DJ Stylus – The Vibe Conductor

The backstory on this cat is pretty deep. He was killing this style on a pair of these when I first met him on the U Street scene almost 15 years ago:

That was back in the Amphibians days. Then he moved on to this:

Eventually he was hauling a whole desktop around to gigs, rocking an array of virtual samplers and synth modules and a MIDI controller. That’s just how mad scientists do. I think he’s on Reason now. But anyway, you know this joint, right? Blackberry Jones + Asheru + Heron Gibran = Black Lincolns.

Blackberry Jones, previously known as Aychell made a bunch of amazing music with this guy that never came out.

They were called K.H.E.Mystery. They both rapped and did beats. Did you know that Slimkat78 (of The Els and Op Swamp 81, formerly known as Akuaman) used to rhyme? You should ask him about it. He was quite good. I have a lot of that stuff in the archives. And now you have some too, thanks to Rule4080.com.

To close, I’ll leave you with Blackberry’s classic Dilla tribute.

I think I’m going to have to do more posts like this. Joey and Shatungwa say so too. Folks talk about DMV hip-hop and have no concept of history.

Available through all the usual online outlets.

We gave the record a test drive on WPFW last week.

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I met up with Marsha of Soul Culture UK when I was in London and we ended up having a long conversation about one of my favorite subjects, DC music. In much the same way as my associates have been pushing London’s progressive artists here, folks over there have been taking an interest in our output.

Soul Culture is really on their grizzly right now, so I graciously accepted an invitation to write the intro (under the good gubmint name) to their Chocolate City Special. Kudos are definitely in order for the final product, as it spotlights folks like Bilal Salaam, Green Tea, Muhsinah, Oddisee and more. Props to the Couch Sessions crew who also contributed.

Washington DC Record Fair
Saturday, May 9
Warehouse Next Door
1021 7th St NW
10am – 4pm

Full bar, food & 30 record dealers.

Special guests:

Daptone Records
Chuck Brown

DJ Lineup:

Stylus (all vinyl set, 12 – 1 pm)
Eurok
Lunch Money & Almighty Dollah
Neville C.
Deep Sang
Gavin Holland & the Nouveau Riche Crew
Provoke
D-Mac
Dan Amitai
Nitekrawler

Friday, May 1
9:30 pm
Rock N Roll Hotel
1353 H Street, NE, WDC

In the upstairs space.
No cover.
All vinyl.

Chris Burns’ description:
Disco, boogie, cosmic, rock, funk, early house, 90s house and more.

My interpretation:
All the funky but slightly odd rekkids that never come out of my house because I don’t know who I’d play them for. And a few sing-along joints that you all know.

Temporarily retired:
Serato, CD’s and any other form of digital paraphernalia.

GET IT NOW!

As I was listening to this, I felt a strong urge to don a Madness hat, some Nike boots and walk up and down Georgia Ave drop kicking wack rappers in the throat until the riot squad came to subdue me. I told Oddisee this, just in case someone would be needed to explain the situation to the reporters that would show up to cover the story. It just might happen. My alibi is prepared.

Yeah Chris and PJ, I feel you.

I got the email too.

DJ Hut friends and customers,

We have some sad and disappointing news to share with you. DJ Hut can no longer battle the dual headwind of the demise of the music retail industry and the economic downturn. As a result, we are forced to shut down the store and go strictly online at the end of April. Effective immediately, all vinyl records, CDs, DVDs and books will be liquidated at the rate of 20% off the regular price.

We would like to thank you for your support over the last 7 years at the store and we look forward to your continued support online.

Best,
DJ Hut Crew

So many of my formative years as a DJ, and later my sense of community in the DC music scene were wrapped up in that place. The last time I reminisced on it, they were recovering from a fire.

We could all probably see this one coming with the way things are now but it’s still a huge blow. It also delineates some interesting market trends, as other stores that cater less to DJ’s/artists and more to niche collector types continue to do well, or at least okay. I’ve still got those long overdue posts about DJ’ing in the digital age to write.

*Sigh*

Farewell to The Hut/12-inch and thanks for the memories.

A.K.A. The Second-Best Way to Spend a Responsible Monday Night

We’re back from WMC and ready to rock. Did you miss us?

Oddisee, X.O. and Y.U. are Diamond District.

1st single: Who I Be

Diamond District Mini Documentary from Diamond District on Vimeo.
Filmed by T. Purnell for Packing Light Productions & Humble Monarch
Edited by Humble Monarch

GODISHEUS w/ Poem-Cees
Friday March 13
Asylum
2471 18th St NW Washington, DC
Cost: FREE!

Forgot about us?

A refresher’s in order. I’m with these guys:

We’ll be guests of these guys: