2017 has finally begun! Thank God! I don’t think I could stand another minute of last year. So many losses and so many heartbreaks….it’s time for a new start and a new beginning. Time to look at what is to come. Stop dwelling on what happened. We can’t change it. So, let’s start fresh! But there is one lesson from 2016 that I am carrying into the New Year….”We can’t understand where we are without understanding our past”. So, I am looking forward to not only the new music that 2017 has in store for us, but also the opportunity to pay homage to the tracks that got us here.
Our first selection is the unexpected KDA Club Mix of “The Greatest” by Sia featuring Kendrick Lamar. I find it so interesting that in such a youth driven culture a veteran singer/songwriter like Sia demonstrates with each new release that not only is experience needed in the music industry but also appreciated. I wonder if those twinks on the dancefloor even know that she’s not one of them.
As soon as I heard the production on Sia’s track, I immediately thought of the Drew G & Brian Cua Dirty Pop Bootleg of “Queen Of The Night” by Whitney Houston. Both are sassy and fun to move to.
Back in late October of last year I heard a song called “Black Beatles” by Rae Sremmurd featuring Gucci Mane. Now…to be honest I am no fan of the Hip Hop meets Trap genre. The songs are usually too slow and the music always sounds depressing to me. The interesting thing about this track though was that Rae sounds like an alternative vocalist for Radiohead. It definitely makes the track unique, but it didn’t make me like it any more. So, when I heard the James Hype Remix I got excited about it. They time-stretched the vocals to 126 BPMs instead of 72 BPMs. And although I chose the Hype Remix for this set, I even like the Tom Budin Remix as well.
As an honorary Canadian, I have to be a cheerleader for our exports of talent…..not all of them, but the ones I like. The Sliink Remix of Drake’s “Controlla” gives me life! That Baltimore sound suits this track. I could see the kids today doing the “Running Man” to it. Not the “Running Man” that I know from the late 80s and early 90s that accompanied the rise of New Jack Swing. I’m talking about the so-called-new-dance that two kids in the projects decided was the “Running Man” while dancing to their Old Skool jam “My Boo” by Ghost Town DJs. Funny how that term “Old Skool” gets younger and newer everyday.
The Tom Budin remix of “Yeah Yeah 2017” by Dave Aude featuring Luciana is a fun little track with some bounce and a catchy hook. The vocals sorta reminds me of Icona Pop’s “I Love It”.
The Chainsmokers popped on the scene with their Ultra-Pop dance hit, “Selfie”. And last year their chart-topping hit “Closer” solidified their place in Pop Dance history. And I think the Sigma remix of “Setting Fires” featuring XYLO is a great follow up.
When I first read this next artist’s name I cringed. It is pronounced just like the Greek composer best known for his instrumentals from the 80s….Yanni. But this one is spelled Yonee. And trust me….this one is no Yanni! This one does a hot track called “Bombs Of My Love”. And from the illustration on the CD cover he looks kinda hot too.
It was quite the shock to find out that George Michael passed away on Christmas day. Like Dean Martin (1995), James Brown (2006) and Eartha Kitt (2008), George Michael left us a legacy of music and entertainment. So, I had to include the 20th Anniversary Megamix that features a quick look back at his solo work as well as his big hits with Wham!.
One of the artists that I really respect is Alicia Keys. Her latest album “Here” has some great tracks. And of course I loved “In Common”. And the music video sealed the deal. So when I heard her latest single and that familiar sample of Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians’ “What I Am” replayed on “Blended Family” I was ecstatic! I love a clever sample use. And lyrically Alicia talks about all types of families. For someone who has never really addressed the rumors of her sexuality she definitely has expressed tolerance and equality. Unlike gospel singer Kim Burrell who was recently caught via cellphone preaching a scathing sermon about the “homosexual spirit” in the church. Her words of condemnation were truly hateful. And now everyone is waiting to see if she is going to make a scheduled appearance on Ellen with Pharrell Williams later this month. Alicia Keys was lovely on Ellen when she went on to promote “Blended Family.” Let’s see if Kim even makes it and if she does will Ellen address what has sparked a petition to keep her off the show, and it worked; Ellen canceled her performance.
I have to admit that I have been kinda undecided on where I stand on Fetty Wap. His latest release “Like A Star” features Nicki Minaj and has a Reggae flava to it. I could see it being a Pop hit, but artists like Fetty and Nicki are popping up everywhere on other people’s tracks. Fetty is on Neveda’s new remake (or should I say remix) of Mark Morrison’s “Return Of The Mack”. Nicki has been dropping bootlegs of big hits but no actual releases of her own. Seems like ever since Young M.A. mentioned Nicki by her real name on “OooUuu” she has taken time to regroup before releasing a new album. We’ll see what’s next for both of them.
Sometimes artists in this business make some poor decisions. A good example was when Whitney Houston decided to stay with Arista Records after Clive Davis left to start his own label. She should have went with him. She probably would have went in a different direction than the one where she did a reality show with her husband and also the infamous “Crack Is Whack” interview with Diane Sawyer. Or Mary J. Blige deciding to do another full on R&B album after “No More Drama”. That was her moment to crossover. Of course later she would go on to record with U2, Disclosure and Sam Smith but her crossover moment had passed by that time.
I said all of that to get to our next track “Jealous” by Keke Palmer. She’s got a pretty good film career and she was even the star of her own show on Nickelodeon show. So, it was a little surprising to hear that she is picking fights on Twitter with other celebrities (namely Kylie Jenner) and dropping tracks like “Got Me Fucked Up” and “Enemiez” while starring in a popular TV series like “Scream Queens”. Why would she decided to play the “ghetto girl” when this would be a great time to be a crossover artists? You’re a pretty young lady with a bright future. Honestly…with all the reality shows that feature angry black women fighting and arguing all the time, we don’t need another stereotype of the African-American woman. The track is cute, but I worry for your future, hun.
And who doesn’t love a strip club twerk song? Well, our next selection will help you get “turnt up”. “All The Way Over” by Soljah featuring Tom G, Priceless Scott & Zaytoven is like a manual for getting those dollars in that G-strang!
Now…to jump in BPMs I decided to grab the S Ville Boyz Transition Edit of “Get Busy” by Sean Paul. This version moves seamlessly from the original to a hyped Club dub.
Since I brought up Kim Burrell’s troubles with homophobia I decided to throw another known homophobe in the mix…Beenie Man. Why? Because after getting banned from several Reggae festivals around the world for his homophobic lyrics, he finally apologized in November of 2015. I guess all the revenue that he has missed over the past decade finally convinced him that he needs to make a change. And now his songs are being remixed into Club tracks. The White Label DJs gave his “King Of The Dancehall” a complete makeover. It’s a hot track and I’d even program it for one of my sets.
A quick note to Miss Burrell….you can’t be in the music industry without working with homosexuals. In order to get the airplay and exposure you need to hit the charts you gotta be respectful and tolerant of everyone. Don’t be on the wrong side of history. If Beenie can learn it, you can too.
And our next selection is one of my favorites. “Button Pusha” by Ralphi Rosario featuring Aneeta Beat (who sounds suspiciously like one of the vocalist on the classic bitch track “Bodega Queen”) covers what many of us seasoned DJs talk about all the time. To me, after learning to spin on vinyl with belt driven turntables I sorta feel like I have earned the right to use a laptop to DJ with. For those of us who started before computers came along we experienced a type of DJ-ing that does not exist anymore. The feel and sound of vinyl has been lost to the cold and flat MP3. The quest for finding promotional only remixes made playing a song even sweeter. Today’s “Button Pusha(s)” will never have that experience. The internet offers too many choices and DJs now either recoil into their own favorite genre(s) or they are just human jukeboxes with no creativity. This is just my opinion, but I’m sure there are some folks out there who know the difference when they hear it. Aneeta sounds like a bitchy voice from the dancefloor who is sick of the shirtless circuit drones who are more famous for their photos than their sets. So, you know this is gonna be one of my big N&R tracks (nightly and regardless).
And finally I finished the mix with the 2017 Craig C Master Blaster Mix of the classic Disco duet “Enough Is Enough” by Donna Summer & Barbra Streisand. I guess this is my farewell to 2016. It’s time for some new energy and some new remixes of our rich history of Dance Music. There are actually six different new mixes of this great track, but Craig C’s production fits best with my programing on this one.
