11
May
2007
Dido - White Flag (Rock-It! Fuel Mix)
Jurassic 5 ft Dave Matthews Band - Work It Out
Headnodic ft Procussions - The Drive
All Natural - Writer’s Block
Del Tha FUnkee Homosapien - Thank Youse
DJ Format - Now You
Jurassic 5 - Jurass Finish First
Ugly Duckling - Turn It Up
Young Black Teenagers - Tap The Bottle
112 - Peaches and Cream
Wreckx N Effect - Rump Shaker
JD ft Snoop - We Just Wanna Party Wit You
Musiq - Musiqforthenight
Lumidee ft Tony Sunshine - She’s Like The Wind
Cassie - Long Way 2 Go
Mase - Feels So Good
Down - Leak Like A Cholo
Will Smith - Gettin Jiggy With It
Danity Kane - Touching My Body
Gwen Stefani - Holla Back Girl
Ne-Yo - Because of You (Kanye Remix)
Maroon 5 - Makes Me Wonder
Nelly Futardo - Say It Right
Beatles vs Missy Elliott - Obla Di Obla Da
Nirvana - Come As You Are
Bon Jovi - You Give Love A Bad Name
Kelly Clarkson vs Blur - Since Song #2 Been Gone (DJ Steve1der)
–
I should make it a policy to stop mixing when I’m dead tired. This mix was nearly 4 hours of sheer comedy gold. Feeling bad for cutting my mix short last time, I decided to throw down an hour long mix for ya’ll. Too bad I didn’t find out until the very end that I’d plugged my recording gear into the headphone jack of my laptop and not the microphone input. Strike 1. Correct the wire and determined, I decided to try again. An hour later, guess what, I’d managed to hit the wrong button on my recording software and I have a nice hour long file of dead silence. Strike 2. At this point it’s 1:30 AM and I debate whether to give it another try. Figured what the hell… and the result is this mix… not quite an hour… was exhausted. Sue me. 
So this mix is all about style and defining a signature sound as a DJ. I’m all over the map musically as a bit of an experiment. The mix runs from breakbeats to old school hip hop to mainstream R&B to rock to adult contemporary to funky jazz.
–
I’d gotten into a conversation with someone recently about what defined a DJ’s “style”. We went back and forth a bit on what constitutes style and what distinguishes one DJ from another (beside just sheer technical ability which is difficult for the laymen to measure anyhow). It basically boiled down to what they played, the way they mix from song to song, and the overall energy they have behind the decks.
At the very end of the conversation, my friend (lives and DJs in Washington DC) said I had a very “West Coast” sound. Probing what that meant, by his count the crux of the West Coast DJ sound was a set that pulls deep from the crates–nothing is really off limits. The mix goes from track to track very quickly, any given song is only playing for a bit more than a minute, probably not more than two. The technical skills are demonstrated throughout in each individual mix. And there’s a healthy, healthy love for the use of old school hip hop side by side with newer material.
After hearing this, I guess it fits my overall “sound”. As somewhat of a joke though, this mix is me trying to be as West Coast as possible. Whatever that means. 
It’s got its rough patches since I was purposely trying to go all over the place genre wise , but ah well. (Jeremy, tell me if I slipped and got a little too East Coast).
–
By request I’m going to start making my posts in a slightly better bitrate than I’d been posting as.
bakasan 
jiggy, old school, indy, R&B, mashup, bakasan 
2 Comments » |
8
May
2007
Hahaha, since I’d been busy and neglected posting mixes for a couple weeks there, I had planned to make it up to you all by posting an extra long, hour long mix.. mid way through as I was about to go into a dance hall / reggae mini-set, my cat (Chip) managed to flip the switch to my powerstrip….and thus, ending the set early. 
Oh well, maybe next time. Enjoy!
–
Swizz Beats - It’s Me Snitches
Baby - What Happened To That Boy
2Pac - Pac’s Life
Far*East Movement - Boomshake
NORE vs Punjabi MC - Punjabi Mi Canto (DJ Starski)
Busta Rhymes - I Love My Bitch
Diddy ft Nicole Scherzinger - Come To Me
Bubba Sparxxx vs Paperboy - The Ditty Butt (DJ Spryte)
Paper Boy - Ditty
Diddy - Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down
Black Sheep - The Choice Is Yours
Yo Yo ft Ice Cube - Bonnie & Clyde Theme
Next vs Color Me Badd - Color Me Too Close (Kevin Scott)
Souls of Mischief - 93 til Infinity
Biggie vs Amy Winehouse - Biggie Winehouse (DJ Riz)
Too $hort - Keep Bouncing
John Farruggio - Iko Iko Reggae
Beenie Man - King of the Dancehall
bakasan jiggy, old school, mashup, bakasan Comments (0) » |
18
April
2007
Cyndi Lauper vs. Diddy - Last Time
BEP vs. Salt n Peppa - Push My Humps (DJ Briguy)
Missy Elliot vs. salt n Peppa vs. MC Hammer - Can’t Push Gossip Folk
Gwen Stefani vs. MC Hammer - Can’t Crash This
Missy Elliot vs. Outfield - I’m Hot With Your Love
Fergie vs. Madonna - Glamorous Holiday
Ying Yang Twins vs. Kool And The Gang - Kool And The Yang
Nelly Furtado vs. Eurhythmics - Say It Sweet
Belinda Carlisle vs. Nelly Furtado vs. Gwen Stefani - Heaven Is A Place On Earth
Eminem vs. BEP vs. Shania Twain - Superman’s Humps Don’t Impress Me Much
Hello people. DJ Retrospekt bringing you a short little mashup mix of my own. I’m venturing away from the typical cheese I usually post on here to give you this one. Retrofit consists of a bunch of 80’s songs mashed up with recent hits. A little bit of my cheesiness can still be found in some of the goofy mashes such as Kool And The Yang and Superman’s Humps Don’t Impress Me Much. The last track isn’t really 80s (although a sample of Tone Loc’s Wild Thing can be slightly heard), but I thought I’d add it since I thought it was funny. Anyway, hope you like it. I apologize for any slight stutters or skips you may hear…I really need a new laptop =(.
Watch out for when Kool And The Yang pops in though, my hand spazzed out on the gain just as I was mixing it in so it comes in sort of loud. I try to lower it as quickly as I can.
retrospekt jiggy, old school, eighties, mashup, retrospekt Comments (0) » |
14
April
2007
Robin Thicke vs Notorious BIG - Lost Without U (DJ JD Remix)
Lil Rob - Summer Nights (Mad Method Mix)
Rihanna ft Jay Z - Umbrella
Fort Minor - Where’d You Go
Game ft Kanye West - Wouldn’t Get Far
Ne-Yo - Sexy Love
Dru Hill - How Deep Is Your Love
Gwen Stefani - Don’t Get It Twisted
Lloyd Banks ft Lil Wayne - You
Deep Side - Let’s Make Love
Akon ft Sean Paul - I Wanna Love You (Sean Paul Remix)
Cassie - Me & U
Red 1 - No Fuss No Fight
T-Pain - I’m Sprung
Rihanna ft Elephant Man - Pon De Replay
Wayne Wonder - Gonna Love Me
Various Artists - Keep Bouncin Party Break
–
Thoughts
Saturday night at home after a some what crazy Friday night out w/ co-workers. Got bored so I hopped on the decks to throw down a quick set. The sound quality is a little bit iffy at times, I think I might need to replace a cable in my set up. Before you even ask, the mix title is after a couple shows that were on the TV in the background–couldn’t think of anything else..
Mix ranges from an opening, more laid back vibe and eventually shifts over to prime time and dance hall beats.
Once again if you want a higher quality version of any mix on the site, hit me up and I’ll get ya hooked up–assuming I don’t think you’re the spawn of satan or similar.
bakasan jiggy, R&B, bakasan 1 Comment » |
11
April
2007
Lil Wayne - Stuntin Like My Daddy
MIMS - This Is Why I’m Hot
DJ UNK - Walk It Out
Rob G - Reppin My Block
Rasheeda - Got That Good
T.I. - Top Back
Lil John - Snap Ya Fingers (Funkymix)
Young Bloodz - Presidential
Frankie J - That Girl
Yung Joc - It’s Goin Down
Chris Brown - Gimme That
J-Kwon - Tipsy (Funkymix)
DJ Rekka - Come To Gang Star
Timbaland feat Nelly Futado & Justin Timberlake - Give It To Me
Michael Jackson vs. Journey - Journey With Jean
Michael Jackson vs. Justin Timberlake - Sexy Jack
DJ John Farruggio - Sexy Nu Lick
DJ AL G - Sweet P
DJ Rekka - Heaven On Earth
What’s up ya’ll. DJ retrospekt here bringin you a mix from a friend of ours by the name of dj e-rik. He’s servin up some of that durteh souf style with this mix and ending with a few mashes. Check it out.
retrospekt jiggy Comments (0) » |
6
April
2007
Redman - Put It Down
Too $hort - Blow The Whistle
Christina Millian - Say I
Digital Underground - Humpty Dance (Ultimix)
Shaggy - Shut Up And Dance
Baby Bash - Na Na
Ne-Yo - Because of You
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
Maroon Five - Makes Me Wonder
Nelly - Say It Right
Jay-Z ft Beyonce Knowles - Hollywood
Chris Brown - Poppin’
Ciara - Promise
Kelis - Lil Star
Jessica Simpson - Public Affair
Akon - Don’t Matter
Diddy ft Christina Aguilera - Tell Me (DFA Club Mix)
Herve - See Me
–
Thoughts
I originally wasn’t going to do a mix last night but I ended up having a ridiculously stressful end to my workday, so after a nap and a bite to eat I decided to hop onto the decks to release some stress. If I’m on the decks I might as well turn on the recorder and see if something post-able came out of my session. The mix is solidly executed in general but my song selection was a bit more haphazard than I would normally like. I started off just grabbing records and tracks and seeing where I ended up–by mid way I figured out the next topic I could bring up for an accompanying blog post.
–
If DJing were a sport, in many ways it’d be like running. Depending on the individual or the venue, a DJ may be the only “competitor”, the soul source of music to keep a crowd dancing for an entire night–maybe even 5, 6 hours straight. Other times however, the DJ is but one of several that will be performing that night. The DJs will each take their turn to throw down a set and add their own touch on the night. Excluding situations where multiple DJs are djing simultaneously, you’re generally talking about one dj at a time for a single dance floor–the DJ is no longer running as an individual but he or she is now in a relay race and control of the turntables and mixer is effectively the baton.
I used to do a little bit of track back in high school, including trying my hand at the 4×100. I never excelled at the event and eventually decided I was a cross country runner anyhow. Even in my short stint as a relayer though, I quickly learned that the passing of the baton between runners was critical in the success of the team. Handling a dance floor amongst several DJs isn’t much different–there’s actually a lot that goes on during a DJ switch.
Do the DJs play the same kind of music? Do the two types of music that they play mesh at all? If I’m playing 1970s Swedish disco hits and the guy after me wants to throw down his collection of rare 1990s German death metal we might have a slight problem as cultures collide. Do the DJs intend to share needles (turntable needles, not hypodermic )? Assuming we sort out gear issues and we sort out that we have musical tastes that can work somehow… we still now have to actually reach our hand out and pass that baton over to the next dj.
Good form amongst djs is to discuss how the handoff is going to work. “Hey, I’m going to play 4, 5 more songs.” “What kind of music and tempos are you going to play in your set?” “My last song of my set is going to be X, it’s a super long song w/ a long instrumental portion toward the end to work with” Communication about the hand off is critical to make it seamless to the audience out dancing and having a good time. Just putting on a random record that lasts 45 seconds and going to the next guy “yo, here, go, I’m done now” would be the equivalent of a relay racer getting 30 feet away from the next racer and just throwing the baton as hard as he can at the guy’s head.
–
In my set, around the time I played the Jay-Z and Beyonce track the set up to that point had been a straight mainstream hip hop and R&B set. To illustrate how a handoff between djs might work, I decided to put myself into a hypothetical that the next DJ just came up into the booth and told me he or she wanted to do a house set and asks me if I could set them up for their set. I then use the next several songs to accomplish a couple things. I need to transition the overall tempo of the music I’m playing to match the tempo that house music carries. Secondly, I need to start playing some songs that can start to bridge between the two genres of music. The set basically goes hip hop -> r&b -> mainstream pop -> disco-y remixes of mainstream songs -> straight up house. In my hypothetical hand off, the next DJ has officially taken over once the Diddy DFA track ends.
So the next time you’re in a club and there’s just some crazy shift in music that you’re hearing there’s a real possibility you just witnessed a dj transition that just didn’t go too well or you’re seeing a DJ starting to prep the baton so they can make an orderly transition.
I’ve prattled on long enough. Hope you enjoy the mix and are digging these little sneak beaks into the mystery of the dj booth.
bakasan jiggy, house, bakasan 4 Comments » |
2
April
2007
Various Artists - Everybody Move (Break)
Justin Timberlake vs Europe - Final Love (Break)
Nelly Furtado vs Pet Shop Boys - Westend P Girls (DJ Krayz)
Ying Yang Twinz - Dangerous
Coolio - 1234 (Sumpin New)
Gwen Stefani vs Madonna - Hollaback Holiday Girl (Untouchable Blendz)
Justin Timberlake - Sexyback
Timbaland - Give It To Me
Timbaland ft Fatman Scoop - Drop (Break)
Journey vs Michael Jackson - Journey W/ Jean (DJ Sizzahandz)
Sisqo vs Michael Jackson - Jump In A Thong With Jean (DJ Frankie P)
Petey Pablo vs Blur - Girls And Boys On Fire (DJ NASA)
Lady Sovereign - Love Me Or Hate Me (Instrumental)
–
Since I’ve been asked several times now, if you know me (or even if you don’t), if you’d like to get a high bit rate version of these mixes (i.e. to burn to listen in the car, etc), please leave a comment or contact me and I’ll hook ya up. To save bandwidth and disk space though, I simply can’t leave all my mixes in high bitrate versions on the podbean servers.
–
Thoughts
One of the biggest fads lately, particularly on the west coast, has been the usage of mashups in the mix. A mashup is basically taking two unlike tracks and mixing them together–using the vocals of one over the instrumentals of another. The concept isn’t new, in fact it’s been around for pretty much for as long as DJs have been around. The latest iteration of the fad however is very embracing of taking the concept cross genre–dirty south hip hop over an 80s beat, mainstream pop over punk rock, etc etc.
I originally was going to just do a set of only mashups but realized quickly as I started the mix that it would sound like shit. So I added some filler songs here and there to carry the melody and vibe better–as I’m wont to do though, I got a little distracted and ended up on a tangent I wholly did not set out to go on. It started innocently enough w/ blend using Nelly Furtado (produced by and featuring Timbaland) over a Pet Shop Boys beat. Then a Justin Timberlake track (produced by Timbaland). Then it was a Timbaland track featuring Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado. And quickly followed by a Timbaland and Fatman Scoop party break. I had to break the cycle before it spiraled out of control.. And that’s how I ended back to straight mashup after mashup to end it out…
For the programming curious (programming being the song selection a DJ may make through the course of an event or evening), this set would *probably* be best suited in a Hollywood or similar type night club toward the very end of the evening. By this point, most of the very very popular songs (i.e. “the heat”) has been spent, and you just want to keep the crowd dancing and ending their night on a high note and enjoyably dancing away.
bakasan jiggy, old school, mashup, bakasan 4 Comments » |
26
March
2007
Indy with a jiggy twist at the end.
Brother Ali - Truth Is
DJ Jazzy Jeff ft Rhymefest - Jeff n Fess
LORD ft Recworm - Freshmen
Del Tha Funkee Homosapien - Thank Youse
Funkdoobiest - Hip Hop Music
The Roots - Don’t Say Nuthin
DJ Format - Separated At Birth (Fingathing Remix)
EPMD - Crossover
Fu-Schnickens - La Shmoove
Ghostface Killah ft Amy Winehouse - You Know I’m Not Good
Nas ft Various - Where Are They Now (90s Remix)
Pussycat Dolls - Button
Young Capone - Lights Camera Action
Bel Biv DeVoe - Word To The Mutha
–
Thoughts
haha, the mix into DJ Jazzy Jeff is rough. As I was mixing it in, I sneezed. HARD. Managed to salvage the mix and get it back beat matched, but listening to it again I can’t help but both grimace and laugh. Ish happens when you’re on the deck, just gotta handle it.
Mix to Funkdoobiest got away from me a little bit while I dug in my records. Easily fixed but listening back to it, it annoys me.
Need to focus on learning some of the lesser played songs in my crates better. Missed mix points twice in this set–once in brining in The Roots I have to fade Don’t Say Nuthin’ out and bring it back in again later. On EPMD to Fu-Schnickens you can hear the start of a new EPMD verse just as I cut over to La Shmoove. Knowing your wax is the biggest thing that one can use to distinguish him or herself from another DJ.
DJ Format tracks just BEG to get juggled.
Lingo break: juggling is the act of the DJ playing two copies of the same record simultaneously, each at a different point in the song. By cutting back and forth between the two turntables, a DJ can effectively alter the flow of the song and ad-lib a remix of the song live. The simplest and most common application of the technique (and what I use on Separated at Birth) is to offset the two records slightly so that you can produce an echo kind of effect. You basically hear the drum sounds and verses from the emcee double up. LA radio DJs are known the world around for their juggling tricks while mixing live on the air.
Love the Ghostface track and originally the intent was to drop it and take the mix over into more of a funk and soul vibe, maybe use all instrumentals and start dropping down breakbeats. As I was in the mix though, I changed gears and decided I wanted to keep it in the realm of hip hop and decided to drop in the Nas instead. While fading out the GF though, I shouldn’t have been so damn antsy and playing around w/ the Nas record. It sounds pretty meh. And I wasn’t really doing anything, just moving the record around due to boredom. Idle hands and boredom are the biggest dangers to a DJ.. they never take you anywhere good. ;P
–
As an aside, do non-DJs find these little analysis of mixes interesting? I intended to use this blog a bit to help demystify the dark arts of DJing a little bit and breaking down these mixes were meant to both allow me a chance for some self-critique to look back on, but to also allow the non DJ an insight into the way a DJ thinks, how they build out their sets, how they make their decisions, etc.
If I’m just talking to myself, then perhaps I’ll move the notes to somewhere off the blog.. Still feeling my way around w/ the direction I want to take this podcast.
bakasan jiggy, indy, bakasan 1 Comment » |
22
March
2007
Felt like a mostly jiggy set with a touch of old school.
Craig Mack - Flava In Your Ear (Bad Boy Remix)
Arrested Development - People Everyday
Alkaholiks - Flute Song
Game - Let’s Ride
Bubba Sparxxx - Heat It Up
MC Shan - The Bridge
Masta Ace Incorporated - INC Ride
Janet Jackson ft Nelly - Call On Me (NRC Hip Hop Mix)
Jay Z - I Just Wanna Love You (Remix Mafia Break)
2 Pac - 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted
Akon ft Snoop Dogg - I Wanna Love You
E-40 - U & Dat
Sean Paul - Get Busy (Selectah Mix)
112 - Peachies and Cream
2 Pac - All About You
Souls of Mischief - 93 til Infinity
–
Thoughts
Since this is more of a jiggy set, going to post up my thoughts and critiques from the perspective of grading the…. jigginess of the mix.
Craig Mack > Everyday people, probably should have did the cuts on the “ohhhhhh” and “Yeeeeeeah” faster. Sounded good live at the moment, but on play back, it feels slow. The song itself is slow, so the pacing of the cuts felt fine at the time, but the effect gets mired on playback because of the song’s intrinsic tempo.
Still love that Bubba Sparxxx beat. One of the most versatile beats in my crates. First few juggles were a little mis-timed. Oops. 
Love The Bridge. Probably would have killed the floor though, going from a very southern beat and making a fairly wide diversion over to old school golden age hip hop. Mind quickly goes “quick, quick, grab a silver bullet from that same era! ” Hence the follow up over to Masta Ace after one verse of MC Shan, a 1/4 or 1/2 beat off, but was trying to quick mix it in. Another quick mix to Janet Jackson and Jay-Z to bring the crowd back into the 2000s.
I kinda dug the transition from the instrumental to vocal versions of Amerikaz Most Wanted. Followed with Akon ft Snoop. Perhaps a bit too “Snoopy”?
Akon to E-40 to Sean Paul. I feel like I’m at [insert your local top 40 hip hop joint here].
112 transition was fine from a technical perspective, but listening to it again after the back I question the song selection. Def would have lost some of the crowd. Good song w/ a vibe that fit in with where I was going, but the song takes so long to build up to it that I would have lost people. Oh, and crowd that can’t appreciate Souls of Mischief–well screw em, I already hate them.
All in all, decent mix, took a while to get warmed up and going. Recording session had started from a set of cold decks and just jumping in w/ the recorder on. First several mixes were minutely offbeat, typically a half beat or so. Probably easily missed in a loud environment, but on playback on headphones, easily picked upon if you’re looking for it. Lesson learned, warm up with a few mixes here and there before hit record.
bakasan jiggy, old school, bakasan 1 Comment » |
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