His road to such prominence almost naturally began by immersing himself in the genre's immediate progenitor, 2-step. Forming the production team Groove Chronicles with longtime friend Steve "Noodles" Jude, the duo released a series of acclaimed singles, none more so than 1998's "Stone Cold," which devotees usually consider the track that built the foundations for what would become dubstep years later. El-B stepped out on his own in 2000, releasing another series of singles, which expanded on the blueprint set by "Stone Cold," gaining even more underground acclaim and further setting the stage for dubstep's emergence. By 2004, he became relatively inactive, his last regular release coming in 2007, by which time his pioneering status had already been recognized. In 2009, most of his output was put together in the compilation The Roots of El-B. ~ Ricardo Rainho