When I first heard Waajeed’s music years ago, I liked what he was doing but at the same time I felt like he was something of a J Dilla knock-off. They were boys, so that didn’t necessarily bother me. Then my man Selecta dropped his remix of Troubleman’s “Without You” (which featured on my recent Late Late Night Mixxx) and that got my head nodding so hard it damn near fell off. Since then, I have been addicted to Waajeed. I used his production of Tiombe Lockhart’s “O’Bloody Days, O’Starry Nights on the Bowery” in my mix to kick off this here blog, though I somehow forgot to include it in my year end top tracks post, despite the fact that it deserved it. In late December, I picked up this really nice mix CD of his re-edits, remixes, and unreleased jams, but it wasn’t until just a few weeks ago when we were listening to it while freshening up the new space for the record shop that I *really* listened to his remake of Burt Bacharach’s “The Look Of Love”.
Man, that shit hit me like an Acme anvil. If that isn’t one of the best soul songs of the past decade, I don’t know what is. I’ve had it stuck in my head for weeks, so I had to go ahead and get the 12″ and it finally came in yesterday. Now it is REALLY stuck in my head. I love it when that happens with a great song like this. I really can’t get enough of it.
The guy also knows his shit about music, check out this video of him digging at Melodies and Memories in Detroit, he even gives it up to Kraftwerk (whom he uses more than a few times in the dope as hell mix CD he did for 555 Soul a few years ago) and some of ISM’s favorite electronic producers out of Detroit. It really is remarkable how good the music out of that city is.
Plus, I have to say I like his fashion sense. I’ve been rocking that same black army jacket for like 12 years or something now, the only other person I’ve seen wearing it was Nas a couple years back. That shit is hard 😉
4 Comments
good stuff here… where can one find that T5 mix CD looks dope! that video is also great… don’t recall going to that store last time I went to the D, it’s a MUST next time though.. prob. worth the trip alone.
thanks for another great TIP!
Been a fan for some time, it’s all about Tron for me, his best beat by a mile. Always gets a reaction when played out.
Tiombe’s ‘Growing pains’ is a beauty too.
I won the 555 soul mix from a competition on Deviation, love it. In a related note check the next in the series from Benji B.
The tracklisting I have for Waajeed’s mix goes like this
1. Sirens
2. Common – Soul Power
3. Waajeed & The Jazz Katz – Musik want u 2
4. Kraftwerk – Numbers – version*
5. Man and Woman ‘She’s aware of an ink blot’ – Building strings – lushness
6. TOTAL BANGER – IT’S A NEEEED
7. Le Tigre – Deceptacon (DFA remix)
8. Kraftwerk – It’s more fun to compute
9. Mood music
10. Kraftwerk – Uranium into Fred Everything feat. The New Mastersounds – Elevate (Maurice Fulton Remix)
11. Wajeed – Tron
12. Beat
13. Kraftwerk – Musique Non Stop
14. Tom Tom Club – Wordy Rapping Hood
15. Cybotron – R9
16. Din Da Da – version, sounds Italo
17. Cybotron – Alleys of your mind
18. Kraftwerk – Pocket Calculator – version *
19. Emperor Penguin – Disco Party In The Castle Of Love (Tonight)
20. Rock type thing
21. Unknown – Unknown
22. Sounds like Troubleman sampling Broadway with Brazilian D’n’B guitar – been told it’s Daedelus off the “Re-inventing the Weather” LP – needs confirming.
If anyone can fill in the blanks, let me know.
cool, didn’t have a tracklist for this mix, will see if i know any more.
i think (haven’t listened to this mix in a while) that the version of din daa da played on the mix is the original by george kranz.
anyone ever figure out the song #6 TOTAL BANGER – IT’S A NEEEED???? anyone know what it is??? thanks… Dec. 2011