Weevie Mixtapes

1997 “Nighty-Night: Deep Soul in Dub”

Classic funk, soul, and R & B tracks remixed in King Tubby’s dub style – to help you sleep…

“Nighty-Night: Deep Soul in Dub” was originally created as a two-sided cassette mixtape in 1997, then converted to a CD in 2002. It was created as a counter-response to the overly cranked BPMs coming from Techno music.

The premise was simple: take old soul, funk, and R & B tracks and remix them in the style of classic King Tubby’s dub style.

Each song was recorded three or four times to DAT with a different improvisation of effects filtered through my Ensoniq ASR-10 sampler/sequencer. Some tracks were messed with more than others. Most of the tracks were slow to begin with but I slowed them down even more for a stultifying drowsiness. Everything was then digitized into the AVID Media Composer (a video editing system) where they were mixed down from eight tracks to two (manually – not realtime, might I add).

Lou Rawls opens with a plaintive rap wondering if we’ll ever get some rest. My upstairs neighbor left a message on my answering machine while I was working on a track to tell me to turn it down so he can get some sleep. This was real – not staged!

“Ital Stallion Dub” is embellished by waterfall and cow pasture sounds recorded on location during a vacation I took in Costa Rica. Claude Cat (from Bugs Bunny cartoons) wonders if he must be dreaming.

In “All World Dub” you will hear me sleep walking out of my apartment, getting on the Hoboken NJ Transit 126 bus, and drifting through Times Square. Towards the end, you will hear a bit of the Five Percent preachers from 42nd street who were an ever-present voice at the time.

“Nodder Day Dub” has Bugs Bunny doing a new voiceover over The Meters.

“Quality Dub” includes sections from Masterpiece Theatre’s 1979 TV production of “I, Claudius” with Derek Jacobi.

“Bruise Blood Dub” is an arrangement I slapped together which uses “Come Out” by Steve Reich, “The Thrill is Gone” by Funk, Inc., “Walk On By” by the Jackson Five-Live with Diana Ross, and “Green Light” by Zodiac (from the “Dub Specialist” compilation on Heartbeat Records).

There are bits and pieces of sounds from recordings I made in Las Vegas casinos and the flight I took to get there.

The last two tracks, “Evil Dub” and “Gucci Dub” were on the cassette mixtape but not included on the original CD. “Gucci Dub” was created by spinning the turntable by hand to make it go slower than the slowest speed could play. The result was recorded to SONY MiniDisc, and then played back through the effects several times and recorded to DAT.

Before anybody gets pissed off that I have insulted Schoolly D by distorting his track so much, no disrespect was ever intended. The point of the whole mixtape was SATIRE. The whole thing is absurd. No one would ever purposefully remix “Gucci Time” this way as a serious endeavor. So chill! Smoke one up and try not to laugh. Or fall asleep.

1997 “Dub Primer”

This is a simple collection of my favorite Dub, starting with a clip of Jacob Miller’s “Baby I Love You So” dubbed to perfection by King Tubby as “King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown”.

“Baby I Love You So” – Jacob Miller’s (excerpt)
“King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown” – Augustus Pablo
“Power Of Love Dub” – Ronnie Davis
“Empty Vessel Dub” – King Tubby & Soul Syndicate
“East of the River Nile” – Augustus Pablo
“Ethiopian Rhapsody” – Aswad
“Kasha Macka Dub” – Blackboard Jungle dub (Lee Perry)
“Shocking Dub” – Linton Kwesi Johnson
“I Won’t Close my Eyes” – UB40
“Green Light” – Zodiac
“Columbia Colly” – Jah Lion
“Rescue Dub” – King Tubby’s
“Natural Way” – Augustus Pablo
“Roast Fish and Cornbread” – Lee “Scratch” Perry
“Pit of Snakes (Social Living)” – Burning Spear
“Levi Dub” – Rockers Allstars
“Conquest Dub” – Yabby U
“Chapter 2” – Augustus Pablo
“Satta Dread” – King Tubbys
“Queen of the Dub” – Cornell Campbell
“King’s Row (Sardonicus)” – UB40

1996 “Consumer Confidence… is High!”

This mixtape was made with two Technics 1200s and an Ensoniq-ASR-10 sampler/sequencer, all live. The loops in “7 Hits of Rum” and “Love is the Home of Be-bop” were pre-composed in advance in the ASR-10 and played back live along with the records. I rehearsed this for a month until I got it right. This is probably the best mixtape I’ve ever made, combining the spirit of the pausebutton remix with mastermixing.

“Getaway” – Salsoul Orchestra / “Bring the Noize (a Capella)” – Public Enemy
“Express” – BT Express
“Hit and Run” – Loleatta Holloway / “Super Casanova” – Superlover Cee & Casanova Rud
“7 Hits of Rum (Tar-tar Sauce)” – Weevie – includes: “Hit and Run” + “7 Minutes of Funk” (The Whole Darn Family) + Weevie Kybd & Vox + “Follow the Leader (a Capella)” – Eric B and Rakim
“Run Away” – Salsoul Orchestra Feat. Loleatta Holloway
“TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)” – MFSB
“Love is the Home of Be-bop” – Weevie – includes “Love is the Message” (MFSB) + “Home Computer” (Kraftwerk) + “Hip-hop Bebop” (Man Parrish)
“Blues Bump” – Bulldog Breaks #2
“The Creator” – Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth
“Running” (Sample) – Earth, Wind & Fire
“Rock the House pt.1” – (Bootleg) on T.D. Records (TD801A), Mixed by Special G. Main Sample from “Scratchin’” – (Magic Disco Band)
“Autodrive” – Herbie Hancock

1995 “Ab-o-so-lute-ly”

The title of this is taken from an affirmative often said by my pal Dirk van Dall who hosted many loft parties on 25th St. in NYC during the 1990s for which I donned the Weevie plaid bathrobe, packed the Mobile Weevie Chamber with gear, set up in the balcony, and ripped the rack like a can opener.

All kinds of breakbeats mixed in with some unexpected funk, acid jazz, Hip-Hop, with harmonic and Bulgarian choirs. This was done with two 1200s and a Denon pitch control CD player, live.

“Hearing Solar Wind” – David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir with “My Heart Sings” – Freakpower in Dub
“Big log” – Robert Plant with “Rocket Beats” – Cracker Beats Ii
“Back in Time” – Mindbenders
“It’s Your Thing” – Lou Donaldson with “A Kaval Playing” – The Mysterious Voices of Bulgaria
“Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic” – Isaac Hayes with “Moonlight” – the Mysterious Voices of Bulgaria
“God Make me Funky” – The Headhunters
“Pull my Coat” – Eddie Jacobs
“Jungle Jazz” – Kool & the Gang
“Soulful” – The Apostles
“Apache” – The Incredible Bongo Band with “Hearing Solar Wind” – David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir
“Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares” – Tangerine Dream with “Heh Yah Heh” – The Buddha Baboons
“Everybody Bounce” – Rude Rydims Experiment

1995 “Chocolatey Chips”

This was made during the heart of the Acid Jazz/Giant Step years. It wasn’t quite jazz, not exactly Hip-Hop, a bit House, and kinda funky. It reminded me of the name of the cookies that McDonald’s was selling at the time. Not “Chocolate Chip” cookies, but “Chocolatey Chip” cookies. They couldn’t call it “chocolate chip” cookies because it probably didn’t have enough chocolate in it to call it that legally. Same with lots of these tracks, sorta. Hey, it’s just a mixtape, ya’ll.

“Blue Funk” – Heavy D and the Boyz – 1993
“New Jazz Swing” – Jazzy Grooves Vol. 1 (DJ Smash Hunter) -1991
“Hanging on a String” – Loose Ends – 1985
“Huh” – Jazzy Grooves Vol. 2 (DJ Smash Hunter) -1991
“Scat Jam” – Jazzy Grooves Vol. 1 (DJ Smash Hunter) -1991
“Follow Me” – Aly-Us – 1992
“Hot “- (Frankie Knuckles Presents) Uptown Boys – 1992
“Right Time” – (White Label Remix) – 1992
“People Get Up” – Double Dee – 1992
“Positivity” – Chosen Few – 1991 (Band now known as “Positivity”)
“Walkin’ On” – Sheer Bronze – 1992
“Big Fun” – Inner City (Orig. KMS/Detroit release) – 1988
“Professor Booty” – Beastie Boys – 1992
“Check the Rhime” – A Tribe Called Quest – 1991

1994 “Whip-it-Out!”

The phrase, “Whip-it-out!” is borrowed from what the Central Nyack neighborhood girls used to say when they were arguing with the boys.  When a boy said a certain three word phrase to the girls, they would put their hands on their hips, waggle their heads, and say, in the same cadence, “Whip – It – Out!!”. This pretty much ended the argument.

Here, we whip out some rare funk, jazz funk, and acid jazz.

“Easin’ In” – Edwin Star (Freddie Perren)
“Captain Midnight” – Ronnie Laws
“Reelin’ With the Feeling” – Charles Kynard
“I Need More Time” – the Meters
“‘T’ Plays it Cool” – Marvin Gaye
“P.O.W.E.R.” – Hip-Hop Trax
“Moanin’” – Charles Mingus
“Give it Up” – Kool and the Gang
“Inside out” – Kenny ‘Dope’ Gonzalez (samples “Inside Out” by Odyssey)
“Big Bang Theory” – Parliament
“Changin’” – Brass Construction
“Burnin’ Up” – Imagination
“Supersporm” – Captain Sky
“S.O.U.L. (pt. 2)” – S.O.U.L.
“Popcorn” – James Brown
“Little Virgo” – Harold Ousley

1994 “Okie Dokie”

A nearly all-female funk and soul mixtape.

“Message From a Soul Sister” – Lyn Collins
“Jungle Fever” – The Chakachas
“Crumbs from the Table” – Laura Lee
“Blind Alley” – The Emotions
“Groove Me” – King Floyd
“On and On” – Gladys Knight & the Pips
“Rock Steady” – Aretha Franklin
“Miracles” – Jackson Sisters“Yes We Can Can” – The Pointer Sisters – includes a remix of a “Sexual Happiness” instruction Record, male and female reversed
“Supergood” – Vicki Anderson
“You got Love” – Rufus with Chaka Khan
“I’ll Take you There” – The Staple Singers
“You Did It” – Ann Robinson

1994 “Mines!”

“Mines!” is what the Central Nyack boys would say as they rode in the back seat of a car and saw some other cool car or motorcycle out the window, claiming it as their own. You always wanted to see a “Judge” Pontiac GTO before anyone else. Then you said, “MINES!”

This is a mostly Deep House mix with a few R & B tracks at the end. At the time, I was entranced by The Mysterious Voices of Bulgaria, whose music is integrated into a few tracks. Make “Mines!” yours!

“Can You Feel It” – Mr. Fingers – 1987 with “Messetchinko Lio” – Mysterious Voices of Bulgaria Vol. 2 – 1975
“Naked in the Rain” – Blue Pearl – 1990
“House of Love” – Smooth Touch – 1993 with “You Used to Hold Me” – Ralphi Rosario – 1987
“Black Thoughts” – African Dream – 1994
“Happy Ride” – Duty Free Underground Tracks Vol. 1 – 1993
“Blue Madness” – Detour – 1993
“Closer” – Mood II Swing – 1994
“Congo” – The Boss (David Morales) – 1994
“All the Same Family” – African Dream – 1994
“Home Computer” – Kraftwerk – 1982
“More Zajeni Se Ghiouro” – Mysterious Voices of Bulgaria Vol. 2 – 1975 with “Come Clean – instrumental” – Jeru the Damaja – 1994
“Love and Tears” – Naomi Campbell – 1994
“Express Yourself” – Charles Wright – 1971

1993 “Ain’t Got No Business”

The title is a common phrase heard from Central Nyack girls when talking about someone middling where they don’t belong. But this funk and jazz tape is where you belong.

“Good Humour Man” – Blue Mitchell
“Make Me Believe in You” – Patti Jo
“Three Step” – Oregon with Elvin Jones (Sped Up 8%)
“Soul Struttin’” – Young-Holt Unlimited
“Chocolate Buttermilk” – Kool and the Gang
“The Sad Chicken” – Leroy and the Drivers
“Bird” – Cymande
“Hung up on My Baby” – Isaac Hayes
“Blackjack” – Donald Byrd
“Jan Jan” – The Fabulous Counts
“Overtime Man” – Don Covay