7. Dj Zinc
This one had that dark, dark vibe which I love. I had met Sarah [Lockhart aka Sarah Soulja] who ran the club, and now label, FWD>>. She used to give me dubplates to play at Sidewinder to get people to buy the Sidewinder tape-packs. So I did that and it ended up becoming another very dark, very nasty tune that a lot of people loved, myself included. I think it was Wiley and Viper who were on the mic and it was huge, really breaky and just a big, big tune. The VIP as well, no one had that for ages. I mean, I was known for playing tunes that never actually come out. Everyone wanted them, but no joy in a lot of cases. MCs love these types of tunes too as they can go over the top and rhyme in a lot of different ways.
Now Zinc right, he used to be a Jungle D&B DJ as well from like 1991, 92 days. I remember listening to him on Format FM, which was an East London, Leytonstone, Stratford type station. I used to listen to Swift & Zinc. That was him and his partner. They were DJs I followed when he was making ‘Super Sharp Shooter’ and all of them really famous tunes. I used to talk to him but I was like a kid then, just in my teens. But then many years later he made that ‘138 Trek’ tune. He made it on the Tru Playerz album and my mate heard it and told me there was a tune on there I could play in a garage and early grime set. This was maybe 2000. I was playing ‘138’ for maybe a year and a half and that was one of the biggest crossover tunes ever. When they brought that out it just went mad, absolutely sold like hot cakes. Big up Zinc every time for being an absolute G. Top producer overall and someone who knows how to make club bangers too.
