Noah D, Flinch, Jaun Basshead and more. U.K. bass aggregator, feeder and video-sharing community UKF boasted a Pendulum DJ set, Zeds Dead and Kaon Sound. The Trouble & Bass room had Drop the Lime, AC Slater and Toddla T. The Metalheadz room was headlined by Goldie & Bailey.

"All these guys making great, great music. We even had Foreign Beggars come down," 12th said about his former tourmates, an electronic hip-hop collective that recently caught the eye of deadmau5. "They've never even played in Florida. I think that is the appeal of this party: You are going to hear the best of bass music."

Miami Music Week is going down, and MTV News is on the ground! Check back all week as we report from EDM's biggest parties, bringing the latest news from your favorite electronic dance music stars!

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