Yesterday I shared a recording of my first and last appearance on pirate radio twenty years back. The first tune I selected and mixed in was TNT's '2 Degrees' and it's not simply because it's quite an easy tune to mix with, honest. It's also because it's an absolute anthem that was always in my bag and never failed to raise the roof.
TNT were DJ Trend AKA Gifford Noel and DJ Target AKA Darren Joseph. They grew up together in the Bow area of London and '2 Degrees' was the first track they produced as a duo. Target of course went on to be a crucial member of Roll Deep and currently presents a show on BBC 1Xtra. Trend started Live Recordings in '97 and had a string of Jump Up classics before also moving into UK Garage and Grime, with several underground and mainstream productions to his name. He sadly passed away in 2010 from natural causes on his 32nd birthday in Tenerife, where he had been living and working. He was a man who lived for music, sharing his passion through DJing, producing and as a label owner.
'2 Degrees' was made on an Akai S2000 sampler, a Proteus rack and Logic. The intro features distinctive strings that always sound great in the mix and let everyone know what's coming in. Target's 2018 book Grime Kids was dedicated to Trend and in it he recounts the making of this tune. Regarding that intro he comments: "we found this synth sound that sounded great when played in a certain chord... our intro was sounding sick, very epic".
The “2 degrees past apogee” and “Better get the old man down here” vocal samples as well as the horn blasts are all from WarGames, an 80s film in which a teenage Matthew Broderick manages to set off a nuclear war when he hacks into a military computer but thinks he’s just playing a game. The film was also sampled by Zinc on 'Is This A Game' under his Tyranny guise. Over to Target once again: "The final touch was this film sample that Giff was thinking of putting in just before the drop... Boom. It worked perfectly". You can hear the vocal sample and horn blast in this clip.
That drop brings in a classic Trend bassline over a two-step beat and although it may sound basic by today’s standards it really did the business back then – an instant rewind every time. Uncle Dugs put it best when he told Jamie S23: “The intro just hits you straight away. . . As soon as you hear it coming in you can’t help but get excited as you know what’s coming. Then comes the horn. Then the drop. Then pow: game over! Wheeeeeeeeeeeel up! RIP Trend, gone but never ever forgotten. . .”
The track got a huge reaction on dubplate and within weeks Nicky Blackmarket contacted the duo wanting to sign it to his newly created Kartoons imprint. They got a £500 advance and it was released six months later and sold by the crate load. The track sounds best with a good MC and you can hear the legendary Stevie Hyper D doing his thing over it in Nicky Blackmarket’s set at Helter Skelter Energy ’97.
Wiley and Dizzee Rascal were among those who paid tribute to Trend following his passing and you can check out a young Wiley on Rinse FM in 1997 with Trend on the decks in this clip – ‘2 Degrees’ gets an inevitable rewind. Rinse co-founder Geeneus also remixed it in 2002 for the UK Garage crew. Jamie S23’s tribute article for Drum&Bass Arena is essential reading and also includes a great mix of Trend classics that you can check below. RIP Trend.
DJ Target's Grime Kids: The Inside Story of the Global Grime Takeover is available from all good book stores.