Rusko
Rusko, born Christopher William Mercer in Leeds, England, on January 26, 1985, is a dubstep and drum and bass DJ and producer who became immersed in the genre through Sub Dub, a Leeds-based event held at the West Indian Centre. He moved to London to work with Sub Soldiers alongside fellow producer and DJ Caspa, a partnership that placed him at the center of the original UK dubstep movement's early club circuit.
His releases and DJ bookings ran through labels including 2nd Drop, Dub Police, Sub Soldiers, Mad Decent, OWSLA, and Monstercat, reflecting both his UK dubstep roots and his later crossover into the American bass music scene. In 2015, Rusko and Caspa announced a reunion, marked by their first American show together as a duo, revisiting the DJ partnership that had defined dubstep's early growth.
Active since 2006, his sound moved across dubstep, drum and bass, and skweee, and he became one of the genre's most recognizable names during dubstep's international expansion in the late 2000s and early 2010s. He announced an indefinite hiatus from performing in 2026, closing out a touring and recording career spanning two decades since his emergence from the Leeds scene.