History
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."
The tramen is generally known as a combination of the Amen break (from "Amen Brother", by The Winstons) with the break from "Tighten Up" (James Brown). However in an interview with Knowledge Magazine, Dom confirmed it also used a third, harder to hear, element: the "Pulp Fiction" break, which was itself a second-generation breakbeat, made by Alex Reece for a remix of Model 500's "The Flow".
Artists who are particularly notable for their use of the tramen include Trace, Dom and Roland, Bad Company and Technical Itch.