SL2 - Background

Background

The act consisted of DJ/remixers Matt "Slipmatt" Nelson & John "Lime" Fernandez, with MC Jason "Jay J" James providing vocals, and were accompanied by two female rave/breakbeat dancers, Jo Millett (Lime's girlfriend at the time, and who would later become a jungle music producer) and Kelly Overett (who would later go on to be a member of the Italian Eurodance act Cappella). The latter two appeared with Nelson, Fernandez & James in live shows and their videos.

The SL2 name came from the initials of the founders of the group, Slipmatt (S) and Lime (L), because they were a duo; hence "SL2". The duo were school friends together in Loughton, Essex, where they shared a mutual love of hip-hop and reggae. Their first recording which they produced was in 1985, when they did a demo for a rap duo named Gino & Mickey. By 1988, the duo began going to raves, which is when they began their foray into their signature genre and the birth of the SL2 name. In 1989, Paul Nelson, Matt's brother, gave the group their first exposure by appearing at the Raindance Rave Festival.

The duo released their first single, "Do That Dance", in 1990. However, the label that signed the duo and released the single, B-Ware Records, cheated them out of royalties, so they were never paid. It was not until 1991 that they scored with their breakthrough track, "DJs Take Control" (which samples two tracks, "Dope on Plastic" by Uptown and "Let The Music Use You" by The Night Writers), which peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. It would be the single that would land them a deal with XL Recordings that same year, with Fitzgerald, Overett and Millett joining the duo afterwards.

"DJs Take Control" would establish SL2 as one of the most influential acts in the early days of the breakbeat hardcore-movement by weaving samplings of dancehall, Detroit house, electro/techno and drum and bass. They also played a part in the early days of XL Recordings, and even though the act never released an album during their tenure with the record label, most of their tracks can be found on the XL Recordings Chapters compilations, as well as many others.

By 1992, SL2 had joined the many rave artists who would cross over to the UK chart, with a pair of hits, "Way In My Brain" and "On A Ragga Tip". The latter was also their highest charting hit of their career, peaking at number 2 in the UK in April 1992. It was sampled from a reggae number from Jah Screechy entitled "Walk and Skank" (which itself was based on Slim Smith's "Never Let Go"). "Way In My Brain" (a reworking of Wayne Smith's "Under Me Sleng Teng"), originally a B-side to "DJs Take Control" and listed together as a single during the former's chart run, re-charted via a new remix, peaking at number 28 that summer.

By 1993 the act had broken up but would reform again in 1998 after "On A Ragga Tip" was re-released with new mixes. As of 2009 the duo has resumed producing and DJing, this time focusing on the rave breaks style subgenre.

The song "On A Ragga Tip" was included as music on the video game FIFA Street. It was also homaged for a Bollywood song titled "Amma Dekh Tera Munda Bigda Jaye" in 1994 for the film Stuntman.