J.Rocc, Mr. Choc, & Rhettmatic of the Beat Junkies visit Soulection Radio & catch up with Joe Kay as they discuss the opening of the Beat Junkie Institute Of Sound as well as getting down on the decks. >>> www.beatjunkiesound.com
** Soulection Radio Shows on Beats 1 are archived here 6 days after they air live on Saturday from 7pm-9pm Pacific**
Today (March 9th) marks the 20th Anniversary passing of Brooklyn’s own The Notorious B.I.G.
Many people will be doing tribute mixes & remixes for one of the greatest rappers of all time. We are lucky to have our good friend, the mixtape king & album producer, Dj J.Period send us some of his special remixes for our record pool.
Make sure to go to www.beatjunkies.com & sign up for our record pool to get these exclusive J.Period remixes as well as edits from Dj Cyberkid, & of course The Beat Junkies.
J.PERIOD x B.I.G. [MARCH 9 20TH ANNIVERSARY DJ PACK]
Description: Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the passing of the greatest rapper of all-time — the late, great Christopher Wallace — J.PERIOD is proud to present the [MARCH 9 20TH ANNIVERSARY DJ PACK], a collection of 20 Notorious B.I.G. classics remixed for club, radio and mixtape DJs… and die-hard Biggie fans everywhere.
Tracks included:
1. Another/Dreamin [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Clean)
2. Benjamins/Things You Do [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Dirty)
3. Big Poppa / Xxplosive [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Clean)
4. Carmina Hates Victory [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Clean)
5. Flava in Ya Ear/PSA [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Dirty)
6. Goin Back to Cali (3 Strikes) [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Dirty)
7. Hypnotize/Coldcut [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Clean)
8. Spread Love (Juicy) [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Clean)
9. In the Limelight (Juicy) [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Clean)
10. Long Kiss Menace [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Dirty)
11. N***az Bleed/Compton’s Most [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Dirty)
12. In The System feat. Jay Electronica [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Exclusive)
13. Three More Chances [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Clean)
14. One More Chance in the Club [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Clean)
15. Queen B Inna Dancehall [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Dirty)
16. Sky’s The Limit [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Dirty)
17. You Be Thinkin (8 Bar Intro) [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Dirty)
18. Youngs Compton Gs [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Dirty)
19. Put Your Notorious Hands [J.PERIOD MARCH 9 REMIX] (Dirty
Our big brother The Magnificent DJ Jazzy Jeff recently collaborated with some of your favorite artist and producers to create an album at his house in 7 days!
When Jazzy Jeff hit’s your line, you make sure to answer the call. This was not your ordinary studio session where the artist has a few months to create and record and release. In the intro video, you hear Jazzy Jeff explaining that they are going to write, produce, record, mix and release a couple days after the completion of the project. R&B artist Glenn Lewis is the albums lead vocalist and will add his flavor to each track!
Jazzy Jeff said that some of the music that is out these days doesn’t give you goosebumps when you hear the track, so the idea of this project is to chase those goosebumps.
Chasing Goosebumps is available now and ready for you to listen and feel those goosebumps.
The Beat Junkies are proud to present 2 NEW Products for all the Scratch DJ’s out there: The Official Beat Junkies “Scratchers Delight” Looper App and Dj Babu‘s “Mini Duck Breaks” Skipless 45 Vinyl!!
The Scratchers Delight Loopers our first official app for the iOS IPhone/IPad that Scratchers can use. 36 Looped Beats by D-Styles, Dj Babu, Dj Melo-D, J.Rocc & Rhettmatic, with -50/+50 Pitch Control. You can download the app for $1.99 at ITunes.
Our 2nd Skipless 45 is the one & only Dj Babu‘s Mini Duck Breaks Skipless 7″ Vinyl just dropped today! All the classic locked scratch loops from the legendary Super Duck Breaks series that you come to love. Only for a limited time; get them at www.beatjunkies.com right NOW!
This 4th of July Weekend is Papi’s Pool Party & BBQ at The Line Hotel in Koreatown (Los Angeles). The Beat Junkies along with some special guests will be providing some tunes during the sunshine while you get your tan & swim on. It’s FREE on Sunday (July 3) from 4-7pm & Monday (July 4) from 12-7pm….Come vibe with the Junkies as they will dropping some dope tunes for you to enjoy! Shoutouts to our boy Chef Roy Choi!
Saturday (June 18th) is a double duty for the Junkies….the 2ND event that’s going down is the Container Yard 2 Year Anniversary, of course, at the Container Yard in Downtown LA. Reppin the crew will be Dj Babu, D-Styles, & Melo-D plus opening set by Dj Bella Fiasco. It’s a 21 & over event from 6-11pm. Enjoy some good Food, Arts, & Music at The Container Yard. For more info & tickets, go to www.thecontaineryard.com/shop/tcy2
Holla at Waju via @EyyWaju
Hopefully some if not all are artists that you can check out, follow and support in the future. If they are published here, it’s because I’ve caught their live shows, older projects and newer ones and feel they’ve put in the work to deserve some shine much like the prior 10 Artists You Should Know posts. Thanks for listening.
Friday, April 29th….The Beat Junkies are doing a special one off party in Downtown LA called “Live & Direct”. Babu, D-Styles, J.Rocc, Melo-D, & Rhettmatic will be throwin down on the decks plus some special guests might come thru. All happening at The Well. Doors from 10pm-2am. Donations $10. Los Angeles, come thru & get down with the Beat Junkie Sound!
Adversity in business, relationships and friendships has always been something I’ve paid attention to. I actually have quite good memories of people watching in many environments. When you’re producing events you get to interact with hundreds of people for very short periods of time for a few hours. Behavioral habits and human nature have always been interesting to me. Luckily, over time my curiosity in this matter has actually paid off by making me a good judge of character, and very rapidly. So this article comes from a near and dear place. Regularly I see friends in art, music, and various lines of business have their ups and downs, highs and lows, get taken advantage of, beaten up, broken down, ripped to shreds, chewed up and spit out. By peers, friends, enemies, frenemies, and any other variation of the sort. The internet has definitely made it easy for people to sound off when they dislike something and want to get their opinion heard (social media, yelp/google+ etc)
We all have them, we know what they are, but here’s a reminder:
“TOP DEFINITION: Hater
A person that simply cannot be happy for another person’s success. So rather than be happy they make a point of exposing a flaw in that person.
Hating, the result of being a hater, is not exactly jealousy. The hater doesn’t really want to be the person he or she hates, rather the hater wants to knock someone down a notch.
Susan: You know, Kevin from accounting is doing very well. He just bought a house in a very nice part of town. Jane (hater): If he is doing so well why does he drive that ’89 Taurus?”
Now it doesn’t matter what world you are living in, what you do for a living, what you’ve done in the past or where you’re going. The one constant besides change, is having haters. You probably don’t have enough of them to be honest. I know that may sound ridiculous, but there is several theories out there proving that how many people are speaking negatively about you, can directly convert to how successful you become. A lot of this has to do with if someone is repurposing the negative energy into positive. To many who don’t take things personally, they understand this kinda bad mouthing or negative critique can be rerouted and serve positive purpose. It’s a lot like PR where someone will take a bad story, and spin it into something good, striking while the hammer is hot and all eyes are on a subject. Most of the industry leading top dogs have their critics. If you’ve ever worked in food service, you understand that you simply can’t please everybody, regardless of how much you want to.
So let’s speed this up and put it into more of a perspective, do you see ‘nobodies’ on the TMZ, Ellen or Jimmy Kimmel reading damaging blows against themselves? No. These people have reached a level of success to a point that their name is on display for the masses, which comes with a lot of positive and negative responses. In business, we’ve got online review platforms like Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google+ encouraging people to sound off on the good, bad and ugly. Which then allows for Reputation Management jobs to come in and do damage control, much like a Manager/PR to a Musician. I’ve made moves in my past that have gotten me ridiculed, in the spot light, and my name and credibility tarnished all over the internet, including being blacklisted by certain people because of them seeing such negative things about me in the headlines. Did that stop me from reaching my goals? starting my own businesses? continuing to follow passion projects and creative projects? Hell, fucking no. It just further emphasized the power of PR, it showed me that if I don’t respond and essentially ignore or let it roll off my back, that eventually it’ll subside. It made me realize that while all the attention is on me, I can do really good things that win back my audience. Luckily, I learned this life lesson at an early age and allowed it to again, teach me the benefits of having people try to create road blocks and obstacles that otherwise wouldn’t be produced, had it not been for the moves I was making. Consumer Reports, Amazon, Rotten Tomatoes, Countless Music Blogs.
We’re constantly regurgitating hate spew. My only qualm is the lack of consistency in the haters. What an incredible waste of time and energy it is to just follow people achieving? Let alone the flipflopping hate where people play both sides of the fence. So here’s where the value in haters lies, outside of being motivational, sometimes they point out flaws or things you may have missed. If someone is clowning on your style, or an outfit – perhaps that ‘hate’ is actually an observation vocalized and pin pointing something you missed? Haters can also help give perspective and insight on weak points of things. I remember a guy was hating on a friend of mine’s music for years through online channels and in person. He made it a point to constantly talk shit, to the point that one time he got his jaw broken, but that’s beside the point. Some of the things this guy was saying while funny or made for satire were actually fucking valid points, imagine that? This hater was mentioning how my friends music wasn’t transparent or aligning with his character. Regardless of being portrayed through lyrical content in albums and songs, certain messages could be received or twisted to show my friend in a poor light, and make him seem to lack authenticity, not be genuine and essentially leave himself open to be called “fake”.
After I brought it up to him in a “maybe he’s right” approach, my friend broke down his past work to current and realized it was true. So, in this example his use of the negative energy, allowed for a positive change to come from something intended to destroy, but instead, allowed him to reroute or detour to greener pastures. A lot of us look at haters as envious, insecure, weak, and fearful. A lot of it stems from a lack of not being able to do the same thing deep down. That means you’re doing something they can’t, or perhaps are scared to even attempt to do. Haters, can also turn into supporters. I used to send my own personal work to people who used to talk shit, over and over til I won them over and the hate turned into love. These people are already attracted or interested in what you do at some capacity, why not challenge them and yourself, and try to convert a hater to a fan/admirer? The difference between the two is really just you going from good to great. Haters also help you gain visibility you otherwise wouldn’t get. See who’s paying attention, and instead of defending yourself or enabling the behavior, talk to some of the people who chime in on a real level and give them alternatives? Maybe they are bandwagon riders and agree in the moment, but that’s because they don’t know of anything else you’ve done or have in the bag. The only way to avoid these people is not doing anything that grabs their attention, sounds fun right? You play it safe and tread lightly on eggshells and thin ice with a cloud above you and behind your back at all times. OR you soar to new heights and make them see you, hear you, and love you. To hate on your music, your art, or your event. They have to actually invest some form of interest, time, and maybe money in order to access it. People buy tickets to Dave Chapelle’s standup so they can hate on Dave Chapelle’s standup, and heckle from the audience. Do you care about a little bump in the road, or making money and having a packed house?
So between the valuable feedback, opinions and critique. To the increased awareness and visibility of your brand (free press), to the potential monetary gain from their interest in you. To even discovering weak parts you didn’t even know existed. I say, bring on the haters. They allow you to learn and grow as an artist and as a person. Just be sure if you are going to ‘hate’ it’s for a just cause and actually valid. Even explain or break down why you are saying what you are saying to further justify and “help” the opposing person or company… That my friends, has lead to me getting paid 250/hr as a consultant, a few thousand a month as a Creative Strategist and Marketing Professional, and much more.
1. They talk a LOT
2. They’re often passionate
3. They tend to be in your market
4. They give you an open invitation to share
5. It’s WAY cheaper than advertising
6. They can make you look good
7. They might be highlighting a grievous error This list comes from an article by: Matt Cumming which lead to me creating this article you’ve read.
Hate it or love it, Don’t let anyone stop you from achieving your dreams.
Now as usual, I know some of you have heard these ( it may have been awhile ) but I feel like the current and future generation of readers don’t get enough of this kinda content, so it’s a great opportunity to bridge the gap in this social media age. Share the wealth 🙂
(can’t find the full album of this, but a very very solid project: Grey Matter: Grey Matter)
Since wordpress makes it difficult to create space in postings sometimes. The people featured above are pretty easy to find online and shouldn’t be slept on:
James Jirat Patradoon / Kadhja Bonet / Suzi Analogue / Faimkills / DJ Morse Code
Step 1. Don’t be MeekMill or Stacey Dash. (joking)
These days, the internet has become one of the most instrumental, and sometimes detrimental building blocks for success. Although a big obstacle for many is learning how to navigate the landscape and figuring out the most effective methods of getting what you want, to who you want with the least amount of resistance for the lowest cost and the fastest, whew… Sounds like fun, right? At least, the ever-changing environment of what channels we use to distribute our content keeps things fresh, and requires us to be aware of new platforms to quickly adapt to for that ‘edge’ being first to: myspace>facebook>tumblr>soundcloud>twitter>bandcamp>instagram>snapchat>????? – After years of blogging, consulting, doing PR and producing events – I still have to keep my finger on the pulse of most outlets in order to know what’s best for the artists and brands that I work with and represent. That said, I’m going to share some advice below that should assist you in reaching the goals mentioned above as the title of this is how to get heard by who you want, which is synonymous w/getting what you want.
1. Ethics & Integrity – Are fundamental and part of the basics to this whole thing. Think about the impressions you leave with people, whether that be communicated via email, in person, or even on social media. Your online persona could be just your ‘way of expressing yourself’ or feel more vocal about things, but you have to remember that it’s all a reflection of you. Much like recording over someones production without asking permission from the original producer or creating a remix to something then pushing it as if it was requested just to ride the wave of the popular artist who’s original song is getting play. Common sense plays a big role in a lot of this, but if I have to explain that then I’m wasting your time and my own. Try your best to maintain artistic integrity – if an opportunity arises that doesn’t change the alignment of your direction, branding, presentation and fabric that holds your product unique. by all means – go for it. Although, on the b-side if you’ve got wavering ethics or conceptual integrity it can be seen from a mile away and that may prevent some people from connecting with you on a business or personal level alongside turning your audience away because you weren’t true to what you might do or say. ex: The hip-hop head who starts to experiment with other genres (Which is completely fine) or worse, the hypocrite who outs themselves on and off record.
2. Trim The Fat – Keep correspondence short, nobody needs your life story. From your bio to your press kit, to your messages for collaboration or even attempts to volunteer or get involved with things bigger than yourself. KISS ( keep it simple, stupid ) being short and straight-forward in correspondence and requests will make it easier for the recipients to respond quickly in a similar manner. No means no, but months or years later could mean yes. As long as you keep it short.
3. No More Parties In LA – LA and NY are meccas of culture, entertainment, fashion, music and art. People come here on a 30-day to make it plan and either burn through everything they have and go back home or they make moves strategically and do things right so they can live off of their craft almost immediately. Then there’s the 9-5’er or freelancer who supplements their income with a balance til they are doing what they love full-time. Anyway you cut it, I think another important part of getting heard by the right people ( or at least, who you want to listen ) does require the legwork of going out and networking. There are several websites that will tell you what’s going on in your city at any given moment, and each one is a gateway drug to more events, much like flyergum that ends up on your mirror/dash after a party… I’m not suggesting you street perform or start soliciting people while you barista or wait tables. On the contrary, I do tell people to create a calendar of events that they go to each month that are beneficial to what they are doing and where they are trying to go. There’s so many different groups and demographics of people to reach, and you only have so much time and money to do such. Going out on a decently consistent basis allows you to see performance spaces and other shows in which you’ll potentially be interested in performing at, gain inspiration from and again – spread your art among the masses. You can drop your music with event coordinators, promoters, venue owners, talent bookers, deejays, and other people of potential importance when you’re checking out the nightlife as well.
4. Sampling – If you’re seeking placement or licensing situations, be smart about your sample usage. Unless you have the money to pay for clearance, most of the time that amazing track of yours is going to require a lot of additional work and money to have actual use. It sucks, but it’s part of the game and a very expensive, time consuming one at that. Try to create original compositions so your work is original and has more flexibility, thus allowing you more opportunities in where it can take you. Otherwise, seek the originators of that music, request permission to repurpose their work and who knows – you may not only get their approval but several additional stems and pieces to work with. Dare I say, sometimes it works out that if they like what you put out there, you can collaborate with them on an official level because of a mutual respect or interest. There’s no better feeling then after years of trying to work with a certain someone, them finally responding to you and inviting you to meet up and build. Most of the guys and girls I’ve wanted to work with almost 10 years ago, I’ve now done shows or projects with and consider friends today.
5. Presentation & Packaging – If it looks like garbage, and smells like garbage, it might possibly be garbage, or at least that’s the place it will end up if your presentation isn’t on point. The easiest way I’ve found to clean up your presentation is working with a designer who’s actually into what you create. Someone who would be excited, and benefit from working with you and creating for you. I can’t even count on both hands and feet how many designs I’ve done for free that I call “portfolio” to make myself feel better about not being compensated for them, only to have them start hiring me when their money was right. It was all original work for artists who I believed in, and little did I know would be moving mountains several years later and remember my efforts in supporting them. This is a good reminder of how things you do in the past, can help you in the future. Working with the same people creates a good synergy, relationship and creates consistency in your branding. If everyone’s on the same page, you’ll gain some form of identity from this and it’ll benefit you tenfold as opposed to hopping around with every photographer, video guy, designer and stylist you meet. Last note on this, keep in mind what I said about trimming the fat, because this also applies to overproducing or going too-minimal with your work (whether art or music). There is a happy middle ground which you should hopefully reach.
6. Submissions – Unless it’s a very small mb file, do not attach files to emails that you’re sending out to labels, blogs, promoters and more. Nothing is worse then being on the receiving end and finding out someone just left an elephant on your doorstep that you didn’t ask for and now you’ve gotta call up a moving company, wasting time and money to move it so your important packages can arrive. Always be mindful of your recipient, this includes how many paragraphs that will be ignored inside of your email. You’ll have a higher success rate on having your hail mary passes reach the end zone if you consolidate and simplify what you’re trying to say. If the goal is to just have someone hear your music on the other end, make it as easily accessible as possible – no download links, no attachments, god forbid you have to sign-up to some new service to get to it. Just simply upload it on a platform where the person clicks once, doesn’t need to be logged in, and they end up at the file with a functional Play & Stop button with volume control and leave the rest in their hands. It’s really that easy, and if you’re not getting a response from said bloggers, editors and more – they are either too busy, not interested, or you need to change your approach.
7. Unique Approach – In a perfect world, a great idea or solid product would just fly on its own and create an abundance of wealth and opportunity for the creator of such things so they could reinvest in themselves. Unfortunately, we don’t live in that world and everything requires a solid gameplan because there’s levels to this sh*t. Having a unique approach will definitely help you get what you want as this shows you’ve thought outside of the box, and managed to think differently in how you present yourself, product or service. A few years back I had 2 friends ask me to redo their resumes. I asked them what they wanted to do, why, and what makes them think they are the most suited for the job. Both answered all the questions with confidence and with enough good reasons for me to move forward. Little did they know, if I didn’t feel like it would be sensible, I would’ve told them my opinion and suggested they work with someone else out of respect for their time and my own. One resume was for a new luxurious bespoke cocktail bar opening that would be extremely difficult to get into and had practically a 12 step hiring process. The other was for one of the biggest music festivals worldwide that happens annually in SoCal. For the bartender, we sat down and analyzed all the collateral the bar had released through press and media outlets. We took a screenshot of their menu, names of their drinks, their color schemes, and the overall idea/concept that they were sharing and integrated all of this into a resume. Her resume looked exactly like their menu, and had unique accents and design elements that were deemed clever or witty, ex: instead of where the bars website, address and phone number were, it had her contact information/Website/LinkedIn. She printed this on a thicker resume cardstock similar to a diploma and delivered it to this bar. From the moment they received it, others were called into the room to check it out, surprised and excited to see the efforts put in by this potential candidate to get the job. The story gets deeper, but to summarize – she got the job for being different and unique in her approach. Against hundreds of people trying to get the same position before and after her. It was this, that paved the way for her to stand out and gain the attention of the audience ( getting heard by who you want ). While the other person I mentioned was applying to Coachella and basically had me create an entire promotional kit with backpack, shirts, stickers, flyers, a poster, lanyard and more all with personalized/flipped-Coachella branding, so instead of any of their details, it had his resume and credentials. This included a flyer with him playing every stage lol… Instead of sending it off to Goldenvoice, he actually ended up taking it with him to an interview in Hollywood, CA for an advertising agency and got hired almost on the spot. I can give a few other examples that I was involved with things like this in music/art etc but I absolutely encourage anyone to push the limit on creative application and distribution of themselves. This includes when you are producing Cassettes, Vinyls, CD’s and more.
8. Working In Reverse – This is sometimes a good process to accomplishing goals, I’ve done this a few times when assembling press kits and reworking resumes. As another example, there was an artist a few years ago that approached me about wanting to get on a festival. I looked at their guidelines for submission, who the headliners were, the openers, the region, and had to work in reverse to tear it all down to step 1 of what would give this girl the best shot at getting picked up for it. I started with the region, where she had already done many shows in the area with some of the biggest names that came into town fitting for her genre of music, so it was easy to make a list of these venues and shows she’s played, alongside the likes of who she performed with. That built value in her potentially bringing more attendees/promotion/ticket buyers to the festival due to familiarity. I continued to roll down their lists of steps required to get “on” and looked at anything else that would give her an edge when applying. When we worked through all of those, it was a matter of how we served up her introduction email, organized the rest of her content to be most fitting for the acts performing and type of festival (omitting tracks that didn’t make sense or wouldn’t be of interest, and pushing the ones that were/would be instead ). We were even so detailed to change the photos on her press kit out to show a different side and that she’s rocked stages with thousands in the crowd before instead of the smaller venue, intimate, candid shots she had there prior. The list goes on and I’m sure you get the idea, but long story short – she got booked/paid because she had the basics down, but also learned how to tailor her pitch, after deconstructing the event and making a roadmap to reach her intended destination and audience.
9. Good People Are Hard To Find. – From managers, editors, event producers, curators, bloggers, and more. When you find people who genuinely appreciate what you say, do, and the direction you’re going. Don’t fuck up by letting them vanish, and don’t push them away with an ego. Everyone is trying to be the best they can be in their field, and who knows what their long term goals are. Some people you’ll work with from the start of their career and find helping you out a decade later just based on your consistency in being dedicated to your craft and humble in your ways. Others you’ll show a little bit of promise to, they’ll spot it early on and they will ride for you til the wheels fall off opening doors along the way. It may not be fun to weather the storm over and over again, but that persistence and patience pays off most of the time if you aren’t making the same mistakes ( not to mention it helps end the cycles of factory farmed creatives with mass distributed content that’s unhealthy clickbait, fodder and fluff distracting people from actually being productive). Build your team wisely and keep it thorough.
10. Asking. – They say a closed mouth doesn’t get fed, but an open one can potentially get smacked for saying the wrong thing. Be tactful in your choice of words, especially if you don’t know who you’re talking to. I know people who blame being introverted or anti-social to their lack of success in their industry when realistically it’s a matter of them not speaking up and asking for what they want. So instead of getting the help they need or want, they’ll bitch and complain about it (which also, has the same result) until they give up entirely or fall into some mental sickness like depression. Asking questions, gets answers and people like to talk. Don’t be afraid to do some outreach and remember, what’s the worst that can happen, they say no? or there’s no answer? Note, Please & Thank You still work in whatever year it is that you’re reading this article and last but not least. Don’t be an askhole, you’ll never get what you want if you continually ask for advice and then do the opposite, people notice and they remember. Asking is better then assuming, and that it’s better to ask for forgiveness then permission thing is definitely bullshit. That means you ‘assumed” the outcome of your question, and decided to do something because you weren’t strong enough to pose your request properly enough to get the results you desired, that shit is wack. Learn how to communicate better and you’ll see that most things aren’t as difficult as you think. Lastly, don’t name drop unless that person will vouch for you, it’s not going to give you any points if you’re lying, and if someone like myself decides to do a verification text. “xyz says he knows you, and you’ve worked together, is he cool? ” and the results come back negative, you just blacklisted yourself with 2 people at once…
So that about covers it, I hope you learned something new or found some tips within that will help you reach your goals in whatever it is that you’re aspiring to be or do.
Sir Anderson – Just stumbled across this guy the other day per a friends mention on the internet and low and behold, I dug his stuff and like magic – he’s now featured here. Maybe next time I mention him I’ll have a lot more to say because I’ll actually have met him 🙂 check out David’s work below:
He’s on the right path with his mixed media work and I feel like it’ll only get better and better, so continue to check his page out and show some support (not to mention, his work at the moment is pretty reasonable)https://www.facebook.com/artofsiranderson
Doc Illingsworth – I’ve listened to this guy for years and always really dug his versatile sounds and constant interest in kinda bringing something different to the table. I feel like Detroit takes hip-hop seriously and you can hear it infused into most of the creations from that city. Illingsworth I used to feature on StrictlyBeats and also pass his music along to friends who may have no heard of detroit cydi, him and ErikL. I want to say since 2006′ I’ve seen him reach new heights and recently saw him kill it out here at Low End Theory, alongside several other platforms that have given him some positive light. Humble cat, deserves what he gets and I hope he continues to push the ante with a quality sound that’s undeniable. Hopefully someday he can find that “illonthehunt instrumental’ for me 🙂
Linafornia – I have a big heart when it comes to seeing people go from tragedy to triumph and Linafornia is definitely someone whom I feel can give you that story. In Los Angeles, she’s quietly made waves in the scene that she’s supported mutually for years on nights and weekends. I feel like I’ve physically been to the same events with her at least 100x now and she’s always shown love to anyone and everyone who reciprocates and deserves it. I don’t wanna get into her car accident and story or too deep into detail in regards to how amazing this girl is but I do want you to know she’s a real one and you can hear it in her music, which realistically only started surfacing in the past year or so. In a short period of time she’s garnered attention from our Bananas crew to Beat Cinema, Low End Theory, RUN and more. Great sample selections, unique change-ups, cut points, loops and mixture of lo-fi and high-end sounds to make you zone out, as I’ve done when having the pleasure of catching a set, or rapping on it. Her debut album “YUNG” comes out Jan 22nd, 2015, keep your eyes peeled and follow her through social media.
https://www.facebook.com/1linafornia
Zack Sekoff – Started listening to this guy back when he lived in LA (he may be back now), next thing I knew he disappeared to go to school on the east coast, and I had a CD of his that I played until I couldn’t anymore… Heard about him through the grapevine of the beat scene, and our LA underground community, he was also close to peers like Speak, Westside Ty/Beeper King, and many others. This dudes musicianship is nuts and one can only assume he’s continued to progress and impress. He’s been quiet for quite some time now but steadily working under the radar to produce big sounds that boast his talents across many styles and formats. Zack’s won plenty of competitions, worked with the likes of Thundercat, Austin Peralta, KCRW’s Anthony Valadez, and a slew of others. His diversity is endless and I think without sounding like a total fanboy I should just let you decide for yourself.
He’s got a new album coming out soon, I highly suggest following him on Soundcloud & Twitter. Remnants of a Winter Sun” out 1/15
Bryson Tiller – Bryson Djuan was born on January 2, 1993, in Louisville, Kentucky. His mother died when he was four years old. He has three siblings. Tiller started receiving massive internet attention from music industry insiders with his breakout single “Don’t”, which he originally released on his SoundCloud page. Early co-signs from record producer Timbaland and Canadian rapper/singer Drake led to major label attention for Tiller, with him eventually choosing to sign a creative partnership with RCA Records. Announced on August 25, 2015 : T R A P S O U L debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200. Talking about his musical style, Tiller said, “It’s just trap and hip hop-influenced R&B, the perfect marriage between hip hop and R&B.” Tiller has cited American singer Omarion as his biggest influence. Other influences include R. Kelly, The-Dream, Lil Wayne, Chris Brown and Drake. Critics have compared Tiller’s style to Jeremih, Drake, Ty Dolla Sign and Tory Lanez. Keep an eye on him, because his promise continues to show through his consistency. I mean fuck… he’s already reached over 30 million plays on more then 3 of his songs/videos, not bad at 22 years old. Here’s a few great joints:
That’s All 🙂
-SPIV / Eric Spivak
Feel free to reach out and ask me any questions directly via:
Hueman – Allison Torneros, known as Hueman, is an Oakland-based graffiti artist and painter.Her best-known works include a Nike-commissioned portrait of Kobe Bryant, a mural for P Diddy’s Revolt TV office and “Ritual”, a 9-day, free-styled, floor-to-ceiling mural installation in a 5,000 sq foot warehouse space. In 2013, Hueman was one of the first artists commissioned to paint a mural after Los Angeles lifted its street art ban. Her biggest canvas to date has been a 90-foot wall at San Francisco’s Ian Ross Gallery. In May 2014, Hueman was named one of LA Weekly’s People of the Year and was featured on a limited-edition cover of the issue.
In 2015, she and Daniela Rocha, founder of Rocha Art, curated Wander and Wayfare, which featured murals painted around San Francisco by eight female street artists, as well as a gallery art show. The event “will be an annual exhibition and mural festival that plans to brighten the future of the San Francisco art scene.” In July, she also participated in the second annual series of Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans, organized by PangeaSeed in Cozumel, Mexico. Hueman’s latest solo exhibition Just One Moment runs September 19, 2015 through October 10, 2015 at Mirus Gallery in San Francisco.
Hueman’s signature style includes bright colors and elements of abstract portraiture. Her work has been described as a product of “free association.” “Drawing first abstractly and without a definite idea, she will return to the work several times and refine images she sees in the primary, elemental composition.”
The name “Hueman” comes from the feelings she had after starting to paint murals for the first time. In a profile in Juxtapoz, she states,”I began painting murals after a dark period in my life when I felt like there was nothing left to lose, and when I painted big for the first time, it was like a light switch turned on. Once I got out of my studio and onto the street, I was using my entire body to paint, I was talking to people, I was collaborating, I was in the sun. I felt alive again. I literally felt human. That’s where the name Hueman comes from.”
Since street art is a medium notoriously dominated by men, Hueman is especially notable as a female breakthrough artist. Hueman graduated from the University of California Los Angeles in 2008 with a degree in Design & Media Arts. She is Filipino American.
Kamasi Washington – is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, production editor and band leader. Washington is mainly known for his tenor playing. Washington was born in Los Angeles, California, United States, to musical parents and educators, and was raised in Inglewood, California. He is a graduate of the Academy of Music of Alexander Hamilton High School (Los Angeles) in the Beverlywood neighborhood. Washington next enrolled in UCLA’s Department of Ethnomusicology. There, he began playing with numerous faculty members such as Kenny Burrell, Billy Higgins and band leader and trumpeter Gerald Wilson and released the Young Jazz Giants album in 2004. He has since played along with a musically diverse group of musicians including Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock,Horace Tapscott, Gerald Wilson, Lauryn Hill, Nas, Snoop Dogg, George Duke, Chaka Khan, Flying Lotus, Francisco Aguabella, the Pan Afrikaan Peoples Orchestra and Raphael Saadiq. Washington played saxophone on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and released a solo album, The Epic in 2015.
Syd – Sydney Bennett, known by her stage name as Syd tha Kyd or more recently Syd[2] (born April 23, 1992) is a singer, producer and DJ from Crenshaw, Los Angeles, California.[3] She is one of the main producers in Odd Future and a singer, producer and mixer in the neo soul group The Internet with Matt Martians. She is the main producer for Odd Future rapper Mike G and the older sister of Odd Future member Travis “Taco” Bennett.
Growing up in a musical family influenced Bennett’s interest in music. Her mother aspired to be a DJ and her uncle is a reggae producer out of Jamaica. As she explained, “I began wishing I could take credit for some of my favorite songs. That was when I started to make my own – I only began singing on my own songs when I really started writing.” When Bennett was 14, she built a small music studio in her home and worked on sound engineering before getting into production.
For the first half of her high school years, Syd attended Palisades Charter High School. Bennett felt left out and had few friends at Palisades and moved to the Hamilton Music Academy, which she considered a more open-minded school. Syd began making music while she was still living with her parents. Syd’s stage name was given to her by her big brother, Ty, as a kid. After growing out of it, she reclaimed the name when she joined Odd Future. Most of the group’s original songs were recorded in Syd’s house, also known as “The Trap”.
Thundercat –Stephen Bruner, better known by his stage name Thundercat, is an American multi-genre bass player, producer and singer from Los Angeles, California. He has released three solo albums, and is most noted for his work with producer Flying Lotus, and crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies. Recently, he appeared on Kendrick Lamar’s critically acclaimed 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly. Born into a family of musicians, Bruner began playing the bass at an early age: by 15 he had a minor hit in Germany as a member of the boy band No Curfew. A year later he joined his brother Ronald Jr. as a member of the Los Angeles metal band Suicidal Tendencies, replacing former bass player Josh Paul.
Along with his band duties Bruner is also a session musician, acclaimed for his work on Erykah Badu’s New Amerykah (2008) and Flying Lotus’ Cosmogramma (2010). He released his first solo album in 2011, The Golden Age of Apocalypse, which featured production from Flying Lotus, and was influenced by 1970s fusion artists such as Stanley Clarke and George Duke. The next two years saw a return to the recording studio with fellowBrainfeeder artist Flying Lotus, with contributions to the Lotus’s Until the Quiet Comes (2012) and You’re Dead! (2014), and the release of Thundercat’s second album Apocalypse (2013).
Bruner has been described as being a major contributor to and “at the creative epicenter” of Kendrick Lamar’s critically acclaimed album To Pimp a Butterfly.
Flying Lotus – Steven Ellison, known by his stage name Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an experimental multi-genre music producer, electronic musician, DJ and rapper from Los Angeles, California. Flying Lotus has released five studio albums—1983 (2006), Los Angeles (2008), Cosmogramma (2010), Until the Quiet Comes (2012) and You’re Dead! (2014)—to increasing critical acclaim. He has produced much of the bumper music on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming block. He also contributed remixes for fellow Plug Research artists including Mia Doi Todd.
In 2012, Ellison began rapping under the persona Captain Murphy, based on the Sealab 2021 character of the same name. Ellison kept this fact a secret for several months, finally revealing his identity several weeks after the release of his first rap mixtape, Duality.
On November 15, 2012, Captain Murphy started a website and posted a 34-minute video titled “Duality” that featured his music as well as archived cult footage and lilfuchs-produced animation. The video album was to be named Du∆lity. He then began hinting at a deluxe version with separated tracks, bonus tracks and instrumentals. On November 28, Murphy released the deluxe version for download, along with the launch of a merch line. The mixtape was released with separate artwork for each track, created by lilfuchs.
On the night of the deluxe version release, Murphy played his first show at the Low End Theory in Los Angeles, California. He performed his set in a cloak to conceal his identity, but towards the end of the show, he revealed himself to be Flying Lotus.
Recently, Captain Murphy has released singles including “Between Villains” with collaborations from other musicians. Flying Lotus has been planning to release a rap album as Captain Murphy but its release has been delayed. So far multiple tracks have been recorded with stars including Kendrick Lamar.
*Most materials cited from public domain sites / https://www.wikipedia.org
Kehinde Wiley – Los Angeles native and New York based visual artist, Kehinde Wiley has firmly situated himself within art history’s portrait painting tradition. As a contemporary descendent of a long line of portraitists, including Reynolds, Gainsborough, Titian, Ingres, among others, Wiley, engages the signs and visual rhetoric of the heroic, powerful, majestic and the sublime in his representation of urban, black and brown men found throughout the world.
By applying the visual vocabulary and conventions of glorification, history, wealth and prestige to the subject matter drawn from the urban fabric, the subjects and stylistic references for his paintings are juxtaposed inversions of each other, forcing ambiguity and provocative perplexity to pervade his imagery.
Wiley’s larger than life figures disturb and interrupt tropes of portrait painting, often blurring the boundaries between traditional and contemporary modes of representation and the critical portrayal of masculinity and physicality as it pertains to the view of black and brown young men.
Initially, Wiley’s portraits were based on photographs taken of young men found on the streets of Harlem. As his practice grew, his eye led him toward an international view, including models found in urban landscapes throughout the world – such as Mumbai, Senegal, Dakar and Rio de Janeiro, among others – accumulating to a vast body of work called, “The World Stage.”
The models, dressed in their everyday clothing most of which are based on the notion of far-reaching Western ideals of style, are asked to assume poses found in paintings or sculptures representative of the history of their surroundings. This juxtaposition of the “old” inherited by the “new” – who often have no visual inheritance of which to speak – immediately provides a discourse that is at once visceral and cerebral in scope.
Without shying away from the complicated socio-political histories relevant to the world, Wiley’s figurative paintings and sculptures “quote historical sources and position young black men within the field of power.” His heroic paintings evoke a modern style instilling a unique and contemporary manner, awakening complex issues that many would prefer remain mute.
Kelela – is an American singer and songwriter. Her 2013 debut mixtape, Cut 4 Me, earned praise from music critics and contemporaries such as Solange Knowles and Björk, and was listed in various publication’s year-end lists. Seeking to make the mixtape sound like a remix album, Kelela added her own vocals over instrumental tracks by DJs from Fade to Mind and Night Slugs.
A first-generation Ethiopian American, Kelela was born in Washington, D.C., grew up in Gaithersburg, Maryland and graduated from Magruder High School in 2001. She has been based in Los Angeles since 2010. After transferring from Montgomery College to American University, Kelela began singing jazz standards at cafés.In 2008, she joined an indie band called Dizzy Spells and tried to sing progressive metal after meeting Tosin Abasi, whom she later dated.
Having moved to Los Angeles, Kelela connected with Teengirl Fantasy and contributed to the group’s 2013 album Tracer on the song “EFX”, which led her to meet Prince William from the label Fade to Mind.He introduced her to the sound of the record label and its sister imprint from London, Night Slugs, which Spin has described as “one of the most distinctive sounds in U.K. dance music, a mutable hybrid of grime, house, electro, R&B, techno, hip hop, and dubstep.”In May 2013, she appeared on Kingdom’s “Bank Head”, and five months later released her mixtape Cut 4 Me for free. Harriet Gisbone of The Guardian has described the album as “an experiment for the production team, the first time the production crew had used vocals on their club tracks.” In March 2014, Kelela was featured in Bok Bok’s song “Melba’s Call” for his new EP.
On March 3, 2015, Kelela announced the forthcoming release of her Hallucinogen EP with a video for the project lead track “The Message”, produced by Arca (who’s also produced for FKA Twigs).
Elaquent – Canadian-based producer Elaquent is certainly no rookie in the thriving beat scene. Known for his smooth, soulful style; his off-kilter, neck-break beats; and his obsession with Batman and Sega Genesis, Elaquent is finally beginning to reach his full potential. Elaquent, or “eQ” as he is also known by, has been making his mark on the independent beat scene in a big way over the last few years, with a large discography of well received instrumental albums. Since the ninth grade, eQ has been mastering his production techniques, creating a sound uncommon to the crop of other local producers. Citing J Dilla and DJ Premier as some of his earliest influences, eQ has become much of a fan favorite among beat afficionados in Toronto. After a string of successful releases, including “The Scenic Route” , “Green Apples and Oranges”, and most recently, “Good Karma”, eQ has taken his show on the road, armed with his trusty SP-404sx loaded full of beats. Having toured all around the United States and many parts of Europe, eQ shows no signs of slowing down. Signed to HW&W Recordings (based out of Los Angeles), the prolific producer is already planning a number of albums, live shows and collaborations. Needless to say, Elaquent is on the come-up. Video Interview with the man himself:
For more on Elaquent, you can check out his Social Media pages, bandcamp/soundcloud or website: elaquent.com
Mick Jenkins – On January 13, Mick released his first mixtape, The Mickstape. In August 2012, he Released his second mixtape entitled The Pursuit of HappyNess: The Story of Mickalascage.Listed producers include After The Smoke, Swisha House, Chris Calor, Quincy Banks, Chuck Inglish, Vanilla, and Dijon.
In the Fall of 2012, Mick returned to Chicago and began attending YCA (Young Chicago Authors) a youth center where his first a cappella verse caught the attention of local artist and leader of Chicago’s Pivot Gang collective, Saba. Shortly after, the two collaborated on Heaux for Saba’s 2012 mixtape GETCOMFORTable. Jenkins is a member of a hip-hop group called Free Nation. Other members include Prop, J-Stock, Burman, and Maine The Saint. Free Nation promotes creative thought without accepting narrow views imposed by the powers that be. This group believes that when you find a way to combat the status quo, you are free.
In April 2013, Mick released a mixtape entitled Trees and Truths. It quickly became a local favorite, buoyed by acid jazz-influenced production, biblical allegory and lacerating lyricism. The project was by far his most lyrical body of work and caught the attention of Chicago’s incipient gatekeepers. A few months after its release, a collaboration with Chance The Rapper and Vic Mensa came in the form of a single entitled Crossroads, which received attention and praise.
2014 – July 2015: The Water[s] & Tours
In July 2014, Mick received significant attention after the release of his single/visual Martyrs, which juxtaposed harsh societal truths with a catchy hook. The thought-provoking single held various underlying messages and subtle notions. Martyrs has led people such as Timbaland, among others, to reach out and praise Jenkins for his musical talent and intricate lyricism. Mick continues to find creative ways to convey his message and on August 12 released his project The Water[s] which has garnered national attention. Centered on the idea of comparing water to life’s truths, The Water[s] serves as Jenkins’ breakout project and has received much critical acclaim. Shortly after releasing the project, Jenkins announced he would be touring during the fall on the 2014 Smoker’s Club World Wide Roller’s Tour along with Method Man, Redman, B-Real, Trademark da Skydiver, and Berner. He had his first official tour in February 2015 with Kirk Knight,Noname Gypsy and Saba Pivot. He was on tour with Joey Bada$$ and Denzel Curry for Phase 1 of their World Domination Tour.
On July 20, 2015, Mick Jenkins announced an EP titled Waves, which was released on August 21, 2015.Mick Jenkins began streaming his new project in full via NPR’s First Listen on August 13, 2015. Wave[s] is the follow up to Jenkins’ critically acclaimed 2014 mixtape, The Water[s]. For Wave[s], Mick continues to keep the collaborators confined to those within his inner circle. The project features the likes of Sean Deaux, Saba, and TheMind. Mick will also be North American tour with French producer STWO from the end of August through the beginning of October.
Teeko – While Teeko’s notoriety over the last decade may come from his superhuman Turntablist repertoire — DMC, ITF and Guitar Center champion, co- creator of the Vestax Controller One, recording for Mark Ronson, D’Angelo and others, his creative prowess naturally extends to his work as a keyboardist, writer and producer. He has also received accolades by the world-renowned Berklee School of Music in Boston, receiving the Milestones Innovative Producer’s Award. Teeko has also been recognized by the prestigious Monterey Jazz Festival, being the first DJ/Turntablist invited to perform. In recent years, he has teamed up with acclaimed fellow bay area producer B.Bravo to form the modern bass/funk outfit, Starship Connection. Hitting festivals across the country bringing new elements of live performance in the electronic music scene. His recent culmination of skills on synths, turntables and production have taken his live sets to new hights including several exciting collaborations with Dj Craze, Salva, Dj A-trak, Ruckazoid and more. All in all, the man is at one with his art, no matter what his device his sound continues to take exciting new shapes while effortlessly blowing minds and breaking necks.
“Teeko is a constant innovator, one of the rare DJs who pushes boundaries of what turntables can do musically.”
– DJ A-trak
(Fools Gold / Duck Sauce)
“Look, it’s not like I am trying to get free tickets…”
It was the afternoon of the show. I couldn’t believe I was having this conversation this late in the day.
“I already got tickets. All I need to do is get close to the stage for a few songs so I can snap some decent pics of Kraftwerk and help them promote their 3D tour.” I insisted.
Obligatory rewind… Before this phone call, it was my best week ever. In the same few days I got handed the keys to my dream job of blogging for the best DJ crew on the planet, my friend Blum won 2 tickets to see Kraftwerk’s live 3D tour by the sheer virtue of being the 10th caller.
Now, these two rights cannot possibly make a wrong, so I planned on taking advantage of the alignment of my stars by combining the two and making my first write up a live concert review on the legendary beat smiths from Germany.
“I’m sorry, but please understand that it is not my decision.” The Publicity Director of the venue went on.
“I relayed your press pass request on to Kraftwerk’s people and unfortunately, they declined. Apparently they only grant access to their own small group of people for publicity photos.”
Lesson one: Sometimes it doesn’t matter who you blog for or what name you drop, because sometimes they have “their own people.” To quote Flava Flav in the aptly titled Can’t Do Nuttin’ For Ya Man, “That’s the way the ball bounces, Gee!”
Still, it surprised me. The Beat Junkies’ and Kraftwerk’s fans are in the same sphere of influence, so you would think it would be in their best interest to get free publicity photos that capture the scope of the show shared online.
Regardless, for the sake of my lifetime of sheer respect for Kraftwerk, I choose to believe that it was not a decision made by actual members of the group. I’m sure I got a “no” from of one of their overpaid marketing yes-men instead.
“Hey, don’t worry about it man!” my boy JudY BlumE assured me.
“At least now we can let loose and you don’t have to be the nerdy, sober cameraman blocking everyone’s view.”
He was right, now I didn’t have to be the professional, I could just be myself, a fan of the music, and I could enjoy watching history unfold in front of me. After all, it’s not often I get a chance to see the living legends Kraftwerk performing live.
“Yeah, I know.” I sighed. “Except now there’s no chance of us hooking up with any 70 year old German Kraftwerk groupies.”
He snickered but I think he was a little disappointed about that. Blum (nicknamed Judy) is the kind of beer snob who has an unhealthy curiosity towards much older German women.
I added optimistically, “At least now I can see if maybe they will sign my 7″ Kraftwerk picture disc, and that would make it all worth it.”
So I hit the road to Blum’s apartment in the Twin Cities for a night of Kraftwerk, beer drinking and nightclubbing knowing the next day, as a bonus, I could hit up the local Minneapolis record stores for a little crate digging.
After a few craft beers with ironic names at Judy’s filthy bachelor pad, he hailed Uber, and we were off on the beginning of what would turn out to be a dramatic plot twist of an evening.
Who the hell is Kraftwerk?
“We’re going to see Kraftwerk tonight! Can you believe that!?” I proudly announced to the Uber cabby.
“Who?” he asked.
We were almost at our destination, and there’s no short answer to that question. How does one describe Kraftwerk in a few words and do it justice to one unfamiliar with their indelible mark?
So I switched tactics. “Well, do you like Hip Hop?”
“Yes, of course! I really like Old School Hip Hop!” he answered.
“Well, then if you’ve heard Afrika Bambaataa’s Planet Rock, you’ve basically heard Kraftwerk.”
“Who?” he asked.
…
“You can drop us off right here by this bar, thanks!” I answered.
I realize I sound like an elitist music-snob dick describing this conversation, but gimmie a friggen break already! You do not like old school Hip Hop if you don’t know Planet Rock. Sorry, but what it is.
“I’m not sure why you let that get to you man. Everyone I told about winning the tickets asked who Kraftwerk is.” Judy casually mentioned as we stepped inside the first bar of the evening.
“Unacceptable!” I glared. “This is why you need better friends.”
“Oh, you mean like you??” he sneered with his now punchable face.
Kraftwerk 3D from the Nosebleed Section
After a few Surly Furious brews we were finally at that happy medium state and we figured the opening band for Kraftwerk must be done playing by now, so we started walking to the venue. We discovered this was yet another false presumption about the night; there was no opening act so we were inexcusably late to the show. By the time we opened the door to the balcony seating we immediately got the librarian glare from the usher as the song Autobahn had already started. It felt like walking in late to a packed funeral as the congregation turns to see the wrongdoers in unison.
We were informed with a harsh whisper, “You will have to wait until the music stops before seating yourselves.”
Apparently we were way up in the upper balcony. Upon the cue of applause we did our side-step shuffle of shame down the cow path of rudely interrupted fans, now forced to stand to let us get to our seats. We put on our 3D glasses and slumped into our seats high above the stage.
From there I labored to get a few good shots with my phone knowing cell phone photos would likely never be good enough to use in this blog post.
The photos turned out ok, but I doubted there was a blogworthy story to tell at this point. There was nothing to really absorb about the performance from our distant vantage point.
That’s not to sell the experience short, because it was cool as hell to see Kraftwerk live surrounded by a throw-back 80s style 3D video show, but from our location we knew they were down there pressing knobs and levers, but we couldn’t really make out any details whatsoever. Still, we were both giddy with excitement for simply being present in front of our electronic gods.
One by one they advanced through all their quintessential hits. We watched in silence as the purposefully archaic 3D graphics danced in space above the four men as the synth-heavy bass and glitchy drums looped on. Despite the church-like atmosphere and subdued crowd, it was nice and loud so the crunchy drum loops and the low end pleasantly shook the building.
A mere 45 minutes after we arrived they left the stage, but it was just encore bait. After the first standing ovation the curtains drew again revealing not the members of Kraftwerk, but instead their animatronic mannequins.
“We Are The Robots” came through the speakers as their plastic dummies jerked and rotated from side to side. As much as I love that song I was frankly pretty bored of that part of the show by about the 2 minute mark and it went on well beyond that.
Nearing the end of the show the quartet got to my favorite tracks from Electric Cafe and Radioactivity. By this point the 3D show was getting to be a little, I dunno, quaint? I get that it’s supposed to be throwback 80s effects, but after the 5th time of seeing this green line go in front of that green line the novelty was starting to wear off.
Now I’m not trying to detract from the Kraftwerk’s incomparable legacy, but it was at this point I realized I was probably watching the last time this group of now 60-70 year old men will ever tour again. It’s just that they are well past the pinnacle of their electronic music careers and sadly, every day from now on we are even more likely to hear “Who?” when you mention the name Kraftwerk.
As the last of the 4 members of Kraftwerk waved goodbye to the cheering audience and exited stage right I realized none of that mattered at this moment. It was time to make moves.
Time to Get My Picture Disc Autographed
“Ok, you can try!” Blum said realistically.
I found a sympathetic rent-a-cop. I flashed him my 7″ picture disc and silver sharpie I had crammed into my coat pocket all night, and he quietly informed me how to get as close as the law would allow to the door separating “us” from “them.” At that door there was one lone security guard, seemingly equally empathetic to my quest to get the names of Kraftwerk on my record.
Fan tip: All you gotta do is show a 7″ picture disc and a sharpie to a security guard and give them the “But I came all the way for this!” speech and sometimes the effort actually pays off.
Yet, (no spoiler alert necessary) as you can see by the pic, it never happened. The guard at the door told me to hold on and he went inside and disappeared completely. A moment later, four large German security dudes came out wearing all black.
In my most pathetic voice possible I conjured up a lie that should have worked.
“Hi guys, I just drove all the way up from Chicago to get my heroes signature on this picture disc! It would mean EVERYTHING to me if I could get their autographs!”
They looked at me like I’m some jackass American tourist and laughed while one of them said
“What’s that, a really big CD?”
They snickered and immediately formed a no-fucking-way defensive line in front of the door.
“Look, I don’t have to see them if they don’t accept visits from fans. So maybe one of you can take it to them and ask them to sign it?”
They smugly put me into place with a rejection that seemingly made them feel better about the present state of their kraut eating roadie lives. “Kraftwerk does not just sign autographs for anyone. We can’t bother them.”
It was my turn to joke… “Ok, this picture discs doesn’t sound that good so I could care less about ink on the grooves. Maybe you could just go in there and sign it yourself with their names so then I can at least brag about getting signatures at a Kraftwerk show on Reddit. I want to see how long it will take for someone to call me out on having forged signatures on a record.”
They didn’t laugh, and it’s not because they didn’t understand I was being facetious. It’s in their job description to disappoint Kraftwerk fans, and now they were clearly bored of it. They said something in German, chuckled amongst themselves and basically told me to get lost.
I looked at Judy with a “fuck that shit” look, and got the “Well at least you tried.” consolation.
“Eh, forget about it. The night is young, let’s go.”
Now don’t tell him that; but Blum was right again. Even though I got no decent photos and didn’t score an autograph after wasting all that time debating with the blonde Hanzels, it was time to let off some steam.
“No, not Rape Dwarf, Rapedoor!”
It was at this point that the night threw us a wicked curve ball. After a little debate and reading the online reviews we worked our way over to a special little bar in the area called the Kitty Cat Klub. Blum and I both love punk music so this was our only sensible destination.
The moment we walked through the door we instantly knew we were going to find some compelling culture. Once you step over the threshold you are basically tripping balls. I don’t know if they pump airborne drugs thru the ventilation system or if it’s the deer head with Christmas lights on it or if it’s the drug induced honesty of everyone around us, but this place was a fucking trip.
This is the kind of place where women come up to you at the bar and ask you…
“Excuse me, but would you be offended if I asked you if you ever wear assless chaps?”
Imagine how hard it is not to laugh at that question and somehow check it at a restrained grin when you realize she isn’t even smiling. At the Kitty Cat Klub, this is a dead fucking serious question, so be ready for it. I didn’t really know how to answer the question, and while it was entertaining we opted to carefully back away from that conversation towards even deeper insanity.
JudY BlumE on left, rchecka on right at the Kitty Cat Klub in Minneapolis, MN
“What’s the name of the band that’s playing tonight!?” I yelled over the loud music to the bartender.
“Rape d—ph” he yells back.
“Rape Dwarf??” I couldn’t believe my ears. “Hey Judy, we gotta stick around for Rape Dwarf, I have a good feeling about that!”
He corrected me, “No, Rapedoor!”
“Oh! Well good!” I smiled “Maybe the name Rape Dwarf is still available when I start my punk band.”
We made our way over to the stage area to find an intimate but extremely lively crowd, apparently consisting of quite a few Rapedoor groupies. All of them were fired up to see the headliner.
Rapedoor came on and before they even warmed up I could tell they were on some serious shit. I don’t know what kind of drugs they had in them but they were easily ten levels above me.
Before I go any further about Rapedoor, allow me just humbly add, anything I write about this band’s live performance from here onward will not do it justice. This was easily one of the best metal\punk shows I have ever experienced. These guys are true professionals in the entertainment business and I was completely blown out of the water over the amount of ass kicking they did.
Rapedoor rocking at the Kitty Cat Klub
They ride a gradient between punk, metal and hard rock, so you can’t exactly put them into a neat little box. According to their own-damn-selves, the genre they play is “bananas” and that’s nail on head.
Rapedoor is a 3 man and 1 woman clusterfuck of glorious noise generated by Ron .Q. Rudlong (guitar and vocals) Nicole Rode (drums and vocals) Odi “Black Jesus” (bass and vocals) and Jake Sweet (drums).
By the time they started the first song I was already at that peak high that only goes downhill if you start drinking too much more alcohol, so to maintain that as long as possible I slowly nursed the Day Tripper beer in my hand.
“This shit is fucking great man!” I yelled at Blum.
He didn’t hear me but he nodded anyways because that’s what you do when it’s this fucking loud and crazy.
It was early in the set and the band was already spot on. The impressive female drummer on the first song punished the drum kit. Like all Beat Junkies junkies, I couldn’t help but zone in on the rhythm she laid down. Her timing, presence, and impromptu fills were impeccable.
“Oh my GOD that chick is an incredible drummer!” I yelled at Blum.
Soon after the first song was over, she got up and switched places with the guy who I thought was the singer. In her new role as singer she conveniently lost her white fuzzy overcoat and rocked the rest of the night wearing just a bra and panties. Meanwhile, behind the facade of this innocent looking bookstore, the singer, who was actually the drummer picked up where she left off and blew my mind with the kind of intense ferocity that only a metal drummer with a bad childhood could have.
Nicole Rode of Rapedoor energizing the crowd
Midway through her first song as singer, she somehow clawed her way to the top of a speaker taller than she was, and proceeded to do a flying karate kick jump that would have put Ralph Macchio circa Karate Kid 2 to shame. The crowd was absolutely eating it up; everyone was going bananas watching her feed off the energy in the room. But that was nothing, she was just getting started.
On the next song, I shit you not, right in the middle of the refrain she leaped off the stage on top of some dude in the audience. She tackled the guy to the floor and proceeded to finish the refrain as she rolled around on the dirty floor with this stranger like pigs in the mud without losing a beat. For what seemed like an eternity she rolled herself and her microphone cord back and forth with him while scream-singing without getting breathless until she finally jumped up and stepped on him essentially using him as a human stair to get back on the stage. The guy was not pissed at all. On the contrary, it looked like he died and went to heaven.
From then on she owned the crowd. As the guitarists and bass players soaked up that energy I witnessed them transform into a synchronized hive mind of unsurpassable punk. At this point the energy level and raw power and polished rock presence of the band was in perfect phase. They had somehow turned the Kitty Cat Klub into a dissonant utopia.
From this point onward the details of the night are hazy. I vaguely remember being in awe and that much I am sure of. I definitely remember the singer handing me the microphone at one point and yelling at me to…
“Sing fucker!”
So I sang. I think it was more of a bellowing drunken-rage scream type of a singing but I’m almost positive I was on key and sang something appropriate, even though Blum looked at me half way thru my performance and yelled…
“DUDE!!! STOP NOW!!!”
So I dropped the mic on the stage only to turn around and see the singer had now somehow scaled the back wall behind the crowd. When I wasn’t looking she must have done that Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon move springing, not from treetop to treetop, but from banging head to banging head.
Damn. What a fateful change of events. This local band I’ve never heard of called Rapedoor managed to somehow turn my lemons into lemonade and eventually into urine. It was strange but genuine serendipity; because now I had my blog post given back to me. Sure, it is some kind of non-linear mind fuck version of a story, but it was all so real. I knew at that point for that reason alone it had to be told. I picked this moment to tell Blum I couldn’t ever remember having such a great time watching ANY live music.
Then, just like that, feedback turned to into silence. It was over. I had officially forgotten about Kraftwerk, the reason I came, and concentrated instead on my new found favorite local band Rapedoor. As they casually tore down their instruments I groupied up to them and I asked them where I could buy their records.
“We don’t have any records yet, they are a little too expensive to produce, but we do have CDs.” The guitarist told me.
I get it, they are in fact way harder to fund than CDs, and that was good enough for me. The singer Nichole came over and joked with me…
“Hey thanks for singing. That was pretty good!” she smiled.
“Nice! Did you hear that Judy?!”
I was still a bit awestruck so I groveled, “You guys fucking rock so much! You have no idea how much you made my night. Can I please get my picture with you for my blog post?”
“Yeah, no problem!”
She gathered her bandmates and we posed for the shot as an extremely drunk Blum snapped a few blurry pics.
She disappeared and reappeared with 2 of their CDs for me and handed them over to me.
“You can have these, I hope you like them!” she added. “Please send me a link when you’re done with the write up!”
As corny as this is gonna sound, this is why I love this gig. I genuinely believe it’s my honor to write about real music like this. I don’t care what genre of music it is, when a band is capable of that kind of life enriching stress reduction, even if it’s just for one memorable night, that’s what it’s all about.
TLDR: If you get a chance to see Kraftwerk’s 2015 live 3D show, I recommend you get there early and get seats as close as possible. They are true music legends in every sense of the word, so don’t bother trying to get their autograph, even if you bring a picture disc, because they don’t do that.
Above all, if you ever get a chance to see Rapedoor, drop what you are doing and go. They will leave your ears ringing in a therapeutic way with the unique mixed emotion of being both pleasantly appalled and hungry for more. They typically play small venues in the Twin Cities, they put on a high energy crowd participatory performance, and press passes are never necessary.
This Thursday (September 24th) is Nightline at The Pot Lobby Bar inside The Line Hotel in Koreatown (Los Angeles). This month’s residents Dj Babu & Rhettmatic (who’s pulling double duties) along with their special guest, the one & only Mad Skillz. It’s FREE from 9pm to 1am….Come vibe with the Junkies & Mad Skillz as they will dropping some dope tunes for you to enjoy! Shoutouts to our boy Chef Roy Choi!
This Saturday (September 5th) is 20th Anniversary of Nocturnal Wonderland. Playing in the Funk Room will be The Beat Junkies‘ own Babu, D-Styles, Melo-D, Rhettmatic & Mr. Choc, along with the legendary Dj Jazzy Jeff, the incredible Dj Craze, & the party rocker Grahamfunke. All happening at the San Manuel Ampitheatre in San Bernadino. This is an event that you don’t want to miss. For more info: www.nocturnalwonderland.com.
LOS ANGELES & WORLDWIDE! Tonight (8.25.15) is another episode ofSOUNDCHECK on Beat Junkie Radio, exclusively on Dash Radio. This week’s guests: Grammy-Award Producer, Focus…(Dr. Dre, The Game, Xzibit, Beyonce’), Souls Of Mischief‘s own Opio x Free The Robots aka Sempervirens, & Swollen Members‘ own Madchild.
The show is live from 7-10pm PST. You can listen to us by downloading the FREE Dash Radio App for your smart phone or listen to us on the web: www.dashradio.com. Tune in tonight, it’s going to be a dope show!
The Beat Junkies present: Soundcheck
Broadcasting Live from Los Angeles
7-10PM Every 2nd & 4th Tuesdays Of The Month
On The Beat Junkie Radio channel
Exclusively on Dash Radio.
Download the Dash Radio App for free or listen to us on the web: www.dashradio.com.
Soundcheck Ep.12 w/ !llmind, Joell Ortiz, & Samiyam + special tribute to Sean Price & Dj Swift Rock (8.11.15)
Sean PriceTribute Mix: Mr. Choc dj set
Sean Price – Occupy All streets
Sean Price – Heartburn
Sean Price – Bar-barian
Sean Price – STFU pt.2
Sean Price – Shut The Fuck Up
Sean Price – Gang Leader
Sean Price – Figure Four
Sean Price – I See
Sean Price – Rueben Blades
Sean Price – Kurt Rambis
Sean Price – Pyrex
Pete Rock & Smif Wessun – That’s Hard feat Sean Price & Styles P
Dj Babu set
Random Axe – Chewbacca feat Roc Marciano
Heltah Skeltah – Leflah leflaur Eshkoshka
Heltah Skeltah – Operation Lockdown
Sean Price – BBQ Sauce
Heltah Skeltah – The Art of Disrespekinazation
Special Guest: Joell Ortiz x !llmind Dj Rhettmatic set
Akrobatik – Remind My Soul
El da sensei – Crowd Pleasa
Joell Ortiz- Sing Like Bilal
Joell Ortiz – Block Royal
Joell Ortiz x !llmind – Six Fo’
Joell Ortiz x !llmind – Lil Piggies
Brooklyn Academy – Raise Ya Hand feat Pumpkin Head x Jean grae
Raekwon – The Morning feat Pusha T, Common
Scarface – Who Are They
Joell Ortiz – Brothers Keeper feat Royce da 5’9
Joell Ortiz x !llmind -New Era
Joell Ortiz x !llmind- I Just Might
Joell Ortiz x !llmind – Bad Santa
Joell Ortiz x !llmind – Light a L
Dj Babu 2nd set
Bj The Chicago Kid – Nothing But Love feat Joey Badass Gangrene – Noon Chukas
Apollo Brown – Detonate feat. M.O.P
Dr. Dre – Darkside/Gone
Onra – That’s Me feat Black Milk
Thundercat – Them Changes feat Kamasi Washington
Special Guest SAMIYAM
Gangrene – Flamethrowers pt 2
Dr. Dre – Animals feat Anderson.Paak
Dj Swift Rock Tribute Mix
JRocc set
LMNO – Tough Get Going
Frank Nitt – Slippin
Lootpack – Frendz vs Endz
Guilty Simpson – Weak Shit feat Phat Kat
Rozewood – V12 Engines feat Agallah
Jehst x Slange U – Dolph Lundgren
Gangrene – Flamethrowers pt 2
N.W.A – LIVE
This past weekend, was the second annual Low End Theory Festival and it was phenomenal. To catch you up to speed, I’ll start with what LET is.
Low End Theory is a magical place where deejays, producers, emcees, vocalists, musicians and beat junkies of all walks unite on a weekly basis. It’s an institution in Los Angeles, and some follow it religiously enough to call it their church.
Whether it’s the fact that the place is 18 and up, or maybe the booming Pure Filth Soundsystem being tuned to make your bones rattle and ovaries twerk, perhaps it’s the countless who’s who that randomly show up (such as Thom Yorke, Prince, and Erykah Badu to name a few).
October marks 9 Years of Low End Theorywhich is brought to you by Daddy Kev ( founder of Alpha Pup Records ) DJ D-Styles, DJ Nobody, Gaslamp Killer, and Hosted by Nocando. All adding their own special sauce to the mix, you can catch a wide-variety of performers on 1 of 2 stages any given Wednesday in Boyle Heights at The Airliner.
The reason I titled this entry “Lock Yourself In A Room Doing 5 Beats A Day For 3 Summers” wasn’t because I think that this such sound advice from Mr. West, but rather just a reminder of someone being dedicated to a craft, regardless of how many shapes it takes. The majority of this lineup I’ve been following for years and have really witnessed the growth in their sound through various releases and I as well as many others have been lucky enough to interact with many of them through Low End Theory, Beat Cinema, and other platforms that focus on this genre of music. It’s really cool to see guys who started in their basement play center stage in front of thousands before the likes of people like Flying Lotus & Thundercat. A lot of these guys used to actually go to events with boxes of cd’s and just hand them out freely with hand-drawn/cut/photographed packaging, just cd-r’s and cassettes hoping they’d somehow reach someone who somewhat cared enough to follow up and actually purchase or support them further in their journey… It used to be a very DIY effort, coming from a genuine and pure place that was much deeper than youtube views and soundcloud plays. I think the process really created some very humble and modest artists because of the patience involved in really getting heard by “the right people”. That same mentality was getting people shine on stages like Low End Theory along with many others, and in-turn picked up for mini tours and festival opening slots, as well as traveling opportunities.
To me, this festival was like a holiday for all the people who’ve waited in line week after week only to hit the door and the place being at capacity while their favorite artist performed inside. It was a special treat that was mutually beneficial for the performing acts, the attendees and supporters, as well as the format/genre/sound as a whole. It brought together a ton of amazing people, visuals and sounds that I don’t think you’d catch anywhere else in the city, and best of all is it was an organic showcase. All of these acts have performed prior on the weekly Low End stage and never for a moment did it feel like some corporate backed function where they slap stickers all over the Lamborghini, thus maintaining the integrity of the event. From Jhené Aiko, Dom Kennedy, Earl Sweatshirt, Childish Gambino, and even Shia Labeouf there was no lack of star power in the house and I feel like people left satisfied with a longing for more… That being said, check out http://www.alphapuprecords.com/ explore some of the acts that were on the lineup further through Soundcloud & Bandcamp. Support what you love and drop by Low End on a Wednesday to see what it’s all about. Shout out to Kev and everyone who made the event happen, all the performers who got to express themselves – I truly can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year. Below is a full recap, end of the show clip with FlyLo and a photo from Nocando from the indoor stage.
Low End Theory 9 Year Anniversary
The 2nd annual Low End Theory Festival, occurred August 8, 2015 at the Shrine Expo Hall and Grounds, Los Angeles, CA. Performers included Flying Lotus, Earl Sweatshirt, Thundercat, Nosaj Thing, Daedelus, Teebs, Jonwayne, Ras G, Mono/Poly, Samiyam, Dibiase, Alix Perez & EPROM, Milo, Open Mike Eagle, Mndsgn, Free the Robots, Great Dane, House Shoes, Anderson .Paak & the Free Nationals, Astronautica, Sister Crayon, Cazal Organism and Elusive. LET residents Daddy Kev, Nobody, the Gaslamp Killer, D-Styles and Nocando also performed. Low End Theory Festival 2015 was presented by Goldenvoice, and sponsored by Roland in conjunction with 808 Day.
5 Artists You Should Know, will be turning the spotlight on five select artists that you should probably check out and support, if you don’t already. While the internet has definitely bridged the gap for aspiring talent to reach new heights and larger audiences faster than ever before. It’s also created a bit of a great divide and surplus problem in regards to the quantity of projects not matching the quality expectations that we were once accustomed to. While I won’t say that it’s all bad, It’s definitely thrown the music industry into a whirlwind and really requires more finesse and strategy than ever to really push your way to the top. That being said, the goal of this section isn’t necessarily to give you deep interviews that talk about your favorite rappers prior charges, drug habits, or executive producers who squandered away their royalties. Rather the focus and goal here is to provide a platform of discovery, exploration, and hopefully put you up on some talented individuals you’ve missed in the streets and on the web.
—-
Mimi Yoon
( Artist )
I remember years ago when I was producing functions for the Downtown Los Angeles Artwalk and I came across this amazing woman’s work. I spent a few hours in a gallery that showed her stuff in hopes of the opportunity to physically meet her and personally thank her, exchange contacts and keep it moving… Unfortunately, It never happened and I found myself drunk from the open bar watching others also admiring her work in a similar manner. So when I got home, I decided to look her up and see if I could find out more about her process, how long she’s been doing it, and where I can catch more of her work. While she’s got an online store located here: http://mimiyoon.bigcartel.com/products you can see a lot of her work, and progress shots at https://instagram.com/mimiyoon/
—-
Nocando / Jimmy The Lock / Burnout
( Emcee )
Nocando is a diverse and versatile Los Angeles veteran who’s carried the torch for emcees of all walks. Between hosting the institution that is Low End Theory, and having countless ciphers outside of the blowed/kaos, his accomplishments span far and wide in the Battle Rap Circuit, to also being an independent artist producing original material. He even started his own label ( Hellfyre Club ) on Daddy Kev’s Alpha Pup Records. Countless times has he risen to the occasion to really showcase what it means to be a powerhouse musician that withstands the test of time. He’s really learned how to adapt with the market/landscape of music and remain relevant all while also being a father, and modest leader to many. Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine the rapper I met years ago in NY during Jumpoff, then again out on the Slauson line to reach the levels he has… It’s really been great to witness his growth, and I look forward to seeing/hearing what’s next. Below is a sampling of some of my favorites of his discog – You can also support him on social media, soundcloud, bandcamp and itunes, or catch him at Low End Theory every Wed.
—-
Dumbfoundead / DFD / Parker
( Emcee )
Dumbfoundead is another inspirational story who I’ve had the pleasure of working / rapping with in the past and seeing rise from the bottom to reach new heights and surpass expectations against all odds. From the Rap Battle world to the Music side of things, to even having his own channel that’d spotlight budding talent and give them another platform to be heard (Knocksteady). Dumb has really gone through a great transformation and an amazing amount of growth as an artist, selling out shows all over and really throwing down for Korean Artists everywhere. He’s another shining example of hard work paying off in a big way. It’s funny because I remember years ago at this graffiti shop called 33third when I was in town for a short trip, I was in a mc battle with him that was hosted / judged by Pharaohe Monch & Percee P… Even at this time, you could tell he had a great amount of support from his peers (project blowed) and a passion for the game. With witty wordplay, funny punchlines, and a solid delivery he took home the prize. Since then he’s made huge leaps working with a lot of your favorite artists, producers, dj’s and more in shows worldwide, and created ample collaborations and efforts to bring up other artists. Anyways, I’ve posted a few tracks below for you to familiarize yourself with this talented individual that you should know about if you don’t already. Again, you can support him on social media, soundcloud, bandcamp and itunes, or catch him at his Spam & Eggs events in KTOWN.
—-
Open Mike Eagle
( Emcee )
Open Mike Eagle is a unique subject to analyze. His work varies from satirical dark humor to subtle subliminal honesty, smoothly delivered over interesting production choices and sometimes accompanied by his friends that range from Aesop Rock to Blockhead to Hannibal Buress. From being a teacher, to a father, to a radio/podcast host and most importantly a class act. Mike has managed to really mess around with a variety of sounds in his process and progress, and now I think has really kind of carved out a lane of his own. From the same school of rap that Nocando & Dumbfoundead came from (Project Blowed) he’s definitely proven his worth reaching audiences of all types in several different mediums and platforms, alongside continues to break boundaries and reinvent himself through his output. I remember this guy coming to the blowed with a cardbox box of cd’s to sell that he pressed him himself and each time the content, production, and overall product just got better and better. You could tell he was appreciative of every single person who believed in him enough to support his art. These days with the disconnect of digital purchasing, I feel like it’s should be a necessity for artists to continue to create physical copies and connect with their fans in this grass-root approach. Mike is definitely a phenomenal artist and making moves faster then we can keep up. So catch him if you can via Social Media, check out some of his podcasts, live shows, music and more.
—- Ele ( DJ / Producer )
Always with an open mind, Ele has been influenced by a multitude of sounds. Even though she goes back and forth between mixing platforms, she spent her first 10 years DJing strictly vinyl – seamlessly blending mostly deep house, hip hop and drum n bass. In 2009, Ele started dabbling in production and within a couple years released various singles like her Down 4 U remix, which earned her the spotlight as a producer. In 2013, she released her first official EP “Noir”, which got her featured on several known music blogs such as URB Magazine and Giant Step. Her EP also featured artist such as, Abjo (Soulection) & M31RK (RMG). She currently holds a residency at “Culture” every 3rd Wednesdays along with Abjo (Soulection) & JR Jarris, at North Park’s AC Lounge. You can also find her every 1st Thursdays at her 2nd residency along with Andre Power (Soulection) & Sufficient Sounds at the popular Art in the Park monthly – which fuses music and art. Ele continues to spend most of her time in production and has also teamed up with Half Bad Society, a Brooklyn based music collective. Keep an eye out for more of her work and collaborations! Be sure to dig her up on social media and check out her individual projects, I really cosign this woman and I’m happy to share her production any chance I get.
Our resident photographer, Dj Babu along with Maricel Sison have release some Behind The Scenes pics from our Soundcheck radio show episode 11 on Beat Junkie Radio. With pics of Gangrene, Koreatown Oddity, Dj Jayceeoh, & surprise guest Warren G. To see the rest of the pics, click on the link: http://djbabuforeal.vsco.co/journal/soundcheck-ep-11
The Beat Junkies video series “Watch The Sound” returns, spotlighting on Djs/Turntablists that we like and letting them get busy. This episode, we feature Redbull 3x LA Thre3style Champion, Dj Dynamix of the IF2 crew. Watch him get down as he chops up the Rasco classic song “The Unassited”. You can follow Dynamix on Twitter and IG: @dynamixif2
The Beat Junkies present: Soundcheck
Broadcasting Live from Los Angeles 7-10PM
Every 2nd & 4th Tuesdays Of The Month
On The Beat Junkie Radio channel
Exclusively on Dash Radio.
Download the Dash Radio App for free or listen to us on the web: www.dashradio.com.
Soundcheck Ep. 9 (6.23.15) with Dom Kennedy & Bad Lucc
Dj Babu set
Ghostface Killah & Adrian Younge – Get The Money feat Vince Staples
Bilal – Money Over Love feat Kendrick Lamar
Slum Village – Love Is feat Bilal & Illa J
Pete Rock – Heaven & Earth
Black Milk – I Guess
Bilal – Pleasure Toy feat Big K.R.I.T
Jrocc set
Pete Rock – ???
Roc Marci – ???
Krondon God Understand Me feat Shafiq Husein
DaM Funk – Just Ease Your Mind From All Negativity
Starship Connection – Heart Breaker
Tek.Lun – Where I Was Born
Guilty Simpson – Popularity Game feat Elzhi
J-Dilla – Curb Servin instr.
Special Guest Dom Kennedy
Dom Kennedy Medley mix (Dj Babu)
Dom Kennedy – Gold Alpinas feat Rick Ross
Dom Kennedy – We Ball feat Kendrick Lamar
Dom kennedy – 1997
Dom Kennedy – P H (prod by Dj Dahi)
Dom Kennedy – Still Callin
Dom Kennedy – Dream To Me
Dom Kennedy – O.P.M
Dom Kennedy – Daddy
Dom Kennedy – Represent (I like that)
Dom Kennedy Interview
Dom Kennedy – 2 Bad
Dj Babu 2nd set
Frank Nitt – Slippin
Madchild – Devils and Angels
Cormega – No Filter feat Roc Marci
Thundercat – Them Changes feat Kamasi Washington
Camp Lo – Black Jesus
Jay Electronica – Road To Perdition
Special guest: Bad Lucc
Bad Lucc Medley mix (Dj Rhettmatic)
Bad Lucc – Buck, Buck, Buck feat Problem
Dubb Union – Dub You! feat Kurupt & Traci Nelson
Bad Lucc – Amazing feat Problem & Stoney The Dealer
Bad Lucc – Bang Dat Shit
Strong Arm Steady – The Movement (Born Into It remix) feat Bad Lucc
Bad Lucc & Mykestro – The Best
Bad Lucc – Hands Down
Snoop Dogg presents Dubb Union – Western Union feat Bj The Chicago Kid & Daz Dillinger
Bad Lucc – Get Em feat Jay Rock
Bad Lucc – Mr. Officer feat Kay Cola
Bad Lucc – Freestyle Accapella
Bad Lucc – Humiliate
Jrocc 2nd set
JP Morgan – Coming Back JP
Junclassic – No Realer feat Maniac
Cazal Organism – Maferefun Oshun/Your Love
Knxwledge – Momma
Krondon – ??
Onra – That’s Me feat Black Milk
Ras G & the African Space Program – Lord of Lords
Alchemist – Bold
Alchemist – Matzik
Freddie Gibbs – Pimp Hand
Common- Nag Champa
NxWorries – Link Up
The Watch The Sound video series is back again….the last one we did, we featured DMC World Supremacy Champion, Dj IFTW. This time, we are now featuring the recently crowned DMC 2015 LA Champion, Dj Manwell. For more info on Manwell, follow him on IG and Twitter at @djmanwell. For all things Beat Junkies, be sure and visit us at www.beatjunkies.com. Also, tune into our #BeatJunkieRadio station on the new Dash Radio app (free download for iphone and Android)
Broadcasting Live from Los Angeles
7-10PM Every 2nd & 4th Tuesdays Of The Month
On The Beat Junkie Radio channel
Exclusively on Dash Radio.
Download the Dash Radio App for free or listen to us on the web: www.dashradio.com.
Soundcheck Ep. 7 w/ Gaslamp Killer & Frank Nitt (5.26.15)
Dj Babu set
Freddie Gibbs – Dope House
Knx & Anderson Paak – Suede
Black Milk – I Guess
Pete Rock – Heaven & Earth
Czarface – Nightcrawler
Raekwon – 1, 2 1, 2 feat Snoop Dogg
Slum Village – Expressive feat BJ The Chicago Kid & Illa J
Just Blaze – Inhuman Nature
Guest: Frank Nitt
Frank Nitt – Slippin
Madlib & Frank Nitty – Pain
Frank n Dank – Everybody Get Up
J-Dilla – We F’d Up feat Frank n Dank
Frank Nitt – Official Supreme feat Botni Applebum
J-Dilla – Pause feat Frank-n-Dank
Frank Nitt Freestyle
Frank Nitt – Classic
Frank Nitt – My Hit Record
Dj Rhettmatic set
Jonwayne – Green Light feat Anderson Paak
Rick Gonzalez – Hail Mary
Hus Kingpin & SmooVth – Playoffs
Agallah – Rolling Stoned feat Ras Kass
Planet Asia – Loogies feat. Godfather Pt. III
Dr Dre – 2Nite feat Kendrick Lamar & Jeremiah
Nikobeats – The Picture
Your old droog – senseless killin II
Rick Gonzalez – Love & Money feat Prodigy
Ed OG – Sorta Way feat Reks
Nas – Life’s A Bitch (J.Rocc remix)
Nikobeats – Iamcrazy
Madlib – Sitar Ride
Gaslamp Killer mix
Dj Babu second set
Madchild – Devils & Angels
Camp Lo – Black Jesus
Nikobeats – Breaking My Heart
Prhyme – Courtesy (Marco polo remix)
Denaun Porter – Told Y’all feat. Rapsody
Fashawn – Higher instr.
If you have been following what we’ve been doing, you know that we started our very own Radio Station channel at Dash Radio….Beat Junkie Radio! We also have our very own show called Soundcheck, that we do live every 2nd & 4th Tuesdays of each month from 7-10PM. We launched our first show on February 10th with special guests Dilated Peoples, MED, & LMNO.
People have been requesting for the first episode, so here it is! Enjoy the show & make sure you tune in to Beat Junkie Radio, exclusively on Dash.
Intro
Common – Rewind That
The Quakers feat. Guilty Simpson – Rip
Mobb Deep – Taking You Off Here
Step Brothers – Swim Team Rastas
Bizarre Ride – Double Lief
Jay Electronica – We Made It feat Jay-Z
MF DOOM – Doomsayer (Young Guru Remix)
Mr. Muthaf**kin Exquire feat. Heron – Chains
Slum Village – Scheming w/ J Dilla, Posdnous & Phile Dawg
PRhyme – U Loos
Cozz – DKBU
J Dilla – Baby feat Guilty simpson
J Dilla – Lightworks
J Dilla – Pause feat Frank & Dank
Dabrye – Game Over feat. Jay Dee
Dinco D x Mellow Man Ace x Jarobi White – Case by Case
????
D.I.T.C – Digging In The Crates (Dj Premier Remix)
Masta Ace – Top Ten List (??? Remix)
Guest: MED
Axel F – Omega feat Blu
Axel F – Searchin’
Axel F – Screechin White Walls feat. Guilty Simpson
MED – Jungle Love feat. Guilty Simpson
Second Hour:
Mix: Dj Babu
Vince Staples – Progressive 3 babu edits
Your Old Droog – Bad To The Bone
Fashawn – The Beginning
Guest: Dilated Peoples
Dilated Peoples – Let Your Thoughts Fly Away
Dilated Peoples – Cut My Teeth
Dilated Peoples – Directors
Dilated Peoples Good As Gone (Live)
Pusha T – Lunch Money
Rapsody – Godzilla
PRhyme – To Me To You
NikoBeats – Remove This Doubt
Ultimate Force – I’m Not Playing
Third Hour:
Mix: Dj Icy Ice
Slimkid3 x Dj Nu-Mark – No Pity Party
Da Bush Babies- The Love Song
Mass influence – All Out
Guest: LMNO
LMNO – Long Beach (inst)
LMNO – Industry
LMNO & Twiz The BeatPro as Cohorts – Cohorts
Cohorts – Like Mind
Pete Rock & CL Smooth – Straighten It Out
Stro Elliot – Miles Funk
The Loop Professor – The Stop and Gil
Outro
Recap video of the Beat JunkiesLifestyle brand launch party at the Agenda trade show in Las Vegas, February 2015. For more info on our apparel and lifestyle brand visit us at www.beatjunkies.com or contact us at lifestyle@beatjunkies.com
If you been following us for a hot minute, you would know that we have our very own radio station called Beat Junkie Radio on the Dash Radio App. And if you have been listening to our radio station, you would know that we have our own personal show called “Soundcheck”, which airs every 2nd Tuesdays from 7-10pm PST, and now also every 4th Tuesdays, the same time….so we will be going on every 2nd & 4th Tuesdays.
Our debut show was on February 10th and the crew was in full force (minus Shortkut). We also had special guests MED (Axel F/Stones Throw), Dilated Peoples, & LMNO (Visionaries) to come thru & celebrate with us for our 1st show. We have a video recap to see what was going on that night. To listen to the Soundcheck show as well as our station, make sure you download the FREE Dash Radio App on ITunes & Google Play & search for Beat Junkie Radio on the Dash App. Or you can listen to us on the web: www.dashradio.com & search for Beat Junkie Radio.
If you have been following our group & individual social media links, we have been hinting of possible doing a radio show….well, sort of. As of today (Monday, February 2nd), The Beat Junkies have teamed up with Dj Skee‘s Dash Radio to officially launch the Beat Junkie Radio channel on the Dash Radio App. Yes, we got our own “Radio Station” playing mixes & music programming 24/7….who would’ve thought that The Beat Junkies have their own music channel. We’ve been working on this project for a good 5 months on making sure everything sounds good & the programming is tight as we can make it, along with getting proper drops & imaging.
To get the Dash RadioApp for your IPhone, IPad, Android, or Tablet, you can go to ITunes or Google Play & download it for FREE!
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Listen to Mixes & Music 24/7 programmed personally by The Beat Junkies: Hip Hop (classics & new sh*t), Soul, R&B, Jazz, Funk, Disco, House, Breaks, Samples, Slow Jams, Reggae & many more! Our big brother, West Coast Legend & OG KDAY MixmasterJulio G has his own channel “1580” on the Dash Radio App. Make sure you peep his channel out as well!
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You can listen to our Channel on the Internet WorldWide at www.dashradio.com. If you love the Beat Junkies & the music we play, this music station is for you! SPREAD THE WORD!
Bigups to Dj Skee, J-Love, Erynn & everybody at Dash Radio for their help & support.
Tonight, October 15th, the Cypress Junkies aka Bobo Meets Rhettmatic will be doing a live performance on Heavyweights Radio on B-Real TV. The show’s hosts are Dj Truly Odd & Mike XXL and airs 6-8pm PST, Wednesday Nights. To watch the show, go to http://www.breal.tv
Today, October 15th is the birthday of our fellow Beat Junkie brother, Jonathan Cruz….better known to the world as Dj Shortkut. Please wish him a Happy Birthday……
If you like that soulful House Music, then our very own Mr. Choc got that mood for you. Check out his newest mix series “Black Carlos”…..peep the mix stream/download here: http://www.mixcrate.com/mrchoc/black-carlos-8926252
What’s up folks….it’s another installment of our Mixtape Mondays series. This month’s entry is a little ditty by the one & only Dj Melo-D. If you know our background as Dj’s, growing up in Los Angeles, the Junkies pretty much listened to alot of Techno/Electro Hip Hop in the 80’s, especially listening to the KDAY Mixmasters, Uncle Jamm’s Army, The World Class Wreckin Cru, The Glove, & many more. In this quick mix, Melo just gets busy over classic songs like Numbers, Planet Rock, & Surgery just to name a few……Get your popping on & enjoy the mix. Oh yeah…..for all you Djs & our record pool subscribers, you can pick some of these gems in our Digital Record Pool =)
Thought I would start something in the same vein as our “Throwback Thursdays” Video Series….this time, it’s “Mixtape Mondays”. During these segments, I’m going to post up some of old & new mixes from the crew, as well as the homies, & other mixes that I think that they’re dope. If you’re at work or just cleaning the house, just press play & hopefully you like our latest blog series.
Our first mix is from Shortkut, in honor of him & the Triple Threat DJs competing in the Redbull Music Academy Culture Clash this Wednesday (Oct. 1st) at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco. This recording is from his live set from The Boiler Room TV audio/visual show……Enjoy!
Since we dropped Babu’s classic all purpose “Super Duck Breaks” at our Digital Record Pool, we might as well drop another treat for you. The Official Beat Junkies‘ “Turntable Helpers” Slipmats are available now at our webstore. A pair of slipmats & stickers are included in the pack. Go to www.beatjunkies.com & pick em’ up now! http://www.beatjunkies.com/product/turntable-helpers-slipmat/
In 1986, our very own Dj Babu changed the game with this timeless scratch record: “Super Duck Breaks”! It’s available now for our Record Pool Members at http://www.beatjunkies.com. Join Today as a new subscriber for the Beat Junkies Digital Record Pool!
For all our Record Pool Subscribers, we have new edits by our very own Funky President, J.Rocc at the Beat Junkies Digital Record Pool. Available now exclusively at http://www.beatjunkies.com
Even though I posted this particular sound bit on my Soundcloud page 2 years ago, I thought it would be appropriate to post this up on our official website. Here’s a blurb that I wrote for the post that describes our first official venture into the radio airwaves in the 9o’s….
Peace Everyone,
Just recently while doing some cleaning in my home studio, I found a bunch of old cassette tapes which were the aircheck tapes of the Beat Junkie Hour……This is an old recording of an episode of the Beat Junkie Hour Radio Show on KWIZ 96.7FM back in 1993/94. KWIZ was a type of station that you had to pay to play on the air, and at that time, it was $200 or $300 for an hour slot. Even though there was alot of us, we really didn’t have the money to always pay for it, so we would get some sponsors to help us pay for our airtime (as you will notice with some of our “commercials”. LOL!)…..As you can also tell from the recording, we were pretty young, too excited to be on the airwaves, and horrible on the mic, but we were playing alot of the classic underground as well as breaking some new music from the West Coast; we were the first ones to play the Nonce, Ras Kass, and Dilated Peoples when they were known as the Fatliners. This is about the same time when the Baka Boyz first came to LA and started working at LA’s Power 106.
Around this time, the crew was starting to grow, as well as starting to make a reputation in the Dj Battle circuit like DMC & the Rap Sheet Battles….also a little tidbit of information; we had 3 short-lived members in the Beat Junkies at that time: Special J, Dj Sweet Pea (now know as the producer Paul Poli, who produced such hits for the Black Eyed Peas. Christine Millian, & Ashanti), & Dj Rectangle….yes, THAT Dj Rectangle! And this is before Babu & Mr. Choc became official members of the Beat Junkies….officially, there are 13 members in the Beat Junkies.
On this particular episode, you actually get to hear Beat Junkie members that you may or may not be familiar with: Dj Curse, Tommy Gun, & Dj Sweet Pea, as well as J & myself in the mix and the mic. We also shout out other members like Shortkut, D-Styles, Melo-D, Icy Ice, Symphony, Havik, & What?! Most of the time, when you listen to the show, we mostly be cracking jokes on each other, do alot of shoutouts, try to pick up on chicks on the phone, or even hanging up on them….but you can tell we were having fun.
While transfering this from casette to Pro Tools, listening to these tapes reminded me of how young and carefree we were back then; i also cringed at how we sound on the mic (i must’ve said “yknow what im sayin” at least 20 times) as well as my mixes. J always kills it, even back then….boy, have times changed…LOL!!
I’ll try to upload more recordings of the the show later down the line….I’m still going thru tapes and transfering onto protools. Anyways, here’s a little piece of Beat Junkie History for you to experience…..enjoy!
The Dilated Junkie himself, Dj Babu, is featured on new episode of Mass Appeal‘s “Rhythm Roulette” video series.
“On this episode of Rhythm Roulette, we’re joined by 1/3 of Dilated Peoples and member of the World Famous Beat Junkies, DJ Babu. Many don’t know that along with being a highly skilled battle DJ (known for his legendary “Blind Alley” beat juggle), the ITFchampion also gets it in on the production tip. From Super Duck Breaks to The Beat Tapeseries, Babu crafts hip hop shit that knocks, while managing to be progressive at the same time.
We took the Beat Junkie to the Record Jungle outside of Los Angeles to play a game of Rhythm Roulette. After that, we headed back to his studio to put your boy to the test. After listening through all three records, Babu took a joint from The Association’s Stop Your Motor album, threw it on his AKAI MPK49 and got to work.”
Wanted to post something up in honor of the term “Throwback Thursdays”. These particular video footages are from D-Styles‘ “Phantazmagoria”Album Release Party at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood on November 1, 2002.
A couple of things that made this night special: It was the first time that ALL 6 of us (D, Short, J, Babu, Melo, & myself) had performed together as a band, it was the release of D’s first solo album as well as making history as one of the first Scratch Instrumental album (all the music was made by scratches via multi-tracks) of it’s kind, & this event took place 2 days after the death of the legendary Jam Master Jay. As Babs said in the video “We’re performing songs written, produced, & composed by D, from his album ‘Phantazmagoria’…..it’s a real special night for us…it’s a groundbreaking album that D’s putting out….we’re just members of his band.”
Walk down memory lane with us & enjoy the footage……
The Source Magazine did a spotlight on the Beat Junkies’ Digital Record Pool. To help celebrate this service that they’ve set up, D-Styles created a 25 minute mix Jazz, Hip-Hop, Funk, and Dance music. They also interviewed Rhettmatic about the Record Pool.
Here’s footage from the Soulection x Beat Junkies collabo at Soulection’s “The Sounds Of Tomorrow” event that a month ago. This particular footage shows legendary percusionist Eric Bobo of Cypress Hill & our own Rhettmatic aka The Cypress Junkies, going back & forth on the percussion/dj tip.
Bigups to Joe Kay, Andres, SoSuperSam, Kronika, Esta, & the whole Soulection crew for hosting D-Styles, Mr. Choc, Rhettmatic & Bobo at their event.
“Here are highlights from our recent TSOT monthly (L.A.) at The Echoplex w/ special guests Beat Junkies. Legends Eric Bobo and Rhettmatic really brought the energy with the combination of live percussion over Soulection material and forgotten classics.”
Shot by Erik Hurtado / Edited by Eric Coleman & Whest Cornell
What’s up peoples……my first official blog post on the Beat Junkies’ website. I’m planning to do more blog posts that’s either Beat Junkie related, my own projects, or stuff that I’m into…..thank you for everyone that’s been supporting the whole Beat Junkie crew from day one!
So for my first post, HipHopDX world premiere a new music video for a song that I did with the homies from the Brown Bag Allstars, so you know I had to post this up here. It’s called “Louis Vuitton Wallets” and features J57 & Koncept. I sampled “Enemies” from my good friend Adrian Younge. The guys shot the video while they were on tour thru California and spitting vicious rhymes over my production.
In remembrance of Aaliyah Dana Haughton, we have released a special “select” edit pack in our record pool. Although her life was cut short in a tragic plane crash. Her beautiful soul and angelic voice will live through her timeless music. In 2008 “The Fader” magazine did a piece on Aaliyah by interviewing those who were very close to her. Below is an excerpt from that article through the eyes of Missy Elliot.
Rest In Peace Aaliyah. 1-16.1979-8.25.2001
MISSY ELLIOTT
Me and Timbaland flew to Detroit. They was testing us out to see if we could make a hit record for Aaliyah, because she was coming off the project for R Kelly and I guess they wanted to try some new producers. We was kinda nervous because we hadn’t done records for any artists of that caliber, but when we first met her, she treated us like she knew us for years, like we grew up with her. She was always very sweet, always smiling and she made us feel like we was big producers when we didn’t have no record out. Even coming off a big album, she never once treated us like we were beneath her.
Me and Tim, our sound was so far left that it was kinda hard for people. They liked it, but they didn’t know if they really liked it, because it was so different from everything else on the radio. But the weird thing was, as soon as we did “One in a Million,” she immediately thought it was a hit. We didn’t have to convince her, she was like, “I’m telling you, this is hot.” I knew then there was a chemistry. She wasn’t close-minded. She was an artist that got it.
After that, we became family. She was my little sister and Tim was my brother. And we became the Super Friends! We felt like we was gonna save the world. We was gonna change music every chance that we got. We felt like we was gonna always be family. Forever.
I think when “If Your Girl Only Knew” first came out, people kinda said, Oh, she got a new sound. But then when “One in a Million” came out, the beat and the melody were so different from anything. I was in a club one night, the DJ took it back TEN TIMES, no lie. And this was in the middle of him playing, like, Biggie records and Tupac records, and here goes “One in a Million” in the middle of all this street rap! That’s when I said, OK, this is something different—we are going somewhere else, we are kind of switching the sound.
Sometimes when I’m talking to Ciara, we’ll bring Aaliyah into the conversation. I know that she would be somewhere in outerspace at this moment, because she grabbed onto the same mentality that we had: be risky. We always said we don’t want somebody else to do it before we do it, so let’s just take it there. How do you know that people are gonna like it or not if you don’t at least try it?
I never seen Aaliyah get mad. She was always so relaxed and reserved. I remember one time at an awards show, me and her and Tim went and got these outfits. I ain’t dressed like somebody else since junior high school, but we all got these Pony burgundy outfits. We was so mad cause we felt like she’s gonna win, and she didn’t get anything! And she was like, It’s cool. But us, we was like, “Nah, man, that One in a Million album was a classic!” But she was like, I’m just happy to be nominated. I never seen her go out of character. She was always sweet and caring and compassionate. Just a good person.
With the sunglasses, I think it was just persona. I mean, she was always a star, but when people can’t see your eyes, they really don’t know how you looking. Your eyes tell a lot, and by her covering them, they really never knew what her personality was. I think once she took the sunglasses off and got into her girl clothes, it was like, Wow, she’s grown. I think people started to feel like they knew her.
Even though she had the big baggy pants on, there was still like a sex appeal. She was like that round the way girl, cause at that time, you had a lot of females dressing in baggy clothes. She kind of related to the regular chicks but at the same time she had a sex appeal to her, so I think it translated. It was a mystique, and it gave her room to keep growing each album.
I still get guys that are like, I used to love me some Aaliyah or I got her on my screensaver. I think every guy had a crush on Aaliyah. If a guy tried to approach her, she was always nice, but you know, it wasn’t like, OK, I’m gonna call you in an hour! But she was always like, Thank you so much, and that was that. She was very focused on her music and her family, so I don’t think she really took to anything they said, until her third album, when she was like, “OK, I’m grown now. Maybe I’ll give you a call.”
Right before she did Queen of the Damned, she came to my hotel and she had these huge gold teeth from one of those comedy stores. I kept begging her to do the lines, and she was doin’ them with these big teeth that was sticking out of her mouth. And we just laughed and laughed and laughed, over and over again. That was my last, greatest memory because, like, she’s a clown! She liked to have fun.
I was in Jamaica when I found out she passed. Somebody called me, but there were so many different rumors on other artists like Luther [Vandross] and Whitney [Houston] at the time that I really cursed another artist out cause I thought they were playin. People were calling cause they thought me and Tim was with her. Then when they started saying this person was with her and this person and this person, I kept hanging up on people. But when I called Tim I could tell something was wrong.
It’s like losing a family member. It’s not like Aaliyah the superstar, the celebrity. It’s like my little sister. You feel empty, you feel in shock, you feel angry. That’s a feeling I can’t even really explain.
Most people look at her as an angel. That’s what she was. I’m not saying that because people feel like they have to say great things because somebody passed away. It is what it is. She was a sweet person with great, incredible talent who didn’t compromise who she was for the world. It was like: I’m gonna be a trendsetter, I’m gonna be an icon, even when I’m gone, you gonna always remember me.
“Last Thursday at The Echoplex was very historical for the L.A. music culture. We brought two worlds together (Pioneers & next generation) audiences/vibes in one room. The Beat Junkies are a legendary DJ crew that have inspired Soulection. The Cypress Junkies (consisting of Rhettmatic & Eric Bobo [member of Cypress Hill]) really threw down one of the best performances in our TSOT history. To hear them play percussion, scratch over beats by Sango, Tek. Lun, Araabmuzik, and more was truly inspiring. The audio can only give you an idea but you had to be there to really soak it all in. Enjoy this one.”
Shoutouts to Joe Kay, Andres, SoSuperSam, Esta, & the whole Soulection crew for a historic event. Also in the house: D-Styles, Mr. Choc, Melo-D, Tommy Gun, OG KDAY Mixmaster Julio G, Sick Jacken of Psycho Realm, & Ras Kass.
For all our digital record pool subscribers, stay tuned for some Soulection joints to be added to the pool!
Today for our Record Pool Subscribers, we have the special edition Jurassic 5 edit pack complete with original samples + the new single by SlimKid3 (of The Pharcyde) & Dj Nu-Mark“Bouillion” on our digital record pool. Salute to our fam Dj Nu-Mark & Cut Chemist.
To download the edit pack or to subscribe to our digital record pool, go to our record pool section: http://www.beatjunkies.com
It’s The newest episode of the Beat Junkies’ web series “Watch The Sound”. This episode features the incredible “Scratch Scientist”, the one and only D-Styles. “It’s like this……”
With an extensive catalogue of custom edits, remixes, & rare acapellas, our record pool at www.beatjunkies.com provides a wide array of selections to accommodate any DJ.
Our music library transcends all of our favorite music genres and provides a healthy range of selections for professional and aspiring DJs alike. With new content uploaded weekly, we strive to keep your crates fresh….Stop by and visit us at http://www.beatjunkies.com for subscription details!
You may have noticed in recent months that we’ve been very active on social media with our videos and merchandise. We’ve been working hard behind the scenes for quite some time….we know that you’re curious to see what the Beat Junkies have been up to. Well folks, here it is……..
We’d like to welcome you to our newly designed, revamped website. It took us awhile to restructure, as we’ve been working very diligently for well over year to get everything ready. As you can see, we are back with a sleek new design along with several new additions to the site….but for the most part it’s business as usual, Beat Junkie Style!
One of the new features here at beatjunkies.com that we are proud to share is the Beat Junkies Digital Record Pool. Yes. The Beat Junkies started an mp3 record pool, personally curated by us for the DJ community and music enthusiasts alike. Collectively, we decided to combine our experience as DJs and tastemakers to provide a quality music service for DJs apart from existing record pools in the industry. As avid record collectors, we are definitely looking to fill in the gaps and share some of our most prized vinyl records with the public – custom edited in a DJ friendly format exclusively for you! Our digital record pool is a monthly subscription service, and was carefully designed for Professional DJ’s looking to expand their collection and deliver quality multi-genre DJ sets.
For official Beat Junkies product and apparel, be sure and check out our merchandise store!
We’d like to extend our thanks to our contributors, web design, and our web development teams for their creative effort and dedication to producing a quality website on behalf of the Beat Junkies. And of course, a very extra special thanks to you, our loyal friends and followers for your continued love and support. We encourage you to browse through our site at your discretion, and as always, your feedback is appreciated!
