It seems like the format of this series begins with giving some background info. Well I've been DJing and promoting parties in NYC since the early 90s. Over the years I've worked in record stores, as a sales man at a couple of record distribution companies, and was responsible for sales and promotions at a prominent dance record label during the 90s. I currently play around with some remixing or editing of Disco (people liked my Paper Dolls edit on Eskimo records a lot), make mixtapes sometimes (rarely actually), still play gigs around New York very regularly, got to play a couple of gigs in Moscow this NYE, am heading to Norway and maybe Helsinki this Spring for some more gigs, try to record shop as often as possible, go digging when I can, and I run this crazy little blog. I am a music obssesive!
I dug around and unfortunately many of my tapes have been stolen, or lent out and never returned, or ended up in the big clean out I did a few years ago. I'm missing awesome mixtapes like a Kenny Dope/Little Louie Vega mix I used to have. Where are you??? I used to also tape so many radio shows, Evil Dee, Stretch & Bobbito, Enuff, Flex, Tony Humphries etc etc etc. Many times I would record over the same tapes, and eventually wear them out so bad I tossed them.
Of the few I have left, only a handful are visually appealing on some level, or I still have some type of connection with. So here we go...
This Ambassador tape is the center of MUCH controversy! It was stolen so many times and went through so many hands, and I don't even have a clue as to the origin of this tape. I'm pretty sure I got it in 92, and it's even been stolen from me twice, and I got it back both times! From what I eventually heard, this guy is a DJ from Rhode Island, and mostly spins dub/reggae, although this mix is all breaks and funky stuff. There are tons of early edits on here too, like Danny Krivit's Funky Drummer chop up, the History of Hip-Hop Lessons by Double Dee and Steinski etc. This tape has also been repaired more than once! This tape has seens so much drama and action, I only thought it appropriate to give it some shine.
I could be wrong, but I feel like these are the later half of the 90s. Slick production! I've got Kenny Dope's "Favorite Grooves" in there, and two killer mixes by Rob Swift, as well as a live mix from Buck 4(RIP) Rocksteady Crew. These tapes got a lot of action in the cassette decks, and I just couldn't bring myself to toss these during the great clean outs. Killer soul and breaks tapes for the b-boys!
Some LIVE mixes here! Again, I don't even know how I got two of them. One of them is Joeski of the old school House music crew The Chocolate Factory, which were a gang of DJs that would play a great mix of Deep House, with some leftfield stuff thrown in for good measure. Joeski always had a tasteful balance, incredible technical skill, and this mix in particular shines through. It was recorded in 1993 at an illegal underground dance party called B.U.G. (Big Underground Groove) in a former dance studio, and has Robert Owens "I'll be Your Friend" on it. This cassette has been repaired several times as well. Joeski is active as ever working on tribal, latin, and edgey House sounds with his consistently unique style, and runs his Maya record label.Joe Clausell live is distorted and shitty. It is interesting that it somehow ended up i my hands. I don't listen to that tape, and will toss it after this post.
The kicker is a live set from 2000 (we were still using tapes???) of myself and old buddy Brennan Green, at the world famous creepy club, The Limelight. That was a weird gig to play, but we had fun playing in the side room and going deep on them. Brennan eventually released records on Danny Wang's Balihu, runs Chinatown record label, and produces music for current hipster star group Arthur's Landing. Fuck that guy!
Jeno is a British ex-pat that moved to California post UK rave explosion. This mix was a heady mix of deep and trippy House music from the Wicked man himself. He still has a radio show that I recently discovered doing tons of great leftfield dance music, mixed with post punk-dance sort of stuff, rare new wave type of stuff etc. I think the kids call it Cosmic these days, but we just called it House music. This tape in particular had a lot of heads bugging in the dance scene back then. Now if I could only find his tape called "Inspiration" that I used to love, which was a mix of early dance/House records that inspired him on the wheels of steel.
Don't fret, the cheesy shout outs were totally a joke for Nick pepe. The man, the myth, the legend. Some of you may know Nick Pepe, but some of you may not. Nick was always a great DJ from the LI area. I heard him for the first time in 1993 in some Long Island club playing soul/breaks/hip-hop etc. He was and still is always super smooth on the decks. I didn't get a chance to know Nick personally until the mid 90s when I approached him after watching him cut up two copies of 7 Minutes of Funk like butter dripping from his finger tips. We've been cool as hell ever since. There used to be a lot more tapes by Nick floating around, and I remember listening to them in car rides to parties with friends etc, but this is the only one I have in my possession, and it's a killer. A perfect blend of samples, with little sections like DJ Premier sections, Pete Rock sections, Tribe Called Quest etc. Most deeper heads I know in the game have come across Nick somehow, and it's always positive things. He's been around for a long time save for the occasional hiatus, and he is now out and about working with Red Bull and playing parties as Deejay Freqnik.Well I can only dream of those tapes that I once owned that are now long lost, like that killer Cash Money tape, or the Acid House/Italo/New Wave tape from Derrick Carter....
I hope you had fun reading this,
Love On The Run
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