West coast MC Medaphoar (MED), with a reputation for collaborating with some music luminaries such as Just Blaze, Oh No, and the amazing J.Dilla, produced his newest mixtape with an impressive line-up of talented performers, producers, MC, and musicians. From Oxnard fam, Madlib and Declaime to LMNO and Georgia Anne Muldrow, DJ Babu, Pok, Soul Professa, J Rocc, the list goes on and on. Mixed by DJ Romes with a special outro live on drums by Daru Jones, after one listen, you’ll know, it’s definitely something to Bang Ya Head to.
Tracklist:
1) Intro -prod by JRocc
2) Advice – LMD prod by Madlib
3)Misunderstood -MED prod by Madlib
4) Candlelight -MED feat/prod by Georgia Anne Muldrow
4) 50,000 Watts -MED prod by Soul Professa
5) Salute – J Rocc/MED feat WildChild & Baby Boogalu
6) Fall Back – Fred feat Med/Pok prod by FRED
7) R.E.M -Epsilon Project Feat MED prod by Oddisee
8 ) West Iz Back -MED prod by Khalil
9) Saga Cont. -Babu feat MED prod by Babu
10) O.U.T -Matt feat MED prod by Matt
11) Listen -Descry feat MED prod by Descry
12) Outro Prod by JRocc feat Daru Jones on the drums
Mixed By Dj Romes, Artwork by Plann B
Perth beat maker Ta-Ku drops a beat tape of Dilla inspired productions. Part 1 of the Tribute series. Have a listen below!
You have had a huge influence on the ‘Detroit’ and ‘Deep House’ sound, and you’ve been influence by it in return, what do you think separates you from other Detroit and Chicago artists?
I guess the one thing that comes to mind is I’m probably a bit more laid back than most other artists. I just enjoy listening to and making music. Don’t get me wrong. I have my opinion on certain things, but at the end of the day, I just want to have a good time with good people and good music.
For me personally, you were one of the first to really bring a hip hop aesthetic to house production - in terms of the loop-based, gritty sounding beats, but applied to deep house – alongside greats like Kenny Dope, Theo, Andres, Carl Craig. What is your position on sampling versus playing instruments, synths, and so on?
I don’t see anything wrong with sampling. I know I’ve been exposed to a lot of hot tunes that I would have never known existed if it weren’t for someones sample track. That said nowadays I don’t do as many sample tracks anymore simply because I think I’m better able to express myself or convey a specific thought or feeling by creating more original compositions.
There is a big boom of producers taking centre stage now – you could say partially due to the Internet and affordability of production tools. How do you feel about this new side to dance music?
I think it’s great. Anyone has the ability to be a producer now. I think the more hot tunes being released, all the better. The downside is, anyone has the ability to be a producer now and it does seem like there is a lot of crap coming out which kind of makes it hard to sift through and get to the good stuff.
Your involvement with DJ Godfather sits on a different side of the fence to your deep house productions. Are you still making ghetto tech/booty bass stuff or is the Rick Wade we know kicking on with the deeper vibes? Can we expect to hear more Big Daddy Rick?
Quiet as it’s kept, I’m still creating and releasing booty tracks. They’re just in a digital format as opposed to vinyl. You can check out my classic ghetto-tech and latest booty releases HERE
What are some of your bigger influences musically, outside of the house and modern dance music worlds?
I’m really into all sorts of music. Some that immediately come to mind are Charles Earland, Sven Libaek, Arthur Verocai, Nujabes, Madlib, The KPM library classics...too many to name my friend.
In our eyes vinyl will never die. How do you feel about the move to digital and the sheer number of ex-vinyl junkies now aligning themselves with Serato or CD formats?
Me personally, I'm straight-up vinyl, however, it doesn’t bother me a bit that some of the old school vinyl cats are switching to digital. I mean, I love vinyl, but I don’t lose sleep pondering the fate of the format or anything like that. I honestly think there will always be a place for vinyl with collectors and such, but I’m not sweatin’ it. That’s life. Things change, people change. You carve out a niche for yourself, roll with the flow and adapt or hang up your cape. Look, I’m sure back in the old days, cats that used to make and drive stage coaches were saying the same types of things when automobiles first came on the scene. Everybody from the horse breeder to the buggy whip maker was singing a song of gloom and doom, but that’s the way of the world. Time marches on whether you want it to or not. Just like back then, people will always need transportation, people will always need music. I’ll always be here to give ‘em the deepness.
The twin cities, Chicago and Detroit, are probably the most pivotal places in the history of modern dance music. Do you personally see these two places as one city only separated by a border- or are there vast differences and contrasts between the two?
There are differences in mixing styles and the types of classics a person grew up with, but as far as the people themselves go, a music lover is a music lover, a deep head is a deep head regardless of where they hail from.
DJ set from Biz in 1994 at Q Club in NYC. Please keep in mind that this is a live recording of Biz spinning records, interacting with the crowd, yelling and basically doing whatever he felt like doing that night.
The Sounds of VTech / Coleman: Sounds of Al-Mashriq (Middle East Mix)
