I am beatbum. I grew up in Los Angeles and began DJing hip hop at 15 when I purchased my Technics 1200s and Numark mixer. We're talking mid-eighties here. I was very much into turntable tricknology ie scratching, transforming, accapella mixes, remixes, instrumental beat f-ups, double record tricks, etc from listening to KDAY, L.A.'s original hip hop station.
In the late eighties, hip hop was quickly giving way to a new type of dance music, "house". "What is this weak-ass "house" nonsense?!" I thought. I wasn't liking that simple 4x4 beat at all! However, things were changing. One trip to a record shop opened my ears to some guy rapping over a house beat with a killer bassline. It could've been Fast Eddie, or someone else, but I knew I could give House a shot.
I had discovered Hip House. House parties became "House" parties where I began playing hip house tracks. A favorite was Heavy D's "We got our own thing" accapella over any killer beat. Hip house lead the way to regular House mixing where I included scratching (tasteful, not DJ Show-off style) in my sets. Ahh, the good ole' House Music party days of the late 80s, early 90s.
House lead to Acid-House, then straight to Acid, and eventually to the harder, Techno. Breakbeats were the shit during the 90's underground scene in L.A. (known to the media as "Raves") lol @ Fox Undercover.
In around 93, I was done DJing and began making my own tracks. Messed with a Roland drum machine, an Emu sampler, some keyboards, some real bongos for live drumming, and Cubase. Been listening to Solid Steel since around '96.
** New music never gets old. **
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BEAT, BABY!
