Archive for the Our Interviews Category

Exclusive Interview with Glyn “Bigga” Bush!

Posted in Dancefloor Bangers, Funky Beats, Our Interviews with tags , , , , , , , , on September 27, 2009 by Marty AKA Marty McFly

nu-site-logo

It was exactly one year ago when we had the chance to talk with Glyn “Bigga” Bush. Actually it was not a real conversation as we asked him to freely talk about himself. That was a great post indeed but what about a real chat in order to know more about him and his music? We thought it was a good idea and he has been helpful and friendly as usual. Enjoy!

In the short autobiography you did for us last year, you explained how you moved from the city to a quieter venue. Do you think this affected your tastes in music and production style?

At first not at all but I’ve been here nearly 13 years now and I’m definitely much less interested in what’s going on musically in urban places now.  I still hear “urban” (with a small “u”, not the euphemism for black music) music that turns me on but I don’t much interest in clubs or the latest fads in dance music.  In terms of production my style hasn’t been changed by the country environment as far as I can tell.

In the 90′s you toured in Europe and USA playing in clubs. Are you still up to play in rave parties and clubs? Or are you are more oriented towards more laid out situations like live sets in small clubs?

I rarely get asked to play in clubs any more and don’t particularly miss it.  My favourite gig would be a small party, even a house party but I still really like playing at festivals, either chillout or a party set.

How do you see the club scene evolving from the 90s to now? Was it better back then, or what? Do you like the club music out now?

It was better for me because I’d just discovered it and it was a very exciting time to be involved in music.  If I were 30 years younger I’d probably feel the same now, but you get into different things as you get older. It’s inevitable that we look back and see things through rosy tinted specs in some ways but I feel I’ve really moved on from that scene.  Having said that I still enjoy a good party and appreciate the way the underground is always throwing up new and interesting stuff.  I suppose I’m a bit more cynical now about how new stuff gets jumped on by people who want to make money rather than make music.

How has your way of making music changed over the years? Do you use the latest equipment, or do you prefer using vintage machines ?

It’s changed primarily in that I’m much more interested in using the computer as a super-deluxe tape machine to record real instruments after which it’s a process of editing as well as mixing.  I don’t spend much time looking for samples any more, although I still have things on my hard drive that get me started or serve a purpose when I’m working on something.  But it’s a long way from how I worked in Rockers Hi Fi when the sampler was king. I’ve done my gear-whore thing and I’m really over it now – in fact I don’t have any vintage machines other than an old Korg monophonic synth which is fun but doesn’t get used very much. I’m more excited about my Burns 12 string guitar!

13faces_CD_INNERS

How do you build a track usually? Tell us a little bit about your creative process. We’re particularly curious about your rock-solid, warm basslines: do you build your tracks around them or you throw them in later?

The bass rarely comes first; if it’s a track with beats then I’ll probably start with a loop and then jam along on guitar till I get something to work with.  Then I’ll probably get the bass guitar out and do the same.  In the past I would always use a keyboard bass sound as (with Rockers) we had a couple of modules that were great for enormously fat basslines.  And I still have one of them which I use a lot (which is called Fujiha D9e for all you tech-nerds out there); but when I was making the last album (13 Faces of Lightning Head) it wasn’t the right sound for afrobeat so I got into playing the bass more.  Plus I was really inspired by old African records where the bass would have one string that was wildly out of tune – probably due to the neck being warped in the heat – and that was an effect I tried to recreate on some of the album tracks.

If I’m making a BiggaBush track I’m more likely to use a synth bass as I suppose it’s part of my signature sound. So the Fujiha will get an airing.

Recently we did an interview to Mike Love where he explained to us how he discovered Fela and the Afrobeat. Can you tell us about the path that brought you to the 70s West African sound? What was the aspect of this music that impressed you most?

Not Mike Love of the Beach Boys surely? Anyway I came to this music firstly through a newspaper article I read in about 2001 – about a guy called Duncan Brooker who travelled round Africa collecting vinyl and brought out a comp called Afro Rock on Kona records – which is a great album. Then I discovered the Soundway label in Brighton, England and sent one of my embryonic afro tunes to Miles Cleret, the label founder, along with Studio Don (the first Lightning Head album).

He was into what I was doing and agreed to meet me and ended up playing me a lot of his own vinyl collection, sourced in West Africa.  I was blown away, took copious notes and went back into the studio which a much clearer idea of what I wanted to do for the next album.  What appealed to me was the style of drumming – tight, funky but not playing conventional American type grooves – plus the out of tune bass and the clipped guitar playing.  It was like hearing James Brown refracted through an alien looking-glass.  It appealed to me in the exactly the same way as reggae covers of soul and pop hits does: it’s a bit wonky but it retains some of the original spirit and then adds a load of its own exuberance.  I came to Fela later on, really hadn’t heard him properly at this point.  When I did the track that got me was “Coffin For Head of State”, which is just beautiful, a long long track with all of the anger and the pain and the defiance and righteousness you can imagine (it being written following the Nigerian authorities raid on Fela’s house in which they physically attacked everyone and threw his mother out of a window; she later died of her injuries).

But Fela is really very different to a lot of the other artists and bands from that time.  He’s out there on his own.  The stuff that really inspired me was I guess more like the African pop music of its day. Short tracks, hooks, brass riffs, crazy little call-and-response things, and of course tight grooves.

Your album 13 Faces of Lighting Head and of course your Afrobeat EP have been shaped on this African sound. How did you manage the production of such great tracks as Afro Spot (our favourite one), considering the fact you were relatively new to this “Afro” elements? I mean, you did a terrific job at your first try…

Well it took me a while to get it right, both in terms of sound and playing and production.   I worked on that album on and off for four years.  So I had to listen to a lot of authentic stuff and try to emulate how they did it.  But it felt like a step forward to learn how to make a record that sounded like a band.  Ironically that was how I described Studio Don when I made it; when I listen to it now I think it’s much more sampladelic than I realised at the time.  13 Faces sounds more like a band because most of it was done on real instruments. I’d also done a track for Comet Records using Tony Allen’s beats (there was a whole album of tracks by various producers, called Allenko Brotherhood).  This tune was called Drumfire and on it I imagined an afrobeat sound I’d never actually heard, based on stories of Fela’s massive horn section, all night sessions at the Shrine in Lagos; and relentless beats. (Hear the Journey into Afrobeat documentary ) I also stuck a sort of hi-life guitar in there which I don’t think worked so well.  I was being a bit of a tourist and not doing my research properly.  I’m still amazed that working with those amazing beats didn’t inspire me to explore Tony Allen or Fela’s music any further at that time.  But I’m a bit like that – stuff passes me by for years and then something triggers an interest and complete obsession often follows.  Each thing has its time in one’s life I suppose.

ella_fitzgerald

Let’s talk about the Lion Head Compilation Volume 1, your latest release! It’s really eclectic indeed and this peculiarity makes us love it. The first track (Ella Fitzgerald meets Rockers Hi Fi – Sunshine of Your Love) is awesome and is a classic, we love Ella and we are listening to a lot of jazz in these days. Tell us more about this track, the compilation, and about your relation with Jazz music in general.

Towards the end of the 90s Rockers was drawing to a natural conclusion; I’d moved out of Birmingham and was spending less and less time there – although I did the 180 mile commute for the best part of two years, staying with friends during the week and feeling a bit lost and homeless whilst there.

Then Mojo (a German club and label affiliated to Universal Jazz) asked us to do a remix as part of a series they were putting gout, taking tracks from those Dancefloor Jazz albums and getting contemporary producers to do their take.  There were no master tapes so we literally had to find a singer who could learn to sing it as close to Ella as possible.  Her name is Jackie Dean and she did a fantastic job.  Some people who really should know better were even fooled by it.  Anyway once we did the Rockers version I had the vocal sitting around and I’d been getting back into batucada, playing with a local samba band down in Bournemouth.  I had the idea of doing a drums-and vocals-only version and that was the result.  I still think it’s one of my best works and it took quite a while to programme the beats and get it sounding real – can you see a theme emerging here?

As for jazz – I first really got into that in the mid 80s when someone lent me The Far East Suite by Duke Ellington, which turned my head around and was a huge influence.  I also got massively into Gil Evans, the stuff he did with Miles Davis especially.  My wife is a big fan of John Coltrane too and we listened to that a lot when we were courting, but that was something to appreciate and marvel at rather than something that fed into my own music making.  Likewise Anthony Braxton, whom I’d first heard honking his contrabass clarinet in the 70s. I got his Five Pieces 1975 album back then and still like it today.  Actually I have to confess that I only recently got my first I-Pod and I have been listening to a lot more jazz – really digging an album by Don Ellis called Tears of Joy.  He was a trumpeter and band-leader, a pioneer of both irregular time-signatures (which I’ve been obsessed with since about 1970) and electronics – using effects on the trumpet.  I am a bit of a sucker for big bands of the non-Glenn Miller variety.  Also starting to explore more of Thelonius Monk’s music – I saw an amazing gig by Jason Moran recently where he was using some of Monk’s themes as starting points for new pieces, as well as improvising over original recordings by Monk – both his band and sounds of him talking and tap-dancing at rehearsals.  I have an ambition to one day play jazz guitar, so I guess I should start the lessons pretty soon!

On the same compilation we have a completely different track: Sounds & Blues. Being very much into Dupstep lately, we thought “Hey, this is Dubstep!” at the very first listen. But of course it sounds also like trademark Biggabush dub. You were one of the first to realize that jamaican Dub music had some potential in the club and urban scene. What’s your opinion about the Dubstep movement and his peculiarities, like the love for dubplates, vinyls and back-to-back dj sets?

The thing I like most about dubstep is the fact that it seems to be more about an attitude than specific or obvious musical content –apart from the monster bass of course. So you can have tracks at different tempos, different feels – I think the way Benga does it is really inspiring, it’s proper future music.  Of course there are a zillion people jumping on the bandwagon doing dubstep by numbers, that’s inevitable when a genre gets hyped, but there are real innovators out there.  I’m hoping to release some stuff by a producer called Geode who’s been making tunes since he was about 15; he’s 20 now and his dubstep and d n b are amazing.

As for dubplates, well if you’re a vinyl purist I suppose they are an expensive necessity, but I thought everyone was playing CDRs or using Serato now…..I’ve more or less stopped buying vinyl I’m sorry to say.  I still love it but it doesn’t make sense in terms of carrying or storing and I do like to play around and re-edit with tracks so getting them in a digital format is logical for me.  I actually just halved my record collection – selling at record fairs where I met some dealers who eventually bought the rest of the stuff I wanted to shed.  Apart from the first sort-through when I felt a few pangs it wasn’t at all painful.  I didn’t make much money but psychologically it was great to part with such a huge bulk – about 2500 records.

MDO_ITS_front

The Magic Drum promo really caught our attention: it’s so sick and it’s just a promo! What do we have to expect? I imagine a lot of DJs will pick up those beats for their edits and remixes too. Would you mind about that?

Not at all – the Magic Drum Orchestra is something that I’ve been working on with Ralph Cree for about five years and it’s really coming together now – a 13-piece percussion group playing afrobeat, funk, hip hop, drum and bass and traditional rhythms.  We’ve got our first album “In the Studio” coming out on Lion Head next month and it’s something that really works in a club environment. We’re playing at Camp Bestival and the Big Chill soon and that’ll be the first time we’ve actually played on big stages.

In this age of synthetic dancefloor sounds, how did you came out with the idea of putting out an acoustic drums-only record?

Well I’ve been a huge fan of batucada since starting to play in a samba band in the late 80s and I’ve always liked the idea of combining it with sampled sounds, hence quite a few of my tunes apart from the Ella track – check out the stuff I did for Suba on Crammed and tracks like “Message to the Tribes” and “El Head Sound” on Studio Don. Nowadays I mostly listen to music from the pre-sampler era.

What about teaming-up the Magic Drum Orchestra with the Hypnotic Brass Ensamble? That would be a heavy combination!

That would be a dream come true.  Next best thing was the stuff they did with Tony Allen!

Are you planning to bring on tour your new Lion Head music? If yes, what should we expect, a classic dj set or a full live performance with real instruments?

I’m thinking about doing something which combines all three actually….

We know you are going to release two more albums in the next months. Let us and our visitors know more about it!

OK well you have the Magic Drum Orchestra album out in August09.  The next one is Lightning Head Specials which takes in remixes, unreleased rarities and versions of tunes done under the Lightning Head monicker.   Includes versions of Stephen Marley’s “Traffic Jam”, Up Bustle & Out, a new afro mix of the theme from 2001, Popcorn, lots of classics all collected together for the first time…After that there will be a remix album based on tracks from 13 Faces of Lightning Head, with versions by Diesler, Watch TV, Dub Traffik Control, Romanowski, Nightmares on Wax, and others still coming in.  Then there’s the Geode album mentioned above.  Lots of new stuff.

Feel free to say what you want to our readers and to talk about your future projects…

I’m feeling more excited about playing live music than DJing these days so really into pushing the Magic Drum project and also doing some live afro stuff with a full band.  I’ve also got a progressive rock project on the back burner which I started a while ago. The idea is to use irregular time signatures like 5/4 and 21/8 and so on but to use really funky beats so it has a very organic and earthy feel – kind of like the way you have those crazy time signatures in some folk music, like Eastern European stuff, but it sounds quite natural and people can dance to it (in my dreams anyway).  It’s gonna be big, in-your-face, uncompromising, impossible-sounding music.

Thanks Glyn and keep up!

www.biggabush.co.uk

www.magicdrum.org.uk

LISTEN THIS ONE! MDO re-invents Snoop’s classic “Drop it like it’s hot”!

Magic Drum Orchestra “Drop It (Like A Funky Muppet)”, Lion Head Records

Leave A Comment »

Mike Love, Not War: The Interview

Posted in Hip Hop, Our Interviews with tags , , , , on May 4, 2009 by joppa AKA Arthur Jopparelli

Ladies and gentleman, here we are with another epic interview. This time starring is DJ Mike Love, brought under the spotlight by his “American Gangster” remix project, called “Nigerian Gangster”, entirely based on Fela Kuti samples. His remix of “Roc Boys (And the winner is)” gained props from DJs and listeners worldwide, us included of course. Easily our favourite hip hop track of the past year. Well, let’s read what he has to say, then let’s visit his MySpace and blog, download his stuff if you haven’t done it yet, and most important don’t forget to give props to the man!

mike-love

Please introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi readers. allow me to introduce myself, my name is Mike Love. DJ/remixer based out of Chicago Il. Born and raised in Milwaukee Wisconsin which is about 2 hours north of Chicago

Do you consider yourself more of a DJ or a Producer ?

DJ. I’ve been spinning forever and when I hear “producers” talk they’re always saying things like “Pro Tools HD is today’s standard” so since I believe its not what you use but how you use it, call me a DJ.

What’s your aim when creating tracks? I mean, what do you go for, the party banger, the innovative track, the all time classic, what else?

I want something that sounds good in the car because that’s where I listen to music mostly. I mean, where’s the first place you take a track after its finished anyway? The car. The reason Nigerian Gangster was really 808 heavy is because the Midwest United States is heavy car culture and I’m used to hearing music beating up the block & I want mine to do the same.

Tell us a little about how you work. What kind of equipment do you use to produce?

Simple set up i do everything on my HP laptop. All beats are done in FL 8 (aka Fruity Loops) and tracked out into Sony Acid where I use a lot of plug-ins. Mainly Waves stuff a lot of Audio Damage Plugs & PSP Plug-ins. Dozens of plug-ins actually. too many to name.

sp1200

When you create a track, where do you start? I mean, do you start with a sample, a drum beat or what else? And how do you proceed?

Always the sample 1st because the sample tells me how the drums should be programmed underneath. If there are drums in the original sample I might try to stay near the original pattern.I usually keep it simple and start out with a BOOP-BAP-BOOM-BAP pattern and build from there. or I just might keep the BOOM-BAP pattern because the loop is so dope the drums dont have to be overdone.

How has your sound changed or developed since you started producing?

I bought an EMU SP-1200 when they reissued them after the Pete Rock, Large Pro SP 1200 explosion of the early 90′s and I must say you really have to be creative when all you have is 10 seconds of sampling time. And that’s 10 seconds for EVERYTHING, loops, kicks snares, hi hats, etc. I think my stuff was more creative back then when I listen to some of my old SP discs so sometimes I revert back to that 10 seconds mentality and try not to sample a 16 bar loop just because I can.

mike-love-beyonce3

Your “nigerian gangster” remixes made a lot of noise. You were one of the first to sample african music instead of the classic JB/CTI/80′s dance stuff. Do you think sampling artists from Africa, Brazil and stuff like that is the next level in the sampling game?

Well, I sampled the music because I loved it, it was underexposed, and I knew people that loved Fela like me would love it. I didn’t care about everyone else because they weren’t gonna get it anyway. African & Brazilian samples have always existed. Masters at Work and dozens of others have incorporated the sounds into house music but because cats don’t really “dig” for samples anymore it probably wont happen in hip hop. I thought about making it my “lane” but it was more authentic to me to just do that project and leave it be instead of being the guy who rapes the Fela catalog for samples.

Who is your all time favourite DJ/Producer? And who’s the best around now?

Dr. Dre. I still get inspired by Straight Outta Compton. Its a very minimal album. Hard drums, loops and live minimal instrumentation like a played bass or guitar lick. Dre’s live instrumentation over samples on albums like DOC’s No One Can Do It Better, Above The Law’s Living Like Hustlers and The Chronic are a primer TO ME on how you play live music over samples.

kanye-mike-love1

Now you are a veteran, but how was it like when you were a rookie DJ? Have you ever been nervous before playin? Have you ever made some bad mistake while playin? Do you have some funny story about that?

As a DJ like any performer you definitely get antsy before you go one. I’d be in the venue trying to get mentally ready and a female friend was at a party with me and she gave me the greatest idea ever. She was like, why don’t you pray before you spin? That was such a simple suggestion but it really put me in a better place and helped to clear my head before I get on the set. Every artist you know does it, why not DJ’s? So I find a quiet spot in the venue, I bow my head and pray for myself & the safety of everyone in the club.

This is a question we always ask because we are  very concerned about it. Being basically 90′s Hip Hop heads we rarely find anything  interesting coming out now. What’s your idea about it?

If I get 1 thing a year I’m excited about I’m happy. Considering I’m out of the demographic I’ve come to realize they don’t make music for me anymore. I’m ok with pulling out my 80′s joints and my 90′s joints and my early 2000′s joints and being totally happy with that. I’m not mad at what the kids are listening to. I’m never gonna become my dad & say “you kids just don’t understand real music like the kind we had” because guess what? that’s what his dad said. And his dad before that. If you’re interested I’ll welcome you to the music I grew up on. If not, thats cool too.

In your career, which is the record you used to spin most?

I’ve always played for the average club goer so whatever was hot at that time. If it was Eric B & Rakim, that’s what I was playing. If it was Snoop & Dre, it was that. There are no guaranteed records but I do believe Poison by BBD, that Fatman Scoop record Be Faithful & It Takes 2 by Rob Base may be the biggest “crutch records” of my DJ career. If nothing else is working, throw one of them on and someone will dance.

mike-love-mixtape

In last years you’ve shot lots of mixtapes, have you ever released any mixtape which is not deeply related to hip hop?

I did a lot of hip hop mixtapes but I grew to hate those because some rappers are the worst people to work with in the world. Just give me the acapella then I dont have to worry about you not showing up for a session or some other lame excuse that rappers come up with. Getting music from from quality talented rappers is like pulling teeth so just gimme the ‘pella.

Among the artists you’ve seen performing live, I mean dj’s as well as MC’s, who impressed you much?

Kid Capri changed the way people n Chicago DJ. I will scream that from the top of Sears Tower and back it up with facts. DJ’s were still heavily into house in the mid-late 90′s even in the black clubs. it would be mostly house/classics and like a small hip hop set. Kid Capri spun an afterparty at the house of Blues in ’96 and I swear every DJ had a spun like that afterwards. The Twilight Tone ( Common’s 1 time tour DJ) was also an influence because he taught DJ’s here to only play hip hop for 30 seconds per song. There are other cats like Jesse DeLa Pena and DJ 33 1/3 who were also doing hip hop but Twilite Tone did more commercial spots so I think his style ended up influencing more people because he was the guy everyone saw.

Name top 3 recent mixtapes worth buying (not necessarely blend mixtapes)

Drake-So Far Gone

Drake-So Far Gone

Drake-So Far Gone

I just like songs, man. I don’t need someone screaming at me or telling me the name of the songs. I hadn’t heard any Drake but EVERYONE was talking about him. When people I respect started quoting his lines in their facebook status I was like, let me check this dude out. I’ve been hooked ever since. Its the only CD i’ve burned for the car in 2009.

mike-love-show

You know Kanye and some other big artists from Chicago, right? Tell us more about them from your point of view.

Lupe Fiasco is the truth. I dont even know if people understand how cold he really is. I remember I used to meet Lu at McDonalds parking lot and he would play me songs in his truck and act em out while he was rapping. he’s a really talented dude

Kanye is someone I saw the talent early and to this day anything I need from his people I can get because I supported him in the beginning. If I need Kanye acapellas I can get ‘em.

About Kanye, it seems that lately he is trying to do something new to reach different people outside the hip hop target (witch is already huge itself…), what do you think about that?

I’m not mad at all. I think as an artist you want to stretch outside your comfort zone and he didnt brick with 808′s & Heartbreak so you can always come back to a more general hip hop style

nigerian-gangster

Of all the stuff you’ve done, which are you most proud of?

Nigerian Gangster. I’m answering these questions because of that project. It was a project that hit people in the heart because it hit me in the heart. People still contact me on myspace & download it from my blog to this day because the music still reaches people because its timeless. I can only hope to do another project that connects with people like that again but if I dont, I’m glad I brought some aural enjoyment into peoples lives.

Tell us about your current projects and say what you want to our readers. Future projects, some shout outs, something to listen that you want to recommend to our readers…. Feel free to say what you want. And of course thanx a lot for you time! Peace

Thanks to Magesy (rip) for having the motherlode of Fela joints for me to download & get into his music. Pete Rock for the Shut ‘em Down remix, it still inspires me to this day & everyone in Milwaukee & Chicago.

Current projects include a Kanye remix project called ‘Ye: The Mike Love Way and remixes of a bunch of exclusive acapellas I have lying around like Carl Thomas, Jodeci and a few others.

Bigup to my blogs MikeLoveNotWar for my latest work.

Check Dj Fresh G for my radio mixes from my early days in Milwaukee.

Twitter.com/djmikelove (follow me) and finally Myspace.com/djmikelove

4 Comments »

TONY D – R.I.P

Posted in Hip Hop, Our Interviews with tags on April 8, 2009 by djmp45

A couple of days ago i received the very sad news that Tony D, the legendary Trenton based producer, died in a car accident.

Tony D was the architect behind lots of Trenton hip hop outputs and was definitely a very underrated producer.
He created some classics and he was very infliuential in the development of hip hop through what most of the people call “the golden era”.

I had the pleasure to interview him few months ago for this blog (here) and i have to say he came across as a nice, humble person.

tonyd-card
The hip hop community will definitely miss another legend and obviously our thoughts go to his family.

Please take time to check his body of work here and here (plus a nice instrumental EP on the Golden Age Hip Hop blog) and try to understand how much Tony D did for hip hop.

Rest In Peace

Listen! Master Of The Moanin’ Beats

1 Comment »

BiggaBush aka Lightning Head: A Short Autobiography

Posted in Funky Beats, Guest Bloggers, Our Interviews with tags , , , , , , on September 29, 2008 by Marty AKA Marty McFly

[ This time our guest blogger is really big, as we promised. More than big, bigger. Glyn "Bigga" Bush, from UK, is a major figure in urban music. An eclectic producer who's always been one step ahead of the trends. As you'll read, he's still struggling to push the sound forward and his next source of inspiration is one we are particularly into: Afro Beat. Enjoy! ]

First up thanks to Marty for inviting me to say a few words about myself and my music on this very fine blog.

My first chance to give up the day job came with Rockers Hi Fi, an outfit from Birmingham, England that ran from 1992-2000, with myself and Richard “DJ Dick” Whittingham at the controls. We started out making house tunes, caught up as we were in first rush of the early 90s acid house scene, but soon graduated onto deeper stuff with influences from dub (Scientist and King Tubby), jungle (DJ Krome & Mr Time, Alex Reese, Flynn & Flora), and other more ephemeral styles that were in vogue back then.

Probably our biggest tune was “Push Push” which tore up dance floors all over the globe in 93/94 and was recently remixed by German electro-peeps M.A.N.D.Y. This was our quintessential dub-house track with a beautiful (and much-sampled) vocal from Johnny Osbourne, “He can surely turn the tide…he can push the tempest by…”

Listen to Rockers Hi Fi – Push Push

But Rockers were always about being very eclectic and we wore our influences proudly, unashamedly borrowing ideas from such diverse sources as Roberta Flack, Silver Apples, Bernard Hermann, Chico Arnez, Lee Scratch Perry, Mikey Dread, Bobby Konders, Plastikman, David Axelrod, old school electro, hip hop, film music, easy listening, spoken word albums, poetry, sound effects records, you name it.

Listen to Rockers Hi Fi  The 8th Shade intro

Our first album, “Rockers To Rockers” was originally released on our own Different Drummer label in 1992 before being licensed for worldwide release by Island a year later. This was a great honour for us as it was not only the label introduced Bob Marley to a wider audience, it also had a history of ultra-cool (in my world anyway) releases that I had grown up with, like King Crimson, Roxy Music, Nick Drake, Jethro Tull and many more. Even if these bands were no longer hip in the early 90s, they were part of my musical upbringing.

Our relationship with Island was not destined to last however, as they unceremoniously dropped us after about 18 months. At the time it seemed they thought of Rockers as “the other trip hop act on Island” (Tricky being the pre-eminent one), even though that was only one facet of our overall style.

Undeterred we gathered together a minimal amount of live gear (decks and effects) a maximal MC (Farda P) and a massive digi vs analogue light show and set off around Europe playing to mostly appreciative crowds. In true rock legend fashion we were spotted at a Hamburg gig by the MD of WEA, signing a deal with them that helped cement Rockers’ reputation in Germany, Northern Europe and North America, even if we still struggled to sell records in our home country. You can see a clip of Rockers on tour in about 1996 (watch the Video here) rocking the house with “Uneasy Skanking” and “Copycat” from the Mish Mash album.

We also did a lot of remixes in those days for people such as Sly & Robbie, Dawn Penn, Paul Weller (he didn’t like it, possibly because we didn’t use any of his vocal), St. Etienne (Listen to St. Etienne – On The Shore Rockers Remix), Karma, Banco de Gaia, Nils Petter Molvaer, Yasushe Ide (Listen to Yasushe Ide – Fresh Rockers Version), Earl 16 and Shantel (before his current Balkan boom).

After a few more years of tours in mainland Europe and the US, plus three more albums, ”Music Is Immortal”, “Mish Mash”, “Overproof” and the infamous DJ Kicks Black Album, we eventually called it a day around the end of 1999, after a final remix/remake of Ella Fitzgerald’s “Sunshine of your Love”

Listen to Sunshine Of Your Love Rockets Meets Ella

Meanwhile I’d moved out of Birmingham to the South West of England, to the countryside and a quieter style of life. This didn’t affect my style of music making at all, which continues to sound pretty urban (with a small “u”) to my ears anyway. I began doing remixes for a whole range of artists including Ennio Morricone, Tosca, Suba, Swayzak, Tony Allen, Boozoo Bajou, Pressure Drop, Up Bustle & Out).

Offers came in from various German imprints for remixes and recordings, the first fruit of which was an album for Best Seven/Sonar Kollektiv “Studio Don” under the name Lightning Head. The concept was to fuse Latin music with reggae, as if Cuba and Jamaica had once been physically joined, rather than being just 90 miles apart. I’d already noticed a lot of parallels between the two styles and the album is an exploration of these ideas, with some heavy batucada-style drumming thrown in for good measure. Looking back now I can see that the common thread between all these styles was their African roots, but I wasn’t so conscious of that back then.

I was also aiming to produce music that sounded like it was all played by the same group in the same studio, like the old Studio One house bands who laid down the rhythm tracks for so many reggae classics. Conceptual stuff aside, probably the best known Lightning Head track from those days was “Me & Me Princess”, a slab of raw dancehall funk featuring Singing Bird.

Listen to Lightning Head – Me & Me Princess

Apart from Lightning Head I was also producing tracks as BiggaBush, a more dubby, electronic and eclectic sound that you can hear on BiggaBush Free (Listen to BiggaBush – IOTK), and the mix album Sound Sensation on Stereo Deluxe.

By the mid noughties I’d decided to go it alone and control the means of production for myself. Hence I set up Lion Head Recordings and released my first solo album as BiggBush, called “BiggaBush In Dub”. Unsurprisingly this was a collection of fairly chilled tunes featuring a guitar-based rework of Push Push arranged for the Big Chill festival in 2006.

Listen to BiggaBush – Push Push Guitar Version

To bring things up to date: since late 2004 I was working on a follow up to Studio Don and around the middle of 05 I was at a party where someone played some really funky tunes by the Daktaris (who I later found out were an early version of Antibalas) that fired my imagination and got me exploring the world of Afrobeat.

Then I hit upon the Soundway label from Brighton UK and its Ghana Soundz and Nigerian comps. It hit me that in the mid-70s black music had really come full circle, from the African roots of reggae, funk and soul that came up through the Americas and the Caribbean and eventually back in the form of James Brown on the Rumble in the Jungle tour. This had a profound effect on African musicians, especially Afrobeat originator Orlando Julius and a host of lesser-known bands. The jury is still out on whether JB influenced Fela or Fela influenced JB.

Whatever – this music was raw, it was funky, it had out of tune guitars, wonky organs and blaring brass and it made you want to get up and party. So I spent the next three years going deep into afrobeat, studying the beats and rhythms, learning the basslines and the guitar parts and assimilating it into my own style.

The results of this continuing obsession can be heard on the new album “13 Faces of Lightning Head” which features collaborations with Earl Zinger (aka Rob Gallagher, Gilles Peterson’s live MC, Red Egyptian and 2 Banks of 4), NYC rap attitude from Candice Cannabis, Latino consciousness from Blanquito Man (King Chango, Up Bustle & Out) and Nigerian MC Lariman Ojelade, plus a full brass section.

Listen to BiggaBush – Afro Spot

“13 Faces of Lightning Head” is out now on Lion Head Recordings 2xLP/CD/mp3.

[Download all the songs in this post in a single zip file HERE: a Biggabush essential selection!]

Most of the Rockers back catalogue plus BiggaBush and Lightning Head tunes are available to download or on CD via my website:

www.biggabush.co.uk

http://biggabush.blogspot.com/

www.myspace.com/biggamusic

www.myspace.com/lionheadrecordings

www.myspace.com/rockershifimusic

9 Comments »

DJ Mayonnaise Interview

Posted in Funky Beats, Mixtapes, Our Interviews with tags , , on July 25, 2008 by Marty AKA Marty McFly

Dj Mayonnaise is one of the most underrated Djs out there, no doubt about it. Today here at Martini & Jopparelli, with this interview, we want to give credit where it’s due. If you don’t know him, you have no excuse, time has come to learn something about the man behind 55 Stories (what a masterpiece) and Still Alive. If you already know him, you got a chance to know him better. He definitely got something to say!

Hi Chris, how are you doing? Welcome to Martini & Jopparelli and thanks for this interview!

I’m well. Just eating a Popsicle before I have to go mow my lawn. Just got in from work.

Let’s start from your name, Mayonnaise, what is the significance? How did you get that name?

“DJ Mayonnaise” is the result of my being bored with “DJ CMG” which is what I used to call myself. There’s no real significance other than my complexion I suppose, but that wasn’t a factor in the choice. It was just funny to me. Hindsight being 20/20 I could’ve picked something cooler, but “Mayo” turned out to be a nice abbreviation that works well in social situations.

Tell us more about your influences…

Back around 1992 or so is when I was seriously into DJing and playing parties. I can really only say that recorded DJ work on songs from groups like EPMD and 3rd Bass was where I first got any sort of influence. Guys like Daddy Rich, DJ Scratch and Jazzy Jeff were a big initial influence. Later I discovered battle DJ tapes and guys like The Rocksteady DJs (later known as the Invisibl Skratch Piklz) and the X-Men blew me away.

After a few years of DJing under my belt I decided to get my hands on a sampler. I had first seen one of those Akai machines at this guy’s house down in Worcester, MA who went by DJ Shame. He did some beats for Live Poets and another friend of mine way back when. I think he had a MPC 60. My friend Moodswing 9 had a s950 and triggered it with this other machine, but I don’t recall the name. Later he picked up a MPC 3000, which he still uses exclusively. I never bothered to learn how to use it since whenever I was over there it was more than likely tied up. My boy Alias was all over that shit though so I after I bought my MPC 2000 in 1998 he taught me how to use it.

After I got the hang of the MPC 2000 I just started looping up breaks and samples that I had been collecting for months and months. Moodswing would just keep taking us record shopping weekend after weekend and be like, “get this, buy this, gogogo”. You see, a little time before these trips he put us onto DJ Shadow’s Entroducing, which was another influence on my music. All those initial record-shopping trips ended up creating 55 Stories..

Between 1999 and 2003 I wasn’t especially productive. Nothing I was making for myself was really clicking so I made beats for Sage Francis and Sole and kept busy that way.

Once I got back to Maine and into a new apartment I started working on Still Alive. During these times I was listening to a lot more rock music than hiphop and that got me interested in synthesisers and using other mediums to add to my sound so I went out and bought a microkorg and a Casio CZ 1000. Early in the making of that record I was heavily into Beck, Tortoise, Radiohead, Boards of Canada, Death in Vegas, The Flaming Lips and The Smashing Pumpkins.

Also I am heavily influenced by all of my label mates and musical friends. All of those guys push me harder than anyone or anything else.

What was the first record you ever bought?

Honestly I think it was some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle record that I would play on a desktop stereo and totally ruin by thrashing back an forth. My first serious record I bought once I had equipment was probably something like Black Sheep’s Strobelight Honey 12”. My first album was probably Michael Jackson’s Thriller and my first Hip-hop album was Beastie Boy’s License to Ill.

Tell us more about your sound, how would you describe it? Can we say abstract hip hop? Or just hip hop? Feel free to insult me if you don’t like those labels.

YOU IDIOT! Just kidding. I would say there’s a definite hiphop influence because of my turntable usage, but the music itself is slowly becoming more and more electronic as I continue to explore my sound. I wouldn’t say abstract because it’s not hard to grasp what I’m doing at all. I like to think I’m keeping it simple to the point where the music can be enjoyable and not have to be translated by a third party. That’s no fun in my opinion.

What advice would you give to a DJ or producer just starting out?

Definitely be yourself and take what you see and hear around you and mold it into something you can call your own. Also, explore all ways to make music. Don’t get caught telling yourself you aren’t going to do this or that because so and so doesn’t do it. Try different things and you may surprise yourself.


Let’s get more personal. I read HERE about a Special Ed tape being crucial in your life. It caused you to stop from listening Teddy Riley. Well, anyway Teddy Riley was good back then, wasn’t it? I like him! Tell us about other crucial milestones in your experience as a listener.

Well, getting my hands on that tape among others was pretty important. We were kids back then and whatever ATCQ and Ice Cube said was the gospel.

Strictly hardcore tracks, not a new jack swing.

And you can New Jack swing on my nuts!

After I borrowed that tape from alias who heard about it from one of his sister’s friends I was instantly intrigued. The sound was raw and seemed like whoever was making it was genuine not manufactured. It was pretty inspiring.

On the same SHORT BIO, I found no reference to you being able to play instruments or studying music theory. I can’t believe that the person who produced “55 Stories” doesn’t know anything about music theory. Harmony is very important in making beats, and that mixtape is really perfect from this point of view. Did it came out all instinctively? Or do you know everything about notes, keys and stuff like that?

When I was in 4th grade I played the viola. That lasted maybe a year and a half. I know nothing about notes other than what I hear. When I did 55 stories I especially had no clue. I suppose I got lucky that nothing was out of tune (or was it?). Beginning with Still Alive is when I really got into notes and harmony etc. I still don’t have the vocabulary to talk about it with any sort of authority, but I think I got by ok playing by ear.

Talking about your masterpiece mix album “55 stories”. I hear a lot of jazzy sounds in it, did you use a lot of Jazz samples? Is this the most stupid question ever?

Good ear! All of the records used on that album were either Rock or Jazz mostly from the late 60s to mid 70s.

I’m very curious about the creative process in making it…how did you built it? Did you started from the sounds, the samples or the beats? Did you produced each track separately and then mixed it, or you performed it “live” in one or more sessions?

I made 55 Stories in one shot from start to finish. I had no blueprint or pre-conceived idea. All I did was made a mixtape album on a borrowed Tascam 4-track recorder. I went back and did some small edits after I was done, but the structure and song order was a straight shot. I just made an intro and recorded it. After that I made a beat and recorded that and scratched over it. I just repeated that process until I hit somewhere around 55 minutes (hence the title).

You made a 10 years break after “55 stories”, is that right? Tell us about this period and what kind of situations you’ve been into.

Like I mentioned before I didn’t really make any music for myself that interested me after 55 Stories came out so I just made beats for other people. It probably stemmed from the fact that I didn’t really dig on the whole music scene when I was in Oakland. There were a lot of shady assholes and nothing was stable in a financial sense and I had bills to pay so I had a day job the whole time I was there. I also wasn’t getting along with Alias at the time so that probably didn’t help my creative juices. Once I moved to Maine I got really inspired and started working on Still Alive. I basically took everything that happened to me between 2000 and 2003 and put it on that album. It’s the most personal piece of music I’ve made for myself to date.

What do you like to listen most right now?

Currently I’m listening to Dntel, Beck, Radiohead, Andrew Bird, the new Alias LP (shit is fire), Prolyphic and Reanimator, Notwist, Why?, Battles, Jay Z, Modest Mouse…

Say what you want to our readers. You can speak about your future projects, give some shout outs, recommend something to buy to our readers or just say goodbye…. whatever you feel, go ahead…

Thanks for reading and I’ll have another project out before 2017, I promise!

Thanks a lot!

Check his Official Site

and his Myspace

More Interviews HERE

7 Comments »

DJ Superix Interview

Posted in Breaks, Hip Hop, Our Interviews with tags , , , on July 11, 2008 by Marty AKA Marty McFly

[Jopparelli] Few months ago, we came across a fantastic mixtape of 90′s hip hop remixes and b-sides…just the way we like it. We were quite surprised to find out that it was actually made in the 2ks.

This is how we started being into DJ Superix’ work, and now we are proud of giving you a very interesting interview with a man which is about to enter Hip Hop history with his next project: a mix-up of ALL the Ultimate Breaks and Beats records…this is gonna be wild.

Well, here’s the whole story, we hope you like it! Obviously our man has some goodies for you also… Hands up for the DJ!

Please introduce yourself to our readers…

Hi, I’m DJ Superix, based in london, UK and one half of a Southern Hospitality.

Which are your favourite years in hip hop? And why?

I love 1985, 1986, 1990, 1995, 2001, hang on a minute, this is a very hard question! I’ll try to answer it in more detail though.

1985-86 was the time for me that really started to cement the hip hop sound together we know of today, up to that point a lot of the music had been heavily electro influenced, but i noticed people started to use samples more, and the sound changed from drum machines and studio played music to using samples of drum breaks etc, and you really started to here this going into 1986-87, with artists such as Eric B & Rakim, Run Dmc (who didn’t seem to use hardly any samples before 1986). Anyway, I pretty much love most years in hip-hop, there’s always been the records out there, its just its not always easy to find them. But 1985 was when I really started to get into the ‘hip hop’ sound, I was always into electro & rap music before that as I loved breakdancing, but as breakdancing seemed to die out, the music lived on and seemed to develop and keep going.

Favourite MC(s)?

Again, tough question! I love all the obvious ones, Biggie, Snoop, Jay-Z, Rakim, Tha Nutcracker from Group Home (only joking). But there are some that aren’t so obvious, I was always a fan of the MC’s who had the distinct voices, for example, Jay-Z and Biggie both have great voices for hip hop and other guys who came before them like Melle Mel, Slick Rick, MC Lyte, Ice Cube and I used to love hearing MC Ren on the NWA records, his voice was the standout for the group for me, but NWA all had those great distinct styles. There are so many to name its impossible!

Favourite Producer(s)?

Jeez, you’re questions are hard!! Well, its tricky, alot producers who have made great tracks go through ups and downs. I guess the most prolific and consistent producers that I would name are: Dr DRE, Timbaland, DJ Premier, Kanye West, The Neptunes & Organized Noize, although I wasn’t that aware of them until much later. But I would easily add to that some that are so often overlooked: Swizz Beatz, Marley Marl, DJ Toomp, Kurtis Mantronik – who I have added for making my personal favourite beat of all time Just Ice’s ‘Cold Getting Dumb’! But there are so many new guys that I like, but I’ll save that for another day!

Best hip hop album of all times, in your opinion?

It gets tougher… Ok, in no particular order I’ll name 5 without thinking too hard:

Snoop Doggy Dog – Doggystyle
Public Enemy – It takes a Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Run Dmc – Raising Hell
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – He’s The DJ I’m The Rapper
DJ Quik – Quik Is The Name

I’m not sure if i would say the same off the top of my head tomorrow or next week, its so difficult, there’s so many.

Who is the DJ that inspired you most when you started? And now?

Easy – that would be DJ Jazzy Jeff. without question, I think he’s quite possibly the best DJ there ever has been, he’s both a pioneer and innovator, he’s never disappoints, he may not be the best producer, but as a DJ he kicks ass. If I was to say who’s most inspiring now though – its a very biased answer, but its my main man Rob Breezy. In a club situation, he can pretty much rock any crowd, he plays great music and always inspires me to step my game up musically more than anyone else. Oh, I must also mention London’s Shortee Blitz, you should check him out if you are ever in London.

Which mixtape (by another DJ) is your favourite of all time, the one that inspired you most?

This is a tough one, its not particularly by 1 DJ. Its the whole of the Electro series released in the 80′s by Streetsounds. Those mixtape’s / compilations are the best mixtapes of all time. The tracks are incredible, and the mixing, although a lot of it is done with studio equipment, will never be beaten.

Your “Lost & Found” mixtapes rock, that’s a fact. But you sure did a lot of other mixes over the years. Which is the best in your opinion, the one you’re more satisfied with?

The lost and found ones were really something i did to compile a load of tracks I really liked that had a similar sound and feel. I love all those remixes from the mid 90′s and the rare stuff that never quite made it to the radio. Me and my DJ partner Rob Breezy are doing exactly the same thing now with our ‘Coast to Coast’ compilations and also ‘The Hits You Missed 2007′, taking the stuff that you may not be hearing and compiling them into 1 solid mix that people can check out, saving them the time to go searching for all that stuff and also trying to prevent people from saying ‘hip hop isnt as good as it used to be’ which I hear so much, the truth is, it is as good as its always been – you just have to work harder to find it – or download our mixtape’s! The mix I’m most satisfied with is my newest – ‘Ultimate Ultimate, Ultimate’ a 2CD mix of EVERY Ultimate Break (thats over 160 on 2 CDS) Its been a very long time in the making and a lot of the routines and sets are some that have taken me years to get right!

You’re playing in a club, and you suddenly realize that is the coolest situation you’ve ever played in. Beautiful spot, full of gorgeous ladies dancing in the crowd, massive sound system, everything is perfect! Which record do you put on the plate in that precise moment?

Ha Ha – well, these days it would have to be ‘Be faithfull’ for no other reason than the fact that everyone will always go nuts. Either that or something like ‘Mo Money Mo Problems’, something big, that appeals to everyone.

Which musical styles you’re into besides hip hop?

Everything. There’s probably something I like in every musical genre. I’m not a music elitist in any way. I’ll freely admit I like something if I think its good.

What are you listening in your car right now?
I’ve really just been listening to The Dream’s debut album & Lil Wayne’s ‘The Carter 3′ and anything with T-Pain on!

Which equipment do you prefer for playin? Vinyls, Serato, CDJs or Software? What do you think of the recent evolution of DJ equipment?

Serato is the best without question. Its the only one that truly reminds me of using real records, you can do everything you could with vinyl & much much more! I love the new technology, it means I dont mess up my records anymore and I dont have to carry 5000 records with me. Its also great because with the music I play, its so hard to prepare a box for a night, as you are always reading the crowd, if something isnt working, then you have to cater to what is going to work. That was always hard with a box a records as you could easily just fill it with the same old guaranteed club bangers, but there’s not much excitement in that. Its much easier for a DJ of say House music or Drum & Bass, because its pretty much all the same tempo and you are mixing the same beat over and over and people will dance no matter what.

Hip hop pioneer Phill the Soulman during an interview at Masscorporation has stated: I take more of an issue with the fact that people are still using the term”Hip Hop” when they talk about current rap than I object to the actually music that’s being made today. I just think it’s a different thing, that’s all. [...] I will never understand why you have people today who ride for this stuff yet still want it to be labeled as “Hip Hop”. Why would you care? Why would you get your draws all twisted just because somebody states that “Hip Hop is dead”? Be proud that you’re doing your own thing and creating your own legacy… Do you agree? You have followed rap over the years, what do you think about the changes? Where do you see hip hop going?

To me, its not changed all that much, a lot of people are always going on about ‘its all about money etc etc these days’ but if you look back over the last 25 years or so, songs like the ever popular ‘rappers delight’ were boasting about financial gain, and NWA always talked about guns, but for some reason or another the people who love those records are saying all the negative stuff about the newer artists. There’s people who will say ‘the best years in hip hop was the nineties’ or something like that because that’s when they really started listening to hip hop and nothing can replace that newness of the hip hop scene to them again. So they get mistaken by saying that era was the best ever. I have been listening to hip hop / rap music, whatever you want to call it, since 1983 when I was a small kid, and I was excited by the fact it sounded like nothing else out there, and unless I get into a new form of music that is totally different to anything else today, I probably won’t experience that feeling I had as a kid again. Its just people get older and reminisce about the good old days thinking it was the best time ever, and sometimes forget to enjoy the present too! Do you see what I mean? I don’t usually get into the politics too much, I just listen to the music like I always have done. I still get excited by great records like I used to, for example last year the Dogg Pound released a record called ‘Cali Is Active’ and when I heard it, it was the same sort of feeling I had when I first heard ‘I get around’ by 2pac, I thought it was amazing. But that’s just one example, I’m always hearing new stuff that I like. Hip Hop hasn’t changed as much as people think it has!

Do you follow UK Hip Hop? What do you think of it?
Not really, I think the whole ‘uk scene’ over here is fairly introverted. It still thinks its the nineties and still rips of DJ Premier style beats. But I do like the breakaway artists like Dizzie, SWAY, Wiley and I think Estelle is very talented and its great she’s doing so well.

In the UK, Hip Hop and MC-ing evolved also into something different: you have MCs rappin over Drum n Bass, UK Garage, 2 Step and Grime tracks. What do you think about that scene? Do you like some of that stuff?

As I mentioned, Dizzie, Wiley etc, is the only think I feel can compete with the US as its our own sound, its not use trying to be something else, that’s what I feel is the thing that will push the UK forward.

With you being a deejay, talk about some funny thing you went through to get your music…

Well, when I was a student, I was unable to afford to buy a lot of records, so I used to just stock up on lots of baked beans that costed 9p a tin, and only eat them for weeks so I could buy a new 12”, over in the UK, US import 12” would always cost close to £10 and I had to get my doubles!!

Can you recommend a few records to our visitors?

I’d like to use this bit to promote a new CD of mine, Its called ‘Ultimate Ultimate, Ultimate’ Its every break from the original Ultimate breaks and beats series – all mixed together onto 2 cd’s, as far as I know nobody has mixed them ALL before, thats over 160 breaks! It’s released this Summer and you’ll be able to buy it online or in most hip hop stores very soon. Please check out the 10 minute sample to get a flavour of what’s on the 2 cds!

Listen to Ultimate Ultimate, Ultimate (10 minute sample)

and “Lost and Found” mixtape – Part 1 & Part 2

There’s also some new free mixes on www.southernhospitality.co.uk

www.superix.co.uk

www.southernhospitality.co.uk

facebook id: Southern Hospitality

Thanks for all the support guys – keep up the good work!

Check our previous interviews: Tony D & DJ Nes

15 Comments »

DJ Nes Interview

Posted in Breaks, Guest Bloggers, Hip Hop, Interviews, Mixtapes, Our Interviews with tags , , , on June 5, 2008 by Marty AKA Marty McFly

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, can I have your attention please? Today I am very pleased to introduce to you our second interview. The man in charge to answer our inquisitive questions this time is DJ Nes from the considerable Dirty Waters blog. Some of you might already know him: he is a very skilled DJ (as you can see from this video), he has an impressive vinyl collection, he got knowledge…but most important thing, is a cool guy, we definitely love his attitude. To cut it short: enjoy this chat and don’t forget about our previous exclusive interview with Tony D – Legendary Poor Righteous Teachers producer!

Hey DJ Nes what’s up? Welcome to Martini & Jopparelli!

Chillin, thanks for the invite.

Let’s start from the very beginning: Where were you born and where did you grow up?

Born and raised in Rahway, NJ

Growing up in “The Garden State” who were the big New Jersey DJs at the time?

I’d say DJ Juice, DJ Lord jazz, DJ Kaos, Junior Sanchez, they were all Jersey people. I paid more attention to New York DJ’s though.

When did you start to get involved in Hip Hop? How and when did you start DJing?

I always liked hip hop from a young age, but I would say around early 1994 during high school is when I really started getting involved with it through DJing. A lot of good hip hop was coming out at the time. House was really big then too, and a friend of mine had turntables and a bunch of house records. I played around on his setup, just blending and stuff, and it was really fun, and came pretty natural for me. Seeing him with turntables gave me the inspiration to get my own. So I saved and got with a set of 1210’s and a Gemini Scratchmaster and it was on from there.

We are really into your mixes, my favourite one is “Dirty Waters Brakes”, very cool. There are so many breaks mixes around but most of them tend to use the same tunes. Yours are very original indeed! Tell me more about your collection of vinyl…

Thanks I appreciate that, I’m trying to put together some more. My boy DJ Force invited me up to his radio show so I put that dirtywater breaks set together for his show, when I came home I still had the records lined up, so I just played it again and recorded it, all in one take. I tried to go with records I haven’t heard on other tapes, because one thing that annoys me is hearing the same breaks on a hundred different tapes. There are so many good records, so much good music, everyone should have different stuff to offer.

I have about 5,000 records I would say, mostly hip hop, jazz, rock, funk/soul. People who see my collection tell me I have a pretty sick Jazz game, and my Hip Hop LP collection is pretty thorough.

Your “Drum Crazy” videos are dope. I like them because the concept behind them is at the roots of hip hop, but still sounds fresh and original. After watchin those videos, our readers might be askin: did you make a mixtape out of them? Where can we found it?

Thanks, I saw a lot of youtube videos with guys playing samples and stuff, but noone was mixing them, so I was like maybe I’ll just throw a quick 4 minute mix of all drums, and from there I made 13 of them, working on 14 right now. It was fun to do. Unfortunately I uploaded a bunch of stuff that was deemed ‘copyright infringement’ so my youtube account got suspended, twice. I’m about to upload them back onto youtube soon though. As far as a mixtape, I might make an all drum mixtape but I don’t have one right now

Which DJs are the champions of cutting drums in your opinion?

I’m not sure about that one, I think Kon & Amir mix the breaks pretty well. I just heard DJ Revolution’s ‘Hi Fidelity mix’ and he cuts a lot of drum records on there real nice.


You said most records you play in the ” Drum Crazy ” videos are rock records with a heavy drum break at the beginning. Did you collect those records only for the break? Or are you into other kinds of music besides hip hop, jazz, funk & soul ?

Some of those records I did buy just for the drums, like The Mickey Mouse Club record isn’t really something you’re gonna let play front to back. But a lot of records that have drum breaks have good music throughout. If I’m going to buy a record just for a drum break, I’ll try to pay less than $5 for it. A lot of rock records have hard open drums, most of the ones on Drum Crazy are rock records.

When I first started digging, all I cared about was buying samples that other people used, I would copy all the sample credits on the linear notes of hip hop LP’s and seek them out (this was before all the info was on the internet). The more I was digging, the more I got into different kinds of music, through researching different sampled artists, you start to appreciate their music, and it opens you up to all genres. I’ve always liked all kinds of music, I could never just sit and listen to hip hop all day every day. Nowadays I try to buy records that I can listen to throughout, and I never look for specific records anymore. I let records come to me.

Which hip-hop era was “the golden age of drum sampling” in your opinion? Which hip hop producers are the best for drums?

People might disagree, but Tribe Called Quest was the best for me as far as how they had their drums sounding. Aside from them, all the usual suspects, Diamond, Pete Rock, Primo, Showbiz, Buckwild, etc., that was my favourite era, early/mid 90’s.

Speaking of hip hop producers, who was the most original in sampling drums? The one that came out with the craziest and unexpected ideas?

Marley Marl is the originator of sampling drums from a different record and adding it onto a sample, so he gets his props. Like I said I always liked the way Tribe Called Quest hooked up their drums, with mad compression, overlaying two different snares and making it pop. Premier had the good drums too, he made all his tracks real bouncey, and he always picked the right drums to flow with the sample. Anyone who made or makes beats utilizing all vinyl gets props from me.

Where did you start collecting records, and when? What was the first record you ever bought?

I started out buying hip hop records mostly from Downstairs records when it was around, Fat Beats when it was on 9th, also a few spots in NJ, this spot called Planet X that was mad overpriced, and Princeton Records had the good deals. The first couple of records I bought were hip hop records, Souls of Mischief 1st LP, De la Soul Breakadawn 12” (around 1994). The record that got me into buying samples and stuff was Grover Washington’s ‘Feels so Good’ LP. It has two samples on it, the sample for Black Moon’s How many MC’s (which was a big record at the time), and a K-Solo/King Tee sample on the other side. A friend of mine had a roommate that collected Jazz records and stuff and he played it for me. I was hooked right there. It was such a good record with two samples, and he bought it for $1!

What’s the most extreme thing you’ve ever done to acquire a record?

One time I saw this guy buying a lot of good records that I wanted, so I waited for him outside the store. When he came out I stabbed him and took his records, shit is mad real. Nah, just playing, haha. I don’t know, probably just paying ridiculous prices for some records, or travelling all over to find them. I’ve been in some pretty dingy, dirty spots for hours trying to find records.

As far as I know you were Djing on Radio a few years ago, tell me more about that. Are you still doing this?

I was doing radio shows in Princeton (for those that know) and New Brunswick (radio ruckus) here in NJ, and I’ve done guest spots on a bunch of others, but I haven’t held it down as a resident since like 2002. I’ll still spin a spot here and there but I’m not really interested in that anymore, I’d rather spin a bar or club and get paid for it. Honestly I’ve lost a lot of interest with the music changing as much as it has, and I still don’t have serato.

Did you use to plan out the music you were going to play on your shows?

Yeah I used to put sets together, whatever was hot that week, or throw it back to some old school, and even do the breaks and samples too.

Tell us about your current and future projects…

I’ve just been working, and soon I’ll be going back to college, so I haven’t had that much time to work on music stuff. I’m working on a hip hop mix, and a mix of all Jazz. Otherwise I’ll be resurrecting old cassette tapes on my blog. I found out about the blog thing last year and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it.

Thanx very much for your time and for hittin us with such good music! Peace

No doubt Marty & Jopparelli, thanks for the support. Let’s keep the real hip hop sound in peoples ears. ez.

Listen to DJ Nes – Make It Funky

In case you did not notice all the links in this post :) :

Check his blog – Dirty Waters, and show him some love!

Check his guest post here @ Musicselections (including an exclusive mixtape)

Check his crazy mix – Dirty Waters Brakes

Check his Drum Crazy Mixtapes Video

8 Comments »

Exclusive Interview with Tony D – Legendary Poor Righteous Teachers Producer

Posted in Hip Hop, Interviews, Our Interviews with tags , , , , on April 13, 2008 by djmp45

Here at Music Selections we are all Italians: if you think about any Italians that made a great contribution to hip hop, it’s really difficult to think of any.

kid-capri1

Some people may come up with Kid Capri (well, he’s half afro-American and half italo-american… but the name says it all and he’s the best mixtape dj ever..) and that’s it (I don’t count local Italian mc’s because all they did was copy American mc’s…).

Well, Kid Capri it’s not the only one in the hip hop history who left an heavy mark on it: have you ever listened to a Poor Righteous Teachers album or Yz ‘s “Thinking Of A Master Plan “? If yes and if you were wondering who produced those gems, here’s the answer: Mr. Tony Depula a.k.a Tony D.

Tony D has produced so many classics and it will take too long to name them all: if you want to know more about him, here’s the interview he kindly agree to do for Music Selections

Dj MP45:First of all, thanks for letting us have this interview. We should start from the beginning: what was your first exposure to hip-hop? I read that you started as a DJ, so which were the songs you were playing at that time?

Tony D: Grandmaster Flash and the Sugarhill stuff but Run DMC and the Def Jam early 12′s really were my favs.

Dj MP45: How did you switch from DJing to production and which equipment were you using when you started?

Tony D: the Mantronik album cover with roland 909 made me go buy one. So back then I had that and a 4 track cassette. ..

Dj MP45: Did you do a lot of crate digging in the past and do you still do it these days?

Tony D: Of course, but the record stores have dried up so it’s more of a challenge. I find myself digging in my own stash more than going out and breakhunting I have gathered so many old records that I still have fresh stock to go through…digger for life.

Dj MP45: Which are your top 5 non-hip hop records?

Tony D: I like the funky people James Brown lp’s, Monk Higgins, Andy Bey, Children of all ages: dope lp!

Dj MP45: Who are other producers that inspired your work and why?

Tony D: Marley Marl: he was the first to samples drums……

Pete Rock : trademark sound with horns and he pioneered the raw remix. .

But Paul C was the best on the SP1200 which I still use today. . . Plus he was ahead of time. . .

Dj MP45: Which songs do you wish you had produced yourself?

Tony D: Give The Drummer Some by Ultramagnetic Mc’s, T.R.O.Y. by Pete Rock and C.L Smooth and DWYCK by Gangstarr

Dj MP45: You produced a lot of politically-charged acts such as Poor Righteous Teachers: were you comfortable with their message or was it just music to you?

Tony D: Sometimes I felt a little odd hearing all the anti-devil stuff but I was pretty much accepted into the hip-hop urban community because I been down since day 1 . . .

Dj MP45: One of my favourite songs you produced is the Blvd Mosse “Move to something funky”: I tried to find more info on this group, but I couldn’t find any: how did you start working with them and do you have any interesting anecdotes about that time?

Tony D: Actually with the explosion of random hip hop, BLVD MOSSE unreleased is in demand as I have other material from them as well as other artists from Trenton that never came out.

I met them in North Trenton. They were from that area where I was already scouting acts.

Dj MP45: Let’s move to the present: what do you think about the state of hip hop at the moment and do you think there are producers who can still carry that flag?

Tony D: It goes up and down. Sometimes I think Hip-Hop’s dead then Kanye or Lupe Fiasco comes out with something dope.

But overall, crunk, bling and gangsta rap have put a dent in the culture of Hip-Hop

Dj MP45: Many thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, it is very much appreciated , I know readers of our blog will be happy to find out that a fellow Italian gave such a great contribution to hip hop.

Tony D: Thanks paisons…peace.

Check out one of his former groups, Crusaders For Real Hip Hop. Dope production here….

Check out also this YZ video… respect for the necklace

…NOW GO TO TONY D MYSPACE AND SHOW HIM SOME LOVE!

24 Comments »