DJ Zinc

Last updated

DJ Zinc
Birth nameBenjamin Pettit
Also known asJammin, Jack Ruby, Dope Skillz, The Phantom
Born (1972-03-12) 12 March 1972 (age 52)
OriginLondon, England
Genres Drum and bass, breakbeat, house, trip hop, UK garage
Years active1991–present
Formerly ofThe Ganja Kru, True Playaz
Website djzinc.com

Benjamin Pettit [1] (born 12 March 1972), better known as DJ Zinc, is a British DJ and record producer. Zinc first became known for 1995's "Super Sharp Shooter", a hip hop/jungle fusion, notably one of the pioneering drum & bass anthems of its time. He went on to produce drum and bass, breakbeat and more recently UK garage and house. [2]

Contents

Biography

Zinc's career as a DJ and producer stretches the steady evolution of hardcore from its house roots through ragga and hip hop-styled hardstep and beyond. In 1991, he began his radio show with then partner DJ Swift on London's Impact FM. He continued to DJ with Swift onto Eruption FM and later solo on Rinse FM since it gained a license. [2]

He continued to DJ on a regular basis, and was one of the first drum and bass producers to score a hit in the 2-step garage market courtesy of his 1999 single "138 Trek", which reached No. 27 on the UK Singles Chart in November 2000. [2]

His productions have been relatively popular outside the drum and bass scene, most notably in the breaks genre under the pseudonym Jammin.

Zinc produced and DJ'd as part of the Ganja Kru and True Playaz collectives, often in association with DJ Hype from 1996 to 2002. He ran the Bingo Beats record label, which released both drum and bass and breaks records from 2002 to 2008. He has been known to release records under the alias of Dope Skillz, Jammin and Jelly Jams plus others.

In 2001, Zinc released a remix compilation album of his own productions called Beats by Design which included "138 Trek". By August 2004, he released his second album, Faster, a concept album of sorts. The album, as the name suggests, ups the tempo little-by-little for each song. The title track and album opener, epitomises this and is a grimy crawl through bass and beat that speeds up from 40bpm into the early 100s by its end. [3]

In 2007, Zinc stopped making and playing drum and bass, citing "disenchantment with the scene". He started producing again in 2009 with a fusion of deep house, funky house and fidget house, which he believed did not fit into any of these subgenres. He later named his new sound "crack house". [4]

In October 2009, DJ Zinc released Crack House EP encompassing his new sound of the crack house genre. A follow-up to this EP, Crack House Vol. 2 was released in July 2010. In November 2009, DJ Zinc created a 2-hour mix for broadcasting on BBC Radio1s. Mix .2022s and 2021s

. [5]

Discography

Albums and EPs

TitleRelease YearLabelCatalog #
Beats by Design (EP)2000True PlayazTPR 12 025 CD
Faster (LP)2003 Polydor 986 548–8
Crack House (EP)2009Bingo BeatsZINCEP001
Crack House Vol. 2 (EP)2010Bingo BeatsEast002
Sprung (EP)2011 Rinse RINSE009A
Only for Tonight (EP)2013 Rinse RINSE020

Compilation albums

TitleRelease YearLabelCatalog #
Bingo Beats Volume 22001Bingo BeatsBINGOCD002
Bingo Sessions Volume 12004Bingo BeatsBINGOCD004
Drum & Bass Arena2005 Resist Music RESISTCD51
Watch the Ride 2007 Harmless HURTCD073

Singles

† – credited as 'DJ Zinc / DJ Hype'

‡ – credited as 'DJ Zinc featuring Eksman' [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drum and bass</span> Type of electronic music

Drum and bass is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast breakbeats with heavy bass and sub-bass lines, samples, and synthesizers. The genre grew out of the UK's jungle scene in the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shy FX</span> Musical artist

Andre Williams, better known as Shy FX, is a British DJ and producer from London. He specialises in drum and bass and jungle music.

Jungle is a genre of electronic music that developed out of the UK rave scene and Jamaican sound system culture in the 1990s. Emerging from breakbeat hardcore, the style is characterised by rapid breakbeats, heavily syncopated percussive loops, samples, and synthesised effects, combined with the deep basslines, melodies, and vocal samples found in dub, reggae and dancehall, as well as hip hop and funk. Many producers frequently sampled the "Amen break" or other breakbeats from funk and jazz recordings. Jungle was a direct precursor to the drum and bass genre which emerged in the mid-1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dynamite MC</span> English rapper and MC

Dynamite MC is an English rapper and MC. He originally gained prominence in jungle/drum and bass, working with Roni Size & Reprazent, but has also released hip hop material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DJ Marky</span> Brazilian DJ and music producer

Marco Antonio da Silva known professionally as DJ Marky, is a Brazilian drum and bass DJ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DJ Hype</span> English record producer and DJ

Kevin Ford, better known as DJ Hype, is a British jungle and drum and bass producer and DJ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DJ Disciple</span> DJ Disciple after the UK Garage edition

David Banks, known by his stage name DJ Disciple, is an American DJ, house music producer and author from Brooklyn, New York. For much of his early career, he worked in London and was influential in the rise of UK garage music. Stateside, he was considered a cornerstone of New York City's house music scene. Disciple co-wrote the book The Beat, the Scene, the Sound: A DJ's Journey through the Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of House Music in New York City with Henry Kronk.

The Nextmen is a UK production/songwriting/DJ duo consisting of Dom Search and Brad Baloo. They combine hip hop, drum & bass, dub, pop, soul, and other electronic and indie genres into their sounds, and have worked with artists from the UK and US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roni Size</span> British DJ and music producer

Ryan Owen Granville Williams, better known by his stage name Roni Size, is an English DJ and record producer. He came to prominence in 1997 as the founder and frontman of Roni Size & Reprazent, a drum and bass collective. That year they won the Mercury Prize for their debut studio album New Forms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DJ Fresh</span> English DJ and producer

Daniel Edward Stein, known professionally as DJ Fresh, is an English DJ and record producer. He is one of the principal members of the drum and bass group Bad Company, alongside Darren White (dBridge), Jason Maldini and Michael Wojcicki (Vegas). He also owns and runs the drum and bass label Breakbeat Kaos with Adam F.

NJC is a British music producer.

Natalia Sheppard, better known by her stage names MC Tali and Tali, is a New Zealand drum and bass singer and rapper, first found acclaim for her 2004 hit "Lyric on My Lip", which reached #39 in the UK Singles Chart. Tali has also worked with prominent artists, such as former Mercury Music Prize nominee Roni Size. Tali prefers to use the name "Tali" when singing and songwriting acoustically or live, preferring to use 'MC" whenever she collaborates with electronic music artists, sometimes using the former. In November 2019 Tali won the Vodafone New Zealand Music Award for Best Electronica Artist for her 2018 album "Love & Migration".

Robbie Lewis, and Sam Milan, better known together as the Mix Munkies, are two English DJ's, remixers, and record producers from Leicester, England. Their musical taste and style covers a wide range of genres but is primarily identified as house music. In September 2009, they performed as the headline DJ act at Leicester Pride alongside Blazin' Squad and Sean Rumsey. In January 2010 they performed alongside Lisa Lashes and JFK in front of a capacity crowd at Helsinki nightclub in Leicester.

Hugh Pescod, better known as Redlight And CLIPZ, is a British DJ and music producer from Bristol.

Deekline is a British producer and DJ of breakbeat, breakstep, drum and bass and garage music. He is the innovator of breakstep music which is bass-heavy, breakbeat-infused 2-step, first characterised in his 1999 hit "I Don't Smoke", which reached No. 11 on the UK charts. He is the owner of Rat Records, which has released material of such artists as DJ Fresh, Jack Beats, Stanton Warriors, Wiley, Skinny Man, Rennie Pilgrem, House Breakers and Freq Nasty. Deekline has also had notable collaborations with British electronic music producers Ed Solo and Wizard. In 2011, he opened up his online clothing store, Bass Boutique.

UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house and jungle production methods, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop and R&B. It is defined by percussive, shuffled rhythms with syncopated hi-hats, cymbals, and snares, and may include either 4/4 house kick patterns or more irregular "2-step" rhythms. Garage tracks also commonly feature 'chopped up' and time-stretched or pitch-shifted vocal samples complementing the underlying rhythmic structure at a tempo usually around 130 BPM.

S.P.Y is a Bristol based Brazilian DJ, record producer and musician from São Paulo, Brazil. He is influenced by genres such as house, UK garage, R&B and the jungle sound. He primarily releases his music through Hospital Records, the UK-based independent drum and bass music label. His DJ name was Spyder, but two months before the release of his first track he had to change it because another producer from America also released an EP under the same name. He left the last three letters out and changed his name to S.P.Y or SPY.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Rush</span> Musical artist

Ben Settle, known by the stage name Ed Rush, is a drum and bass producer and DJ. Rush has been releasing records since 1992 primarily with Optical, his musical partner since 1997. Along with Optical, he is also the co-founder of the record label Virus Recordings, which releases his records along with other drum and bass acts. He is most associated with the aggressive styles of drum and bass music known as techstep, darkcore and neurofunk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peshay</span> British music producer and DJ

Paul Pesce, better known as Peshay, is a British drum and bass and electronic music producer and DJ.

"138 Trek" is a song by DJ Zinc, released as a single in 2000. The song peaked at number 27 on the UK Singles Chart and number one on the UK Dance Singles Chart. DJ Zinc was one of the first drum and bass producers to score a chart hit within the UK garage scene with this song. He then continued to release breaks/garage productions under the alias Jammin. His 2004 release, "Kinda Funky/Go DJ", reached No. 80 in the UK. "138 Trek" samples the drum break from Barry White's "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby".

References

  1. 1 2 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 161. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  2. 1 2 3 "Biography by Sean Cooper". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 10 January 2009.
  3. DJ Zinc Biography "DJ Zinc Biography - the IMO Records Blog". Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2011., Retrieved on 2 December 2011.
  4. McDonnell, John (28 July 2009). "Scene and heard: Crack house". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  5. "A-Trak & Zinc – Stingray (Original Mix) JR Thornton". 20 February 2014.