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Fine Day by djriffraff

Fine Day by djriffraff

“Fine Day” by Opus III

Summer days were sometimes wasted after school waiting for our parents to pick us up at friends house. To kill the time we would stair like zombies in front of our televisions sets with whatever videos “The Box” would play. None of us wanted to ring up our parents phone bills so waiting for 2 Lives Crew’s “C’mon babe” was not out of the question. The dead like zombie stair would change to excitement when our favorite rap videos would come on. Their data base was extensive of videos but the more underground, obscure videos would rarely come on. These video fed our artistic side.

The song “Fine Day” by Opus III was one of those rare occurrences, which my friends wanted to change the channel. I only saw this once and there after when youtube came around, but I never forgot the comfort in Kristy Hawkshaw’s voice, but it stayed back in my mental data store that one day I’ll find this track and use it for something.

This has to be one of my favorites residencies of all time. Walking inside the Shady Lady Saloon is a step into the nostalgia’s past. The velvet wall coverings, the gold pannels on the ceiling with dimmed out lights vibe that sets the tone. When bars and clubs open up shop for purposes other than craft, they lacks in flavor. When say “Flavor” I’m not talking salty, sour or sweet. Having flavor means that one has a particular style, rhythm and mind of its own rather than that of the typical, plain and mundane. The Shady Lady definitely has a flavor of its own that separates itself from the craftless.

I’ve been fortunate enough to hold down the Straight, No Chaser guest resident spot at the Shady Lady along side with DJ Crook. Just as craft is an important key whether it be the food, the drinks, and the vibe, so is the music that we play there.

here is footage of what goes on.

almost every tuesday night at 10:40pm pst, i do a mix show on ustream.tv. since leaving kdvs i needed an outlet to be heard as a dj. the drive from roseville to davis and back to roseville again at 1am started to take its tool. then my time slot got moved to 12am to 2am, getting home at 3:30am. i know this may sound strange that a dj whose job it is to be out at night would get tired of coming home in the middle of the night. the time driving home, the and the cost of gas started to take its toll. it would be different if i was getting paid, but that isn’t not going to happen, since kdvs is a non-profit, volunteer ran station. i’m not complaining though. i used to drive from elk grove to davis almost 3-4 times a week for my show and other volunteer work from 1995-2003…so i know what time it is with the cake. The good thing was that i could record and download music from their library when ever i wanted along with the occasional phone calls to the homey taro kasen in tokyo, some of you may know him as the founder of jazzy sport records.

the show takes off where global underground rundfunk left off. in some ways, its even better since i’m not confined to the following the rule of not saying the 7 dirty words. not like go there during my shows but its good to know i have that kind of freedom.

here is the lastest Style Supremacy Telecommunications show.

enjoy

I’ve always been an fan of underground music and the culture that goes along with it. In this youtube clip from 1991, the producers of this clip examine what was going on at the time between the economic classes, and racial groups and how they correlate to this music we call Aciiieeeeed!!!!

Fraction of Friction by djriffraff

The biography sheet is the sheet of paper that most dj’s, publicists, A & R’s and other music people recycle before reading it. These sheets usually have a picture of the artist in some faux location with a flight case of records. The writing usually is about how cutting edge their sound is, how dope they rap, who they sound like, and how it’s carting at number one on the College Music Journal.

There is a reason why I don’t read them or want to write them. I’ve always felt that music should speak for itself. People don’t need to read about how dope someone’s album is, they can get to that conclusion themselves. Most of the time people read these things and the person who is writing the paragraph is not musician themselves. Lot of these cats are interns, or some college attention hoe trying to get close to their favorite indi rapper, or tight jean wearing dj.

And that’s some shit I can’t understand, but that a whole nother entry. Dudes who wear skinny jeans and sagging their jeans, while wearing bright florescent Ray Ban shades and Bianci flip hats, look like babies who gone and done shit their pants. I can’t apologies for that. My schooling of hip hop won’t let that slide.

To make a long story short, the writing don’t mean shit. The music will speak. In this poor state of the economy, people are pushing albums harder than before making the album sound better than what it really is with ring tones, and wallpaper for cell phone. Just like your favorite rappers on MTV.

Soon I’ll have a bio sheet for myself as an artist and press sheet for albums, mixes, whatever…but I would like to have my music speak for itself, with out words.

In conclusion this all comes down to style and how it’s flipped, so when you hear me play music or create it you can get a feel of where it comes from with no bio sheet.

Here is a practice mix that I got down on. You’ll hear variations in trick mixing patters, cue skratches, and echo fades. The was recorded live in one take with watermarks and drop put over after the recording. The tracks used on this mix are flipped in a underground hip hop style. Peep game.

I have some mixes in my soundcloud.com/djriffraff account.  You can download them for free.  I will be updating that account periodically, so check here for more info.

peace