Here’s a live 60-minute mix I did on Saturday. I just grabbed a small stack of house vinyl from my collection and hit record. It ain’t perfect but i think it flows well and has a nice funky vibe… mix of Chicago, French, and NYC house from the 1990’s. Featuring tracks by: DJ Sneak, Dmitri from Paris, The Rurals, AV8, Kevin Yost, Jordan Fields, Montefiore Cocktail, Jamiroquai, Claudio Cocolutto, NLC, Aleem, and Bjork.
Here’s the second mix I unearthed in my dusty backups, a mixtape I made with my friend Zakee on a summer afternoon in 1998. “Pimp Fiction” is a mash of good stuff, from 60’s and 70’s soul, blues, funk and disco gems to 90’s acid jazz, triphop, and rap. It’s reassuring to hear such tight selection and I’m glad to be able to add it to this archive.
I made this mix back in the summer of 1997. I had my turntables out on my parents’ porch and I was getting irie late into the long nights, mixing dub and playing with my first FX box. It was a wicked little steel box with just two knobs, effect and dry/wet. All dub is timeless, or exists in a place outside of time, but the “old skool vs new skool” thing is because the tracks alternate between classic 70’s and 80’s jamaican dub to 90’s UK electronic dub.
This dub selection includes King Tubby, Michael Rose, Barrington Levy, Scientist, Michael Rose, Renegade Soundwave, and of course some Bob Marley and the Wailers. Dig the dub and here and there, listen for me having some fun with my new toy. Tracklist after the jump.
This will be the last Kenny Dope mix to post for a while, but also the best of all. There have been many, many DJ mixes that blend these classic tracks, but Kenny’s version will always be one of my most favorites because he lets the tracks play out, smoothly beat mixing from one to the next without lots of juggling and scratching. This is a tribute to the original songs, not an attempt to show off DJ skills or flip the tracks with new beats, and yet it is utterly perfect in the mixing and track selection. DJ Jazzy Jeff attempted to put together a second and third volume of this series, but in my opinion they just don’t hold up, for exactly the same reason; too many cuts, juggles, and rough blends break up the flow. Stick with this one, the original, the best…
I thought I knew about Portuguese hiphop because I’ve done two mixes of Brazilian baile funk, but this mix, by DJ NioSiddartha of Italy’s Zero Plastica crew schooled me to a whole new sound. It’s jazzy, funky, and refreshing; you can hear the golden age influences in a number of tracks that have a distinct “Primo” style to them. While I don’t know what they’re saying, the featured emcees all have an arresting flow, whether it’s in Portuguese, Italian, or even Wolof.
Here’s some more details that I lifted their press release:
Tuga Mix are 80 minutes of pure music selected by Dj Nio, more than 40 cuts from the classic to the experimental rap, from original reggae roots to the dancehall hits. The mixtape is hosted by the Italian-Brasilian mc Don Simon, of the famous rap group A Mafia (of Sao Paulo). Special guests appearence by Lure, that together with Nio forms Zero Plastica, one of the most interesting groups in Genoa (Italy): “Non è Hip-Hop” (“It’s not Hip-Hop”) it’s a new revolutionary, thought-provoking song on a deadly beat by Fuse (Daelema), the Portughese master of hardcore rap. Plus, even Dudu of the Senegalese rap group Janta-B – now living in Italy and singing with Ohimemì- drops a Wollof joint with his aggressive style. Tuga mix officially starts the collabo between Dj Nio and the American indipendent label Nomadic Wax, specialized in Hip-Hop and underground music from around the globe.
More old-school goodness from Mr. Dope. In the words of DJ Ayres:
This Breakbeats CD is a reissued classic in the Bronx tradition of doubling hard funk, disco & early rap breaks with precision. The production is impeccable, and manages a lot of multitracking to keep it interesting, without sacrificing a live feel. But that’s just one level of appreciation; it’s a digging tape too. Everything is on here, from obvious “my first breakbeat” records (James Brown, Headhunters, Meters) to that james flames rare shit that djs like Language and Roctakon cream their panties over. And apparently he’s only rocking original copies, scratching the shit out of $200+ 12″ singles. 37 tracks total, with a couple of extended live remixes at the end and a lot of composition throughout (39 records are listed on the back, but I would guess he used more like 70-80 joints total). I know we hype a lot of music up in our reviews, but honestly, this is a desert island pick.
DJ Sneak is beloved among house heads around the world as one of the most famous and popular DJ’s of the “second wave” of the Chicago scene. Sneak’s deep, yet funky style is exemplified by this mix, one that I feel is the best I’ve ever heard of his. It includes many rare, sought-after house tracks, and has that deep hypnotic groove that Sneak is famous for without being too repetitive or minimal.
This is the sound of Chicago house that was contemporary to Daft Punk’s first album and provided the ground work for the French house and UK disco house genres that followed in the mid-to-late 90’s. Without a doubt, a classic of the genre. Track list after the jump…
