[4] When he was fourteen or fifteen, his school won a grant from the government of the United Kingdom to renovate its music department, which it used to order itself iMacs with Logic Pro on them, which prompted Jenkins to develop an interest;[5] he initially made dubstep, drum and bass, rap and trap beats.
[6] He also began DJing aged fifteen, after a tutor came into his school and offered lessons during lunchtimes;[5] he learnt on Serato, as that was what was being advertised in Langley Park at the time, though later switched to using a set of Pioneer CDJ-350s after saving up for a year.
[8] In 2013, aged 17, Jenkins was introduced by a friend to "The Grid" by Bristol-based duo My Nu Leng; enamoured by what he was hearing, he switched to making bassline,[9] with his first such works being bootleg recordings of grime artists such as Wiley and Skepta.
[13] In January 2020, "Behind the Bass: Skepsis", a short film produced by Ranvia Johal examining Skepsis, screened as part of a series by Master's journalism graduates at Nottingham Trent University,[14] and the following month, Dave Jenkins of DJ Mag wrote that "during 2016-17", Jenkins, Bru-C, and CruCast act Darkzy had become "household names for anyone following the heavier end of UK bass music".
[20] The following month, Jenkins attended a writer's camp with Ultra Records, which had been organised by Turno,[21] a jump-up musician who had spearheaded several initiatives relating to men's mental health following the suicide of his brother,[22] including the charity single "What's On Your Mind".
[29] In a January 2017 interview with UKF Music, he stated that his early bassline works were inspired by hearing Mr. V's "Hypnotic"[6] featuring D Double E[30] on BBC Radio 1Xtra.