DJ Target (Radio1/1xtra)
Contact
Born and Raised in Bow, East London, DJ Target (real name Darren Joseph) has been immersed in music from the offset.
Firstly exposed to Music via his Mum and Nan, Target soon gained a love of beats, baselines and melodies, and owned his first ever vinyl 7' at the tender age of Three. This Love soon developed to a near obsession and by his early teens 'DJ Target' was the result.
Still in secondary, Targets first local radio slot was on local station chillin fm, followed by various other guest slots on other pirate stations until Rinse Fm was born in his local area of Bow. Target teamed up with friend Wiley and were an instant hit on the airwaves.
Whilst still at school, Target had already started work on productions of his own which culminated in the release of the jungle classic '2 Degrees' with long time friend and mentor DJ Trend. Together the 2 were known as TnT.
A couple of years down the line, a new sound had emerged in UK Garage, and Target, Wiley, Geeneus, Slimzee and co formed the legendary group PayasUgo Cartel which was undoubtedly one of the most influential UK underground acts ever, playing to sell out clubs across the country and Europe and scoring a top 15 hit with 'Champagne Dance' in 2002, propelling Payasugo into the mainstream.
Once PayasUgo Cartel decided to split and peruse individual avenues, DJ Target made the obvious move to officially join his long time friends and join the recently formed Roll Deep Crew. This was the start of even bigger things to come.
Roll Deep soon established themselves as the leading force in underground uk acts, Pushing boundaries, and testing the current climate of music, whilst entertaining huge club crowds up and down the UK. with a lineup that included Wiley and Dizzee Rascal, Roll Deep were unstoppable. This resulted in the 2004 signing to Virgin Records and the release of the debut album 'In at the Deep End'.
The album has sold over 100,000 copies and scored 2 Top 20 hits in 'Shake A Leg' and 'The Avenue', as well as producing a stonecold grime classic in 'When im ere'.
After 'In at the Deep End', Roll Deep released 3 independent albums, and
performed around the world as well as Target releasing his legendary
'Aim High' cd/dvd series before signing again to Virgin Records in 2010.
This saw the release of the Number 1 singles 'Goodtimes' and 'Greenlight'
which sold over 600,000 copies in 2010 and saw the group nominated for
a MOBO award for the 3rd time.
Outside of Roll Deep, DJ Target has produced and worked with the likes of Dizzee, Wretch, Skepta and much of the UK scene and has managed to secure a weekly Friday night primetime show on BBC Radio 1xtra. The show went from strength to strength in the first 2 years which lead to Target also being the ambassador of new UK music on the '100 Percent Homegrown' show. The show, which airs on Sunday nights at 10pm is the home of unsigned and undiscovered music and is the port of call for pushing new artists. Both of Target's Radio shows continue to grow and with regular slots on Radio 1, The future is looking very bright for East Londoner.
Having already recorded documentaries for 1xtra and Radio 1, Target is always trying to broaden his horizons as a broadcaster, and is also keenly involved in BBC introducing workshops and classes, and many charities including Love Music Hate Racism, Oxfam, Lives Not Knives and Unite Against Fascism.
Target's combination of being a radio broadcaster, DJ, producer, and artist has seen him performing in venues all around the world including, France, Spain, USA, Mexico, Sweden, Amsterdam, Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Dubai to name a few..
Currently, Target is one of only 3 DJ's to have a quarterly in-flight mix on ALL British Airways flights worldwide.
Catch DJ Target on BBC Radio 1xtra every Friday 7pm and every Sunday 10pm...
