Matthew Nelson — Slipmatt — was already embedded in London’s rave culture when SL2 turned that underground momentum into records heard far beyond the parties. Formed with Lime, and closely associated with MC Jay J, SL2’s breakbeat-driven releases became part of the soundtrack to the early-1990s rave explosion.

DJs Take Control and Way in My Brain established the group before On a Ragga Tip crossed into the UK mainstream in 1992. That crossover matters because the record did not arrive from outside rave culture: it carried breakbeats, bass and sampled reggae influence from the same scene Slipmatt was playing every weekend.

As hardcore changed through the decade, his DJ career changed with it. Slipmatt became a fixture at promoters including Dreamscape and World Dance, moving from breakbeat hardcore into the faster, brighter happy-hardcore era without losing the rave-tape audience that had followed him from the beginning.

The archive documents that progression unusually well. Dreamscape 6 at The Sanctuary in 1993 catches the earlier phase; World Dance at Lydd Airport in 1994 captures the scale of the outdoor circuit; Dreamscape 24 in 1997 and a BBC Radio 1 In the Jungle session with MC Det show how his sound and audience continued through the later 1990s. His Bagleys recording with MC Ruff also links this profile directly back into Dream FM and London’s MC culture.