Author Archives: DJ Kraze One

Overlord X Interview

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Break to the beat recently had the honer of catching up with and interviewing one of Hip Hop in the UKs godfathers Overlord X. Overlord X along with the X Possee put their home borough of Hackney, London and the entire UK on the Hip Hop map back in the late 80 and early 90s giving us 3 outstanding LPs that were not only an inspiration but for many an introduction to British rap music. Overlord X’s contributions to the UK music scene over the years have been nothing short of outstanding and has provided us with both thought provoking intellectual lessons in life as well as timeless Hip Hop classics. Any readers not familiar with Overlord X & The X Possee’s work should check the Overlord X Discography & Review article posted a few months ago on break to the beat.   

Taking things right back to the beginning. Before you started rapping and producing records please tell the readers how you discovered the Hip Hop culture?

I really started to get into Hip Hop music from Africa Bambaataa and the soul Sonic force, back then Hip Hop was in the style of Electro and they were the ones that grabbed my attention to start even thinking of making music. At that time I was a young break dancer and DJ producer just being a big fan and follower of the movement. I was looking for a rapper to spit over my beats but there were very few MC’s around so I picked up the mic and started creating rough demos at home. Continue reading →

The Amen Break

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The “Amen break” is a 5.2 second drum solo from an instrumental funk record entitled Amen brother performed by Soul/Funk band The Winstons.

Amen brother was released in 1969 on Metromedia Records. It was the B side to  7″ single entitled “Colour him farther“. The Amen break beat was first popularised by Hip Hop artists in the late 1980’s after its inclusion on the Ultimate breaks & Beats series compiled and edited by Louis Flores. In the 1990’s The Amen break beat formed one of the key elements of Jungle music that evolved via the Rave scene in the early to mid 1990’s in the United Kingdom.

To the present day the Amen break has been sampled hundreds of times by artists, producers and musicians from all different backgrounds and genres. From Jungle anthems like Super sharp shooter by DJ Zinc & The Ganga Kru to classic Hip Hop records like Straight outta Compton by N.W.A. It would appear that the music of today would sound very different if it was not for the creation of Amen brother by The Winstons.

A looped section of the Amen drum break is inserted in the below clip. Check to see if you recognise the drums:

The Amen break beat

So now you are familiar with the drum break it is time to explore the Musical DNA that went in to creating such a popular sample that has been such a prominent feature in classic Hip Hop & Dance music. Continue reading →

DJ Roughcut Interview

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Break to the beat recently caught up with DJ Roughcut for a brief catch up and to get an incite in to his foundations in local Hip Hop Culture. DJ Roughcut’s involvement with the local music scene dates back to the mid 1980s and by the 1990s he was DJing and producing for several local Hip Hop crews including W.I.Z.E, Death Before Dishonour and Klass Dismissed. During the early 1990s DJ Roughcut produced and released several recordings on Milton Keynes based record label 2’E’Z Records.

Wize Crew

DJ Roughcut.

What inspired you to get in to scratch DJ’ing and how did this lead to you entering the DMC mixing championship?

I was sitting watching the movie Breakdance and I remembering turning to my dad and saying I want to be one of them, my dad said “What a breakdancer?” and I said no “the guys behind with the turntables playing the music for them to breakdance to!” My parents bought me a pair of ‘disco double decks’ which I learnt to practice on. A competition appeared on a kids Saturday morning TV programme called Motormouth looking for young DJ’s to send in a demo for a DJ competition. I was in class at school one day and someone came to the class and said Keith Hurley needs to go to reception. I had no idea what it was going to be about, I got there and they said someone from ITV had called and I was a finalist in a competition and I needed to phone them to arrange appearing on TV!!!!I rushed to the local phone box after school and phoned them. I travelled by train to The Empire in Leicester Square where they were filming the competition. I walked in and immediately I was introduced to The Cookie Crew, Derek B, Simon Harris and Tony Prince the founder and owner of DMC, the World DJ Championship organisation; I was told they were going to be the judges for the competition!!! Continue reading →