Beat Downs

My longest running residency was Saturday nights at The Korova Milk Bar, a Clockwork Orange–themed bar in the East Village. The gig was passed along to me and DJ Invisible by our friend NZ, and I kept it — even after Invisible quit — for more than four years before letting it go. I played whatever hip hop I wanted for a crowd of bridge and tunnel, college kids, and bachelorette parties. I would drag two flight cases of records to the bar, lug them up an aluminum ladder to the booth, and descend only to grab another High Life. It was a great “working deejay” gig.

During that time I made a lot of boom bap–style beats. I was addicted to the drum breaks and the soul/jazz that gave birth to the golden-era hip hop I grew up on and haven’t grown out of. The Beat Down beats are my version of the beats that made me fall in love with hip hop: rattling drums, choppy horn stabs, and simple scratches.

Rinky Dink was used by my friends from Northern State for a track called Things I’ll Do on their Can I Have This Pen? album.