Although also known by various other names (including the firefight, dramen and domen), tramen is easily the most widespread name. The name came by combining "
Trace" (the artist who first popularised the break) and "
amen" (the component break which is most distinctive and recognisable).
However, whilst the break is frequently credited to Trace, this is in fact an oft-repeated fallacy. The original creator was
Dom and Roland, as Trace explained himself (see
full interview):
It is a beat Dom made, that he hadn't used yet. When I heard it I was like, "That's the beat we need to use for Mutant Jazz Revisited
. I then used it on Sonar
and on Sniper
where it was left it clean for 16 bars on the intro - this is where everyone ripped it from. As long as people know that it's a Dom beat. Because I used it on 3 tracks I got associated with it... The Tramen
tag is something that Fresh started when he started rinsing it after we made Nitrous."
Jan 09, 07
