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Terror Danjah was the gregarious heart of the grime scene – and its greatest producer | Joe Muggs

The producer, who has died following a period of ill health, made thrillingly imaginative beats, but just as impressive was his ability to draw together the British bass scene

But Terror Danjah was already in a lane of his own even as he operated right at the heart of the nascent scene, having Skepta and Kano jumping on his beats, working with Nasty Crew and his own After Shock collective, and launching the careers of MCs like Bruza, Mz Bratt and Tinie Tempah. He helped create the R&B-grime hybrid “R&G” with singers like Sadie and Shola Ama, but his instrumentals for MCs also had a unique musicality, combining Timbaland-style fidgety percussion, huge reggae soundsystem bass, melodic hooks galore and above all a natural sense of funk. Terror Danjah in 2012This all helped him reach a wider electronica audience, and Gremlinz, his 2009 collection of beats for connoisseurs’ label Planet Mu put a flag in the ground for grime as instrumental electronic music just as dubstep was beginning to outflank it.

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