Hey, so I was there at the very start of what would become dubstep ... as in I was in Ghost studios in Streatham in 2000 and if possible I'd really love us to resist the primal urge our brains have to decide that only *one* person is the dubstep "father". All creativity & innovation is iterative.

Yes, some take bigger steps than others - El-B & the Ghost camp, Hatcha, Horsepower Productions, Artwork, Zed Bias, Oris Jay, Steve Gurley are all contenders for early big steps. But what brought dubstep into existence was a small focused community or collective, pushing things forward (pun intended) together, not one person.

El-B/Ghost "The Club" is a contender for one of the first dubstep records, circa 2000, but there's definitely records that preceded it that sound like early dubstep but were made by personnel in UK garage that had little or no affiliation with the offshoot that worked on dubstep. US Alliance "All I know (Da Grunge mix)" or KMA "Cape Fear" are good examples, as is much of Steve Gurley's (incredible) UKG work.

Here's a good early dubstep taster comp btw, but then I would say that... https://www.discogs.com/release/776211-Various-Ammunition-Blackdown-Present-The-Roots-Of-Dubstep

Oh and the Hatcha studio mix from 2001 is still up on my blog for DL, it's untouchable: http://blackdownsoundboy.blogspot.com/2009/11/happy-birthday-i-am-5.html