Adam F

As a drum & bass DJ, Adam F's been respected from the get-go, and he brings the heat with a multitude of accelerants: His '98 debut, Colours, with its jazz-infused club-floor hit "Circles," sampled rain sticks and other trance-typical sounds. He abandoned the organic angle with 2001's Anti-Acoustic Warfare.

But it was in 2000, as a relatively unknown producer, that Adam was hired by LL Cool J to work on G.O.A.T. It became LL's first No. 1 U.S. album and the start of Adam F's crossover success, built around collaborations with Beenie Man, De La Soul, and Redman. Others include M.O.P.'s "Stand Clear," which slaps you upside the head with furious energy and bottom-heavy bass, and Guru's "Karma," which follows the vocalist's mellow, soulful inclinations. At this year's Winter Music Conference, Adam blazed the Ultrafestival crowd with a previously unseen intensity and a markedly more technical edge. So while listeners may not know what to expect from him this week, it's sure to kill.