DJ Enki

Big dudes. Little records. Massive fun. And it don’t stop, y’all.

My man Headnodic gave me the acapella to the song “Red Line Radio” (featuring Raashan Ahmad and Moe Pope) from his album, and, well, you know what that means. Reeeeeeeeemix! I knew I had to come aggressive with this one because of the way the guys were rhyming, so I chopped up some drums, grabbed an energetic loop, and, well everything else fell into place. Check it out!

Red Line Radio (DJ Enki Remix) by DJ Enki

The song: “Shadowboxin’”
The producer: The RZA
The science: It’s one of the most timeless and fun-to-discuss, never-to-be-resolved hip-hop debates out there: “Which Wu-tang solo album is the best?” People will argue all day about it, and based on the many, many conversations I’ve had about it, Only Built for Cuban Linx… gets the most nods. But my choice is GZA’s Liquid Swords, not just for GZA’s rhyming (which is top notch), but for RZA’s production.
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The song: “Down-Ass Zaggin”
The producer: 5th Ward Boyz/John Bido
The science: The art of loop-stacking is taken for granted these days. For starters, that style of production has been phased out by drum-machine minimalism, but even when people do stack loops, it’s a really easy process thanks to Pro Tools and other software. You can get loops locked in with the utmost precision — even zooming in on the waveforms to make sure the snare attacks are lined up exactly — in mere minutes, and it you need to, you can do pitch adjustment to make sure everything is in perfect key with everything else.
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The Song: “Check Yo Self” by Ice Cube
The Producer: DJ Muggs
The Science: Let me just state this up front: I am a HUGE fan of DJ Muggs’ work, particularly what he was doing in the early to mid-1990s. If I ever got a chance to chop it up with that dude, it’d probably turn into my own version of The Chris Farley Show. “Do you…uh…d’you remember when you, uh…when you made ‘How I Could Just Kill a Man’?” That…that was awesome.” He had a signature sound, a tremendous knack for picking out and matching up samples, fantastic SP1200 programming skills (don’t overlook this–his technical prowess is integral to his sound), and a great ear for composition. That first Cypress Hill album (which I’m sure will turn up quite a bit in this column) is a veritable master class in sample-based production.

But for this post, I’m not talking about a Cypress record, I’m talking about a record he did with Ice Cube for Cube’s The Predator album: “Check Yo Self.”
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Hey, you guys remember rap records, don’t you? Hip-hop DJs used to spin them before Serato took over the game.

Jerry Nice remembers rap records, so he started this dope party called Track the Movement that gave us DJs who still keep shelves full of dope rap wax a place to spin those records. I did this party last year and had a real good time revisiting my collection–I have some records I had forgotten about!–and now it’s time for me to invade again and get busy with it. If you love that good ol’ rap music, then this is definitely the party for you. Better yet, it’s free, and there are plenty of drink specials, so come kick it and get down to some great tunes.

Saturday, November 5

The Showdown (6th & Market, SF)
10pm-2am
Jerry Nice and DJ Enki spin top-quality rap strictly off wax. No computers allowed!
No cover!

Back in 2009, I did some gigs up in Ottawa and Montreal, Canada, and I had a great time. In particular, the Grind party in Ottawa was one of the best times I’ve ever had DJing. It’s taken a couple years, but I’m back for another round at Grind! The homie Jon Deck hit me up, and as an added bonus, he said the Halloween edition of Grind is always one of the best ones of the year. How could I resist? I couldn’t, that’s how. I’m seriously excited for this one, and if you’re in Ottawa on October 29, I very highly recommend that you come through, because it’s gonna be an insanely good time.

Saturday, October 29

GRIND!
Babylon Nightclub (317 Bank St., Ottawa)
Jon Deck
Selectah Shellz
DJ Enki

Doors at 11
$7 cover before 12, $10 after

The song: “Nut” by Tuff Crew
The producer: Tuff Crew (DJ Too Tuff)
The science: Tuff Crew’s 1989 LP, Back to Wreck Shop, is one of those best-kept-secret albums. Most hip-hop heads from that era know it, and most who know it really like it, but it still rarely turns up on many Top 10/20/50 lists, in part because, well, a lot of great albums were coming out at that time, so it kinda gets lost in the shuffle. So while it’s not an album whose name is on everybody’s list, it’s an album people would do well to give plenty of bump to. The rhyming on Back to Wreck Shop is solid, but it often gets overshadowed by DJ Too Tuff’s fantastic scratching (he tears it up on pretty much every track) and the top-notch production.
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If you’ve been checking out the ego trip website (and if you haven’t, that’s when ya lost!), then you’ve probably noticed a semi-regular feature they do about “[fill in producer here]’s favorite sample flips.” It’s a really cool feature for beat heads, and reading the takes of people like DJ Spinna, Prince Paul, and Da Beatminerz is definitely interesting stuff. The posts always get me wound up to talk about sample flips, breakbeat/sampling nerd that I am, so I figured I may as well do my own series about sample flips here. So it is with that in mind that I present to you the inaugural post in the Friday Flips series, a (hopefully) weekly feature about the beats that make me say “daaaaamn!” like Tha Alkaholiks. First up: An amazing piece of work Tony D did for King Sun.
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So my dude Forty-Fivan just released his latest mix, and this thing is fantastic. His record collection is no joke, and while he’s been going heavy on the Brazilian and psych tip of late, don’t get it twisted: He’s a heavyweight with the funk. I mean, OG Scorpio and his People 45? Daaaaaaamn! So anyway, you should head over to his website and listen to the mix and check the tracklist. You will be happy you did.