This column was written by Stefan (History of Hardstyle) for Scantraxx’s December 2025 newsletter, published on December 1st.
It is the year 2002. The first release on Scantraxx sees the light of day: “Slavez” by Taq 9. The track contains samples of the famous hardcore anthem “Don’t Touch That Stereo” by Marc Acardipane under his alias Marshall Masters, originally released in 1998.
Taq 9 is an alias of The Prophet and Ferry Salee, better known as DJ Gizmo, who was already well established in the Dutch hardcore scene at that time, just like The Prophet himself.
Three more releases followed in the first year of the Scantraxx label. Two of them were by Hardheadz (The Prophet & Pavo), including one of their biggest hits, “Wreck Thiz Place.”
One year later, in 2003, the first “newcomer” had his debut release on Scantraxx. It was A-Lusion with SCANTRAXX019, featuring “Re-Count” on the A-side and “The Power, The Energy, Feel It” on the B-side.
Other upcoming producers were also given the chance to release their music on The Prophet’s newly founded label. DJ Duro (50% of Showtek) released his all-time classic “Just Begun,” redefining the standard of reverse basslines with this track.
Even the Queen of Hardstyle, Dana, had a release together with The Prophet on Scantraxx that same year. In 2004, the total number of releases was just seven. It’s almost hard to imagine when you look at how extensive the Scantraxx release schedule is today.
2005 became another breakthrough year for Scantraxx. The Prophet, together with DJ Duro, released one of the biggest hardstyle anthems of all time: “Shizzle My Dizzle.”
That same year, Brennan Heart made his debut on the label under his alias Blademasterz, releasing his iconic track “Masterblade.” With these releases, Hardstyle began to take a new direction. Moving away from the more techno and hard trance–influenced darker sound, it became more melodic, and the sound design grew more complex.
This evolution would soon be taken even further by a completely new movement of young producers. In that same year, one of the biggest hardstyle artists of all time released his very first track on Scantraxx: Seizure with “Fear of Dancing.”
Seizure? He would later become better known as the one and only Wildstylez…
Stay tuned for the next column, where we will focus on the golden era of Hardstyle from 2005 to 2010, a legendary period for both Scantraxx and the entire scene, as things were about to grow bigger than ever before.