i think probably labels like mad decent and trouble & bass (not that i particularly like their output) were around at the same time (maybe 2008-2009?) as night slugs whilst they were all on that "global bass" potentially neocolonial tip hoovering up all regional sounds (uk funky, cumbia, b-more, bassline, juke in no order) and repackaging them for an international internet audience. that's probably the ultimate starting point for the NJ craze cuz i think it probably opened up some people to baltimore and they followed the thread thru to NJ and ballroom. night slugs and co were probably responsible for more people playing bait NJ stuff around 2012-onwards like bring out the katz and prompting the thread on here tho.
i like ballroom but NJ doesn't do a lot for me.
those tunes i posted are the least NJ-inspired ones. i'll repeat what i said earlier that sparked this cuz u mighta missed it - the stuff i've been rating this year aside from deep tech is what's coming from a lil camp of soundcloud + bandcamp producers who probably started off listening to eg night slugs, hyperdub, "uk bass" scratcha dva, rinse etc but are doing their own thing. there's some interaction with actual ballroom+NJ producers and some crossover with vaporwave/experimental producer/djs (eg jacques gaspard biberkopf, Lotic) - i think zhao alluded to this in his vaporwave/special characters thread. polar opposite to deep tech it's essentially shrouded in internet mag & blog overhype but lacking rooted scene or consistent nights.
could make a thread but it may be only me and nato in there