When I first realized that music expressed my world way better than words, I was listening to recordings on the Stax/Volt label. Otis Redding is my favorite artist, and this particular song is so iconic—I think it expresses the Stax sound: the raw funk, the big personalities, the great voices, the Southern common sense. I loved it from my first listen, and you did too. Here’s one of the best 45s I have on that label, and the songs that it inspired. And if you like the Stax label, we may have some real treats here for you soon! Continue reading →
I heard Notorious BIG‘s “Juicy” on the radio at work lately and heard dozens of 13 year–olds singing along, reminiscing on “The Rappin’ Duke” and Heavy D being photographed in limousines in the pages of Word Up magazine. The irony was extreme, considering the children were born long after Biggie was dead, and long long after Heavy D had fallen from the pages of Word Up magazine. (Since I initially wrote this, Heavy D has passed away. Much to my surprise, Word Up is still published. Hate to think who is in the limousine now).
I also realized that many people my age probably also didn’t know anything about Rappin’ Duke. Hopefully they know enough about “The Duke” John Wayne that they’ll be amused at the novelty tune. What ever happened to novelty rap, anyway? Or is that what Krayshean and Lil’ B are?
John Wayne
If you like novelty rap, the tune is a classic. Above is my copy of the 45, there are quite a few available I imagine, since the song reached 73 on the charts in 1985. The beat is the same as “Blowjob Betty” from Too $hort, and the lyrics mostly refer to John Wayne, but also reference other pop culture touchstones from the ’80s, even comparing Ronald Reagan’s ascendence to the presidency to the Beverly Hillbillies. Of course. Enjoy the original video below, and look out for the track to make an appearance on my next 45s only mixtape.
Like many obsessive music listeners, I hear music all the time. And not just when it’s playing—it’s in my head all the time. Oftentimes it’s a favorite song, but frequently it’s just vaguely recognizable beats with semi-familiar melodies floating in and out. This is the soundtrack to my daily comings and goings, always just out of the reach of my consciousness. I had always wondered at those “songs” floating through my mind, but I never imagined that such a funky, free floating montage of music could actually be recorded and put to disc. And then I heard Break it Down, by DJ Enki of the Oakland Faders. I’ve heard mixes with cool concepts executed perfectly. I’ve heard mixes that were incredibly technically proficient. I’ve heard mixes that contained records I’d never even thought to dig for. This mix has all three components, and a subtlety that ties it all together. When I first heard it, I had to know more about it. Lucky for you and I, DJ Enki had time to answer some in–depth questions very eloquently and thoughtfully. You can stream the mix below while you read the interview. Take a moment to also check out Enki’s blog and his mixcrate page, where are there are more mixes and you can leave him a comment.
Delgado: What was the process of making this? How long did it take??
Enki: It definitely took me a while—it was a serious labor of love. I like to have my mixes more or less planned out before I start recording them, and the planning stage took much longer than usual…several months, I think. And then the recording/editing process took another few months. I think I spent a good 6 months on it, all told, maybe even more.
For the planning part, I started off with some self-imposed rules. First of all, strictly OG vinyl—no reissues, no comps, none of that. That’s that digger mentality and wanting to flex your crates. Second of all, nothing that was on UltimateBreaks & Beats or had otherwise been repeatedly reissued. Third of all, steer clear of well-known samples. Of course, I kind of broke that last rule with the very first break on the mix because Kanye has sampled those drums to death. And there are a few things on there that I knew had been sampled: There’s a loop on there that my man DJ Zeph put me up on because he had used it on the Zeph & Azeem Rise Up album, so I put it in the mix as sort of a shoutout to Zeph, I have a drum loop on there that Muggs has used, and I do scratch the horn riff that Stezo used for “Getting Paid.” But in the big picture, I didn’t want this to be a known-samples mix, I wanted it to be lesser-exposed material.
I also didn’t want this to be a typical breaks mix where you cut up two copies of a break, then cut up two copies of another break, then another, and so on so it’s just one break at a time and you kind of jump from one to the next. I wanted this to be more fluid, more intricate, and more reflective of the kind of loop-stacking mentality that my own beatmaking is based on. And I felt like this would make for a better listening experience, too: Instead of abrupt transitions, it would constantly have elements coming and going so the music and the grooves are shifting and changing but in a way that kept listeners engaged instead of jerking them around.
Once I had the rules and the concept in place, I just started going through breaks, cataloging them, and then grouping them based on similar BPMs. Then I could start putting them together. In some cases, I already knew that this break and that break would go together well, but there was also plenty of experimentation, taking a couple breaks that were close together tempo-wise and seeing if they worked well together. I spent a lot of time doing that, finding those good combinations where the rhythms complemented each other. And I would just build from there—get a good combination, then see how I could move from that combination to the next combination by gradually dropping out elements and bringing in new ones. I wanted things to progress and kind of morph in a smooth, natural way, and I wanted the music to be constantly evolving instead of just jumping from one loop/stack of loops to the next without having something tying them together. And it was definitely a challenge figuring out how to arrange everything and deciding which elements would come in and go out when so that I could get from combination to combination in a way that made sense and wasn’t too abrupt.
As far as construction goes, the one big rule I had was that I wanted to stay away from chopping as much as I possibly could. I wanted to strictly loop things (or, in the case of the longer breaks, just let them play from beginning to end) without rearranging them. There are two or three places where I did some very subtle chopping in order to create a loop that didn’t really exist on the record, but other than that, the whole thing is straight-up loops. Obviously, as I was stacking the loops up, I might nudge the snare in loop A over a bit so that it locked up with the snare in loop B, but I didn’t really get into reprogramming things because I felt like that would be a whole different kind of recording, more of a production showcase or a beat tape than a mix.
Delgado: You mention in the notes that all the tunes & breaks are taken from the original pressings of the vinyl. How difficult was it to find original pressings of all these tunes? Are there a few tunes that you searched for for years?
Enki: Well, I didn’t really go seek out specific breaks for the mix, like “Oh, I should get such-and-such break on there, lemme go try to find that record.” It was pretty much just using what I already had (though the whole time I was making it, I was still digging, so I would incorporate stuff I was finding with things already in my collection). I’ve been digging for a long time, so I’ve built up a pretty good arsenal of breaks and samples over the years, and some of the stuff on there was definitely tough to find, though there’s a fair amount of straight-up dollar bin stuff on there as well. And a bunch of the breaks I have I didn’t know about until I actually bought the record—you know, something looks interesting while you’re digging, so you take a chance on it, and it turns out to have a nice break on it.
Delgado: I know I inherited my addiction to vinyl from my father (luckily I got his jazz collection, too). When did you get bit by the vinyl bug?
Enki: Not until I started DJing, really, which was around 1994. Neither of my parents had a record collection to speak of. I had bought some records when I was a kid, but I very quickly moved on to buying tapes, mostly so I could play them in my Walkman and have music with me at all times. But DJing requires digging (or at least it did back then), and I very quickly threw myself into that. A great DJ needs a great arsenal, right? And I just went wild with the whole concept of finding something I’d never heard before, constantly looking for that next thing that was gonna blow my mind. It’s a real thrill.
Delgado: Since you’re clearly an accomplished digger, do you have a few favorite spots to find the good stuff?
Enki: Groove Merchant in SF is legendary around the world for having the good stuff, but a boutique shop like that is sort of its own thing and not really “digging.” Cool Chris does all the legwork for you; all you have to do is walk in the store, and he’ll have ridiculous heat sitting there waiting for you—you don’t have to flip through rack after rack to find something good. Groove Merchant provides a tremendous service, and I’m definitely in there on the regular. And right down the street from Groove Merchant is Rooky Ricardo’s, and that place has been very good to me over the years as far as digging goes. And of course, whenever I’m traveling, I keep an eye out for flea markets, thrift stores, yard sales, whatever. You never know where your next come-up is going to happen.
Delgado: I was listening to the mix in my office after school, and four junior high girls started dancing and saying that it “slap.” What is it about these breaks that is so timeless?
Enki: First of all, I think it is incredibly cool that junior-high girls are dancing to this mix and calling it the slap. I never would’ve thought that this mix would appeal to junior-high girls at all, but I guess it’s like you say: These breaks are timeless. And I’m really not sure what it is about them that makes them timeless. Maybe it’s the way they’re played, maybe it’s the way they’re recorded, maybe it’s the fact that I looped them up (a lot of times music takes on a different feel if it’s looped). It’s really hard to say what, exactly, makes them so timeless, but they all move me in some way. Sometimes I’ll find a record with some open drums or something, but they just don’t move me. It’s like, “OK, here’s a break, but…meh.” If it has good sounds, good playing, good rhythm, it’s going to move me. And that’s the biggest key right there. I wish I could say definitively what it is that makes them timeless so that I could help make more of them!
Delgado: Hip hop has moved away from using breaks as samples because of their price and the difficulty of getting samples cleared. Beyond the basic beat making, do you think this move away from samples has changed hip hop?
Large Professor: Bandito Numero Uno
Enki: It’s definitely changed hip-hop. Today’s aesthetic is much more pristine-clean, shiny, and drum-machiney, which sounds cold and a bit sterile to me for the most part. There are times when people really freak a sample and mix it with drum machine sounds and do it really well (the way Bangladeshflipped the Harry Belafonte sample for Li’lWayne’s “6 Foot 7 Foot” is really fresh), and in the hands of a genius like Mannie Fresh, keyboard sounds and stock drum machine sounds can be used to make incredible things. There’s definitely good stuff out there in this clean, polished aesthetic, but generally speaking, I prefer samples, grit, dirt, that rugged and raw sound, all of that.
And beyond just the sound difference of sampled vinyl vs. keyboards, I feel like the move away from samples reflects a change the outlook of hip-hop. I remember a Large Professor quote where he referred to the “bandito mentality” that was prevalent back in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s. It was that whole B-boy element–it’s renegade, underground, and all about taking these bits and piece of discarded music and making something great out of them. Hip-hop isn’t quite so rebellious these days because it’s a much, much bigger money maker now than it was back then, and like you say, sample clearance has become a big financial issue. When hip-hop wasn’t such a money-maker and people didn’t really look at sample clearance as a revenue stream, producers could throw as many samples as they wanted into a song and not really worry about it. But the parameters are different these days, and after those first few big sample-clearance lawsuits, people started stripping down their sound (and their song arrangements, it’s worth mentioning), using fewer samples per song, doing sample replays, and even moving away from sampling altogether so they didn’t have to deal with the cost and the hassle of clearance. Correlation is not causation, of course, but it does seem like heavy-duty sampling fell out of favor a bit as hip-hop expanded into the mainstream. But that’s just the mainstream. There’s still a vibrant underground that couldn’t care less about that stuff and just does its own thing—that’s where you can still find that bandito mentality Large Professor was talking about, still being expressed in tons of different ways.
Delgado: DJing has also moved from digging for vinyl to downloading MP3s. Has this had any positive effect or has it simply flooded the market with DJs who haven’t earned their stripes?
Enki: It’s had some positive effect—putting a hard-to-find track in the hands of a talented, skilled DJ who might not have otherwise gotten it is a great thing. And it is cool to be able to bring thousands of songs with you to a gig so you’re prepared for anything. But even that has a flip side: I’ve talked with a bunch of DJs who say that having 10,000 songs can be overwhelming so they find themselves kind of retreating to the same few songs. Like, you’ve got so many options that it just overloads your brain and you go with those few safe things you already know.
But by far the biggest negative is just like you said: The market is flooded with DJs who haven’t earned their stripes. There’s little to no dues-paying anymore. You don’t have to spend the time learning the craft and amassing you collection. You can just get Serato, download a bunch of popular MP3s, and you’re set. It’s even getting to the point where using turntables at all is considered antiquated. It’s unfortunate.
Delgado: You have a great opportunity to play some of these classics at your monthly residency at the 45 Sessions—what is your favorite event or type of event to play?
Enki: My favorite type of event is one in which I have some real freedom to play what I want to play, which is to say the freedom to play “old music,” whether that’s funk, older hip-hop, breaks, whatever. I absolutely love that, and I get to do that at the 45 Sessions, which is why it’s easily my favorite gig these days.
I’m not as clubby as I used to be because I find the typical club a bit constricting—people want to hear what they already know, and if you deviate from that, then they get upset. Plus, I’m about to turn 36, and the typical club–goer is not my age, but is a good 10 years younger than me, so we have very different frames of reference as far as music goes. The club is largely a young man’s game, and I’m not a young man anymore. But I do still play some club gigs, and I find ways to fit in regardless. At these electronic music events, for example, I can get over by playing Miami bass, older Baltimore club, and classic electro stuff, cutting it up, doing live blends, scratching, all of that. So I set myself apart, I still get to do what I like to do, but I’m giving the crowds the tempos, the energy, and the low-end they want to hear, so it works out well.
Delgado: Lastly, the extra nerdy question: What kind of equipment do you have in your studio, and what did you use to record this mix?
Enki: I always love the nerdy questions. As you’ve probably noticed, I’m much more old-school than futuristic in my sensibility, and my studio is the same way. I use an old version of ProTools—6.4 LE (I think they’re up to Pro Tools 9 now, but I’m riding 6.4 until the wheels fall off!)—and I have the greatest sampler of all time, the SP1200. And I have my record collection. That’s it. Everything I make beatwise is made out of records—I don’t own any keyboards or anything like that. For this mix, I did the whole thing in Pro Tools—all recording and arranging.
I get love from my folks for this remix, but hate from record labels. It’s hard to keep it posted for long! Here it is on YouTube, because I love you and I think it really makes us 30+ hop hop heads happy. One of my favorite hip hop songs over one of my favorite beats! Dig!Download here!
Living in Oakland, I am blessed to have access to immense musical talent showcased on a regular basis. This of course is true for DJs as well, where I am able to surround myself with friends and colleagues that are way more talented than I, and see them perform on a regular basis.
Known worldwide and having just been voted the “people’s choice best DJ” by the East Bay Express, DJ Platurn is definitely at the top of the list of great DJs I’ve worked beside. His resumé includes travelling the world blowing minds with music, starting the renown DJ crew Oakland Faders, producing tons of fantastic remixes, and winning Scion’s first ever “free up your mix” contest. He’s DJed with and respected by just about every Hip Hop DJ you can pay to see play. He’s also started a great monthly event dedicated to an obsession I share with him… 45 rpm records. Hell, they even made a movie about him! Beyond all that, he’s a very cool and down to earth guy that just loves music, as the interview below shows.
This week, as The Tribe Called Quest documentary continues to spread across the country, garnering rave reviews from critics and fans, we share with you a very unique Tribe mix, from which Platurn is generously donating a part of the proceeds to charity.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with the man himself (in front of our computers, 1500 miles away), and was able to ask some questions about this mix that give a lot of insight to his thought process and workflow. Enjoy, and be sure to support great DJs like this when you can!
Delgado: First of all, was there an inspiration for the mix? Any idea or feeling that you hope listeners come away with?
Platurn: Not really. I’ve just always been a huge fan of Tribe’s music and their choice of samples. Many of the songs they used to construct their beats were really good songs on their own and so making the mix (and a lot of the mixes that I make) I wanted to showcase that. It tells a broader story of their catalog when you shed light on how broad their sample sources are/were.
I’ll never forget hearing Q-Tip on “Buddy” for the first time, and wondering where his album was, then later rushing to Rasputin’s to pick up the debut. For me, Midnight Marauders was big too, since it featured some of my childhood friends from Hieroglyphics on the cover, and proved to me that in some way I too was integral to hip hop.What was your introduction to Tribe? Do you have a favorite song or album that just blew your mind?
If I had to pick i’d choose Low End Theory just because I listened to that album so much when it came out and even though it had those smooth elements and jazz sounds it was still hardcore Hip-Hop. I truly do enjoy all of their albums though — there really isn’t one that I don’t like. I think Tip is a genius producer. My intro to tribe was the Bonita Applebum video on some local video show down in So Cal when I lived there — I remember thinking they were weirdos and I loved that about them.
Us hard core hip hop heads love the use of original samples on the mix. Is there one that was your holy grail that took forever to dig up? Is there one that sticks out as an all time classic?
Probably the Weldon IrvineSpirit Man LP with the “We Gettin’ Down” joint. That’s a crazy hard record to find and my copy is kinda beat to shit now. Note: every record I used on that mix is OG pressing. NERD ALERT!
Instead of “El Segundo,” there’s a track called “I Left My Culture”… what can you tell us about that song?
That’s MC Wonway‘s contribution to the mix. It’s just a redone version of one of the verses on the El Segundo track but done from the perspective of where Hip-Hop is and was in 2005. I asked him to flip the verse and do it over the instro. Note: my replies are the only time i’ve ever recorded my own voice on a mixtape, ever. Will prolly never do that again – ha!
The Tribe Called Quest documentary is out now, and you are actually thanked in the credits. What role did have in the making of the movie? What do you hope the impact of the movie will be?
Only impact I hope it has is what it already has had and that’s to show raw honesty about the lives of one of the greatest rap groups of all time. People love this flick cuz it’s true — those are the best types of documentaries anyway.
My role wasn’t more than Rapaport enjoying the mix and them listening to it quite a bit when editing the flick—I guess it was an inspiration to them how I told my story with their music and from what Mike told me they tried to mimic that with how they pieced together their footage. It’s crazy ’cause he hit me years ago telling me how much of a fan he was of the mix and how he was thinking about doing this doc and entering the beginning stages of production—so dope to see the follow through and the impact that it’s having on the film and music world. I’m proud of him for seeing it through and of the homie Lenny Messina for doing such a bad ass job.
I’m not sure how many people know you are one of the most community minded DJs in the game, between starting a DJ crew, helping out younger DJs, and donating your time and talent, despite the constant financial crunch that all entertainers feel, especially DJs. Can you tell us about the decision to give some of the proceeds from the sale of the mix to charity?
Well, it’s kinda wild that the mix is almost 7 years old and still so revered. My aim is always to make timeless music (the first De La mix is 10 years old & I still get love for that joint all over the world — V2 coming out later this year btw —with the film coming out and the mix receiving some shine again I figure I’d point out its existence and being that Phife has diabetes (which is pointed out in the film) I thought it’d be a thoughtful gesture to donate some of the proceeds to an SF based organization called danceoutdiabetes. I don’t expect the mix to blow up up that much this time around that i’ll be donating some crazy amount of money but it’s the thought that counts you know. I shed a tear when Jarobi broke down in the flick man—I’m not gonna lie. That’s some real life shit right there.
Lastly, a DJ nerd question. What equipment did you use to record the mix? What are the staples in your studio now?
The Tribe mix was actually the last thing I made on my old ass 6-track. There was definitely multi-tracking going during some segues but overall most aspects of the mix were live. I have Pro-Tools now but it’s an old ass version and I really only use it for the basics. That and the same Technics i’ve had for hella long (on their last legs for real — anyone got hook up at Technics?), a Rane TTM 56 mixer, Pioneer EFX and I also use Fruity Loops a bit for some original production and drum programming.
Any last thoughts?
Please check out djplaturn.com for regular updates and stay tuned for lots of new music, cool gigs and goofy shenanigans in the coming years! Peace.
Made this remix a while ago, it was pretty popular for a while but I realized that it wasn’t up on this site yet…. so here it is!
One of the best ever (and most fun to remix) dancehall lyrics, very familiar to hip hop heads, over a beat that sparked a “movement” of jerkin’ music. The lyrics, of course, are by Capleton, famously put over Slick Rick‘s “Children’s Story” beat. Believe it or not, that remix was made by Lil Jon. This remix is made by me… actually by manipulating two real live vinyl records simultaneously and recording it (aka the old fashioned way). Enjoy and download. I think this version has my name in it a few times, if you’d like a version without my name, send me an e-mail or leave a comment.
Had the opportunity to pick up a few Sizzla dubs the other day. It’s an unbelievable feeling to play songs about you performed by your favorite artists. However, with Sizzla, it is extremely hard to decide what tunes to get voiced since he has so many great hits! Here is one of the dubs I got from him, put over a number of beats just to give a sample. If you’d like to hear/download any of the other versions, send me a message!
The new(ish) Fabolous joint You Be Killin’ ‘Em has really been stuck in my head recently, so I popped out this quick remix featuring classic lyrics from the always delightful Cutty Ranks. Consider it a preview of Fresh Jamz! Enjoy.
I‘ve never been shy about my love for the wonderful soul music the Stax/Volt label released through out its lifetime, and I’ve been planning a tribute mix for the label for years. Of course, someone beat me to it… but for a change I’m not mad at all!
Continue reading
—with the film coming out and the mix receiving some shine again I figure I’d point out its existence and being that Phife has diabetes (which is pointed out in the film) I thought it’d be a thoughtful gesture to donate some of the proceeds to an SF based organization called 
