Chicago Vibe Alive

Posts Tagged ‘Michael Jackson’

On Friday I decided I was obligated to pay my respects to someone we all owe a lot – Michael Jackson. His house is so close to Chicago that there really isn’t an excuse for not getting on I-90 E and going back to where it all started.

Traffic was decent and I made it by 12:oo p.m. Ever since he died I have been thinking about Cilvaringz song, “Forever Michael.” Cilva is a Moroccan Muslim rapper who was highly influenced by the King Of Pop as a child. Now being on Michael Jackson’s side hardcore in rap lyrics is something I don’t come across often. But, Cilvaringz thought he owed so much to his idol that he wrote an entire song basically telling people, “show some respect.”

And it goes on…The day I visited MJ’s childhood home there was a group of people from Grand Rapids Michigan who had driven all morning just to show their support. The crowd was mixed, not a large news presence but at least 50 people were present the whole time I was there.

After visiting the site and getting the pictures I wanted I decided to take a quick tour of the city when you stray off Broadway. I found some interesting abandoned buildings including, a theater, church and post office. The picture below are from the theater.   In the end I hope they turn the site into a memorial of some sort to bring commerce to Gary. I know the Mayor has been lobbying this idea since day one  - which is a little unsettling. Enjoy Gary…. MW

Michael Jackson's childhood home

This is my first attempt at cross genre mixing, turned out to be pretty challenging, luckily I had a lot of time to kill. This is an all vinyl mix and you can even hear a little snap crackle and pop in there so you know its real. Cut me a little slack as this is my first cross genre and I usually mix strictly 120-130 BPM so a couple transitions are a little shaky but most of these kids claiming to know how to DJ these days don’t even know what beat matching is, let alone have a turntable or any vinyl. Just Itunes and a laptop. What’s happened to the art and skill of the DJ? Anybody can press play on itunes and dance around behind a laptop. The studied and skilled selector seems to have been replaced by impatient, self glorifying posers who would rather cross fade Michael Jackson straight into ODB and sacrifice the mix making it sound like shit than polish their skills and do things right. The biggest problem is that their inexperienced groupies don’t know the difference and actually cheer them on, giving them a false sense of accomplishment, where back in our day the DJ would have been boo’d for pulling shit like that… This blog is for those who know the difference…

This mix ranges from 165, all the way down to 80, and works its way back up to 130. I think the most fun for me was being able to combine so many styles and eras, 1973 Cal Tjader tune, 1977 First Choice’s “Love Having You Around” from their album Delusions. It was pretty hard to decide on just one of the tracks from this album, which also includes “Dr. Love” and “Let No Man Put Asunder”, but ever since Paul Johnson sampled “Love Having You Around” on his “Get on My Camel” EP, I have been hooked. George Benson’s “Dinorah, Dinorah” (again, i would usually lean towards “Give Me The Night” but “Dinorah” just felt right this time). “Buddy” from De La, Tribe, and JB’s is like the Voltron of late 80′s orgganic hip hop coming together on one track, and then Stacy Kidd’s Chicago house classic “Let Love Enter” that is such an infectious groove that its hard not to get that wailing vocal stuck in your head for at least a couple days just to name a few…

Click here to download or listen below…

1. Midnight – Un-Cut
2. Unknown feat. Jill Scott – Unknown (Love Legalize)
3. Unknown (White Label Promo) – Unknown (White Label Promo)
4. Sandworms – Andy C. v. Darkhorse
5. Buddy – featuring Jungle Brothers, Q-Tip & Phife De La Soul
6. Love Having You Around – First Choice
7. Soul Bird (Tin Tin Dao) – Cal Tjader
8. Music And Wine (Th’Attaboy Vocal) – Blue Six
9. Dinorah, Dinorah – George Benson
10. Do What You Know (Vienna Sol Remix) – Vibezelect
11. Stoned (Inland Knights Mix) – The Littlemen
12. Let Love Enter (Club Mix) – Stacy Kidd
13. The Flow (from Bounce Back EP) – DJ Sneak
14. Rescue Me (Olav & Armin’s Xcessive Wodkawasters Filter Dub) – Sunkids feat. Chance
15. Pasilda (Knee Deep Club Mix) – Afro Medusa