Video: Breakin' in Norway (1984)

Yeah you know the song "Breakin' In Space" by Key Matic, but this is Breakin' In Norway as early as 1984.

I promised myself not to post many Youtube vids in this blog, 'cause I think that's hella annoying, but I have to make an exception on this as it really takes me back to when Hiphop first came around in Norway in about 82 or 83, but it didn't hit big until after Beat Street. After that everyone was doin' Graffiti, and Breakdancin'.

This is a clip from a school in the city of Notodden, and there's plenty of kids dancin', and they know a thing or two about Hiphop too, but the clip is in Norwegian.

This takes me back to when I was about 12-13..the music, the fashion, not to mention the hairstyles, and definitely being into Hiphop. Yes there was an old school in Norway too tho' most if not all of us were kids, and this here is the best clip I've seen on what it was like growin' up here back then.

Much thanks to DJ 4Joy, and Zulu King Dee Jay Toro for letting me know about this.

Now rewind selecta!...and make it a fast one cause what we gonna do right here is go back...back into time...when the only people that existed was...B-Boys...and B-Girls...

Mixtape: The White Shadow - Live @ The Limelight - New York (1992)

This tape is from another crazy palace of hedonism in NYC. Hedonistic literally cause The Limelight was an old church transformed into a place where anything but religious activities were goin' down, unless sex, drugs, techno, more drugs, House, more sex, and more drugs is your religion. =)

Opened in 1983, and closed in the late 90's because of the killing of a drug dealer named Angel Melendez, the Limelight promoter Michael Alig was convicted of the killing and dismemberment of Melendez. My manager used to say she wondered if some of the people running the place were devil worshippers, but I think it's more likely that they were into a different kinda devil called hard drugs.

A movie named "Party Monster" was made based on the events surrounding the killing, and to get a detailed glimpse into what usually was happening inside The Limelight you can watch the full movie here:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=PatroclusLover&view=videos&query=full+shockumentary

Besides all that, The Limelight was a great place to play at. There was a big main room with a stage and huge dancefloor, and a backroom area with a more regular club feel including a bar area, and smaller dancefloor. The odd thing was that the DJ booth was set up so that you had to play with your back turned to the crowd, but the sound was boomin', and this tape was recorded in the back room.

I pretty much ripped it during my 30 minute guest spot @ the Limelight that night, and I remember Japanese bizness men, and queens alike goin' pretty crazy back there, so it was a fun night, and a great spot to play at.

A little sidenote..if you're young and feel like partying you have got to experience a place like this in your lifetime, or you're missing out...find the city, and the club, and just go there...party...do it...but go easy on this and that so you'll live to tell about it. =)

The music in this one is more on the Techno slash Hardhouse vibe, with a little bit of straight-up House in the mix. Sound quality isn't that good, but it's one for the archives as it's one of the best sets I did at a club in NYC, so the mixin' is pretty much on FIYA!..Enjoy! =)


Tracks:

The White Shadow - Intro
Frankie Bones, Lenny Dee, and Victor Simonelli - I'm Comin'
N-Joi - Adrenalin
Frankie Bones, Lenny Dee, and Victor Simonelli - Alert Alarm
Unknown Artist - House Bonus Beats
Public Enemy - Rebel Without A Pause (Acapella)
Musto & Bones - Dangerous On The Dancefloor
Mike Hitman Wilson - Another Sleepless Night
The KLF - What Time Is Love
Crystal Waters - Gypsy Woman
Seduction - Two To Make It Right
Fast Eddie - Yo Yo Get Funky
Hard House - Check This Out
Steve Silk Hurley - Work It Out
Mr. Lee - Let's Get Busy
Seduction - Groove Me
DJ Atomico Herbie - Atomic House
D-Shake - Yaaah
Todd Terry Project - Bango
Black Riot - Warlock
P.O.P. - Theme From P.O.P.
Shawn Shegog - Living In The Dark Side
Adam X - Space Bells
T 99 - Anasthasia
808 State - Cübik
Mory Kante - Tama
The White Shadow - Outro

Download links died. Sorry.

Mixtape: The White Shadow - Live @ The Sound Factory - New York (1992)

People often ask me what the best club I've ever played at is, and it is without a doubt the Sound Factory(pic above) in New York in it's original location on 27th. street.

Why the best?..well first of all a huge club..I'm not sure of the capacity, but probably held about 2000 people, maybe more, and even better the sound system. When the Paradise Garage closed down they moved some of the sound system there like the Levan bass horns into the Sound Factory, and if you don't know about the Paradise Garage you really need to go study right now...but for one that club had the best sound system in any club ever, designed by the great Richard Long (RIP), and it's hard to describe the system at the Sound Factory..imagine being able to actually feeling and touching the sound, and the bass just flowin' thru the whole room, and your body..that's about how powerful it was...and at the same time the sound was so clear you wouldn't have to yell at someone on the dancefloor but could nearly hold a conversation while the music was crazy loud.

Add to that meeting Larry Levan (RIP), and Frankie Knuckles (RIP) outside the booth before it was time to play, and nothing but the best equipment including three 1200's, and Keith Haring (RIP) artwork on the DJ booth wall for inspiration, and what you had was a DJ's dream come true. Where do you go from there?...well you don't..you just have to put that kinda experience behind you, and move on or it will drive you crazy knowing you'll never play on such a badass system ever again in your life! =) There's nothing to top that.

Still, I only played there for about 1-2 hours, and that was thanks to my man DJ Jazzy Nice who was kind enough to let me fill in for him during some of the early hours he was playing before Levan and Knuckles got on to do their thang into the after hours. You see, in New York at the time it was quite common to start playing at 5am in the morning, and sometimes keep goin' for days. Same in Chicago where legendary DJ's like Ron Hardy (RIP) would play for 72 hours straight, and some DJ's now got problems playing more than 2 hours..lol.

This is a very short mix..about 25 minutes cause that's all I managed to tape that night, and is all about Deep House music with some harder stuff towards the end of it. It's not as heavy on the mix as I usually played back then because the Sound Factory had a "No Scratching" policy so when we played there we had to go easy like that because it was not a Hiphop club, and they didn't want that in there...there is SOME scratchin' , and the blends are tight, but that's not the important thing..the music is. In later years I've learned new ways of playing by workin' the crowd musically in ways I knew nothing about when I thought that the best mixer was the best DJ, but trust me it's not so.

I won't spend too much time talkin' bout the Factory cause there's plenty of info online so I suggest you Google it or whatever, but in the early years Junior Vasquez and Frankie Knuckles were the resident DJ's there, and the crowd was probably the closest New York was to the Paradise Garage crowd after that legendary club closed. Factory did seem to attract a little more mainstream crowd during it's later years tho', and changed it's location also, so as far as I know the early years from 89 to about 94 were the best years to play there.

It's very funny cause I'm listening to a Levan mix right now from the Factory, and he just played a record that went "The Shadow Knows"...lol...so I'll take that as a hint to shut up, and let the music speak. It's an honor to have played at the legendary Sound Factory, and to share my performance there with you.

Tracks:

Dread Flimstone - From The Ghetto
Lucky Strike - Body To Body
The Rude Awakening - The Dip
Little Louie Vega - Ride On The Rhythm
Sabrina Johnston - Peace In The Valley
Incubus - The Spirit
Lisa Stansfield - People Hold On (Acapella)
? - Somebody Scream
Lidell Townsell - Nu Nu

Download links dead. Sorry.

The White Shadow - Norwegian DMC DJ Battle mixes 1988 and 1989

In 1988 and 89 I entered the DMC competitions in Norway, and won both years. Didn't make it past the eliminations in the world championships in '88, but placed 10th. in '89.

My DJ name at the time was DJ Fresh.

Winning the DMC's was definitely the start of my DJ career for real, and I have loads of stories to share about those DJ battles, and events, that I'll save for my book.

Instead here's audio of my winning mixes. The first 7 minutes of the '88 routine is my winning mix, and the remaining 9 minutes is a DJ showcase I did at various clubs in Norway as part of my Norwegian DJ Champ tour that year, and the '89 routine is my Norway DMC routine.

Enjoy these old school battle mixes.

Downloads:

DMC 1988:

http://hu.lk/c6gksn56zj5e

DMC 1989:

Link died. Sorry.

Mixtape: DJ Dave Dale Live @ Camus Circus / Holms Hotel - Geilo / Norway (1980)

Every DJ should have a mentor, and this is mine.

Nils Teigen aka DJ Dave Dale from my hometown of Geilo in Norway was the local superstar DJ here during the Disco era. He started as a DJ in 1975 inspired by several DJ's from 208 Radio Luxembourg.

One of the legendary DJ's from that even more legendary radio station was Tony Prince who later started the Disco Mix Club known for putting out DJ Only tapes and records from the early 80's, and perhaps better known for hosting the World DJ Mixing Championships every year from 1984, and still doin' it.

Word has it that some of the Radio Lux DJ's visited Geilo, and showed Dave how to DJ.

Dave's style of DJ'ing is a lot different from what most DJ's are doing now. He's not a mix DJ first of all, but a personality jock talking between records more radio style than blending records by bpm's like almost all DJ's in clubs do now, but back then in the 70's and 80's it was more common to rock the mic than mix unless you were DJ'ing in New York, London, or other big cities. The advantage to that style was that you didn't have to worry about the records being aproximately the same bpm's, but had the freedom to play an uptempo Disco cut, then a slow jam, then a mid tempo Funk number, etc...

I first got introduced to Disco by my dad turning me onto Radio Lux in '75 or '76, and because of that I knew what I was gonna do when I grew up, but in 1978 after my parents divorced and my mom would party at the local club called Sherlock Holmes she told me there was a DJ there who was just as good as the guys from Radio Lux, he played all the best Funk and Disco music, and he always was impecably dressed sporting a black suit and tie, wearing sunglasses, and a badass attitude, being in total control of the sound-system, crowd, and dancefloor at the age of 15-16 something, and that DJ was Dave Dale.

My mom's boyfriend copped two tapes from him back then in 1978 that I don't have anymore, but after hearing those, and seeing Dave spin at a rehersal in the daytime...I was way too young to hit the clubs just yet...I was hooked, and he became my super hero during my early years of DJ'ing. When he played at school parties, and the local youth club I got to know Dave a little bit, and I would copy Dave's style on the mic to the point where it sometimes was hard to tell if it was me or him. =)

I know there's people in the DJ and Hiphop community in Norway, and other contries who might look up to me in the same way, and I've always tried to treat people well because I know what it's like to have a hero or a mentor to look up to when you're a kid...that shit's important, and Dave looked out for me when I was younger, and also hit me up with my first paid DJ gig in 1985.

Nuff talk. Take some time out to experience a different style of DJ'ing that you might not be familiar with unless you go way back, and enjoy this tape of Funk and Disco from 1975 to 1980 recorded in '80 at the same club as Sherlock Holmes that had changed it's name to Camus Circus, and turned from Disco to nightclub in 1979.

Fun fact: This Time Baby by Jackie Moore was the first record played by Dave on the opening night of Camus Circus.

This tape was recorded on a Saturday night some time in 1980.

Enjoy!


Tracks:

Side A:

T-Connection - On Fire
Jumbo - Everybody Let's Dance
Heatwave - Boogie Nights
DJ Scott - Disco Duck
McFadden & Whitehead - Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now
George McCrae - Rock Me Baby
Cameron - Let's Get It Off
Various Artists - The 1979 Disconet Top Tune Medley

Side B:

Narada Michael Walden - The Real Thang
Flakes - Sugar Frosted Lover
The Eagles - Hotel California
Leo's Sunshipp - Give Me The Sunshine
Brass Construction - How Do Ya' Do
Earth, Wind, & Fire - Pride
Zapp - More Bounce To The Ounce
Linx - You're Lyin'
Mirage - Summer Grooves
Stevie Wonder - Master Blaster (Jammin')

Download links gone. Sorry.

The Late Night Hype Show

If there is one radio show in the world that deserves a best Hiphop radio of all time award the Late Night Hype show is it.

On the airwaves for ten years, this legendary weekly show based in Milwaukee with DJ's Jay Bee and Aaron Wade on the mic's and tables, and later JP, and madman Bobby Brewski was the perfect hosts for the perfect show. Sure there's no denying the impact of the classic shows such as the Wake Up Show, and the old school New York shows like Mr. Magic's Rap Attack, Red Alert, Marley Marl, World Famous Supreme Team, and so on that invented Hiphop radio..before them there was nothing, but this show added it's own styles to the game, and was perfect for that time period, and will be missed by all underground Hiphop artists as it was a way for us to be heard that's gone now, not to mention all the fun they had in the studio that made us the listeners have a ball (no homo) every time they were on...not to mention the MUSIC...man, we are talkin' nothing but THE best Hiphop from 1998-2008, and none of that bullshit either...the best independent, local, classics, and selected mainstream releases is what got played at the LNH.

We were all sad when the show ended last year, but at the same time it was perfect as it was exactly ten years on the air. Thank you my family away from home for all the friendship, love and support, and for all the great music we've made so far as Strange Brew, The Pizdamen, and solo joints...I'm saying so far cause it ain't over yet! =)

Thanks to Jay Bee you can check out a lot of the old shows online now at:

http://lnhbsides.com/

Don't miss out!..that's all I'm sayin'..trust me on this one.

Mixtape: The White Shadow - Brooklyn Style (1992)

My first official mixtape release originally titled "Rap 'Em & Scratch 'Em", this is a mixtape I recorded in 1992 when I lived in New York, for Johnny T's Sound Effects record store at Fulton street mall in Brooklyn (pic above). Mixed live at my manager's crib on West End Ave. in Manhattan like so many other tapes, and freestyle sessions I'm gonna post later.

I did a gig at the Ritz...a concert hall in Manhattan, and opened up for KRS 1, Das Efx, UMC's, and Fu-Schnickens that night. The gig started out messy cause I had problems with one of the turntables, and all of a sudden no sound, and the record on the other table was about to end, so I had to do the nasty and flip the needle back to the beginning of the record while trying to fix the other table. The crowd went "Booooooooooooo", and we're talkin' 'bout a big room packed with about 4000 people, and most of New York's Hiphop elite at the time...anyway, I fixed the table, cut the hell out of two copies of Leaders Of The New School's "Case Of The PTA", and because of that I had the pleasure of getting to know what a LOUD cheer of pure joy, shock, and surprise from a pussy whipped New York crowd sounds like. Best feeling ever!

My man Tricky Tee (Sleeping Bag/Zulu Nation), and Ultramagnetic MC's was rockin' the mic freestyle that night, and Afrika Bambaataa and Jazzy Jay gave me props, and KRS 1...oh fuckit...gotta save some for my book, and this tape isn't even from that night, but Johnny T approached me at the Ritz and invited me out to his store in Brooklyn plenty of times to do showcases, and gave me a big stack of records to make this tape for him. DJ Scratch from EPMD was at the store chillin', and my man DJ White Lightnin' got on the cut for a sec too. We ripped it, and girls stopped me outside the store after...ahhh...one of those wonderful 15 minutes of fame! =)...and props to the Handy Man and his crew for lookin' out for me that day...anyway..this tape has most of the biggest Hiphop classics of the summer of '92, some underground bangers, some classic joints, and a LOT of turntable tricks old school style...you know...2 copies of every record and just cuttin' 'em up freestyle.

The Roxanne Shante joint was also my first exclusive on a mixtape, and is different (better!) than the album version...no one had heard it in New York yet, but I managed to get my hands on double test pressings thanks to the label staff at Cold Chillin'...anyway...Grab that 40oz of Old English 800, spark that philly blunt, and let the good ol' Timberland boots stomp to this tape from the golden era of Hiphop!


Tracks:

Showbiz & A.G. - Soul Clap
Pete Rock & CL Smooth - They Reminisce Over You
Super Cat - Ghetto Red Hot
Roxanne Shante - Big Mama
Fu Schnickens - La Schmoove
Heavy D - You Can't See What I Can See
Kriss Kross - Jump
Naughty By Nature - Uptown Anthem
Cypress Hill - How I Could Just Kill A Man
Das EFX - They Want EFX
The U.M.C.'s - Swing It To The Area
A Tribe Called Quest - Check The Rhime
Kid & Play - Slippin'
Chill Rob G - The Court Is Now In Session
Kenny Dope & The Mad Racket - Supa
A Tribe Called Quest - Scenario
Ultramagnetic MC's - Poppa Large
Main Source - Fakin' The Funk

The links went to megaupload-heaven! =)