Remember staying up all night before your friend’s birthday with your boombox and a blank 90 minute Maxell tape- trying to pause it to get that Busta Rhymes track to line up just right with De La Soul’s “Stakes Is High”? Remember hearing the name, Jay Dee/ J Dilla years later being credited as the master-mind-beat-maker who created half of the crookedest hip hop jams you ever blazed to in the high-school parking lot?…. Well I do anyhow.
So what are cellist, Topu Lyo and drummer Mike Thies, aka LIVE FOOTAGE doing covering these hip hop classics? With no MC? Not to mention the total absence of a cassette tape. Let me rewind and explain. This very talented and creative Brooklyn-based duo have been tuning their amazing live set for years and are poised to release their second full length recording. What an opportune time to crank out a 3rd album, this time in three days- from start to finish!
Doing this project was an extreme undertaking. Mike and Topu drafted some wonderfully creative interpretations of J Dilla’s music which we tracked all live into the computer. Now quick- mix it all and rush it out! A true rough draft mix tape with enough grit and vibe to earn the name.