By now everyone has probably heard about yesterday’s passing of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. I’d like to take a short moment to share how Mike has effected me, and I’m sure the rest of the Come Up Crew. As a DJ, no matter where I was, no matter what type of party or people, whenever I played anything from Mike or the Jackson 5, the crowd would go crazy. He is the ultimate secret move, a bonafied WMD for the dance floor. Whether I was struggling with a crowd or looking to push the energy over the top, it’s always a good time to play some Michael. Lastly, I’d like to share this flowchart of MJ samples in Hip Hop, courtesy of Nah Right. From Tupac to Kanye, Bjork to Ginuwine, Mike’s catalog has been in prolific sample use. Everyone knows about the international influence and the acclaim and the eccentricities, but don’t sleep on the man’s contribution to rap beats.
With that said, I will not personally be making a tribute mix to the man. Spingineer may have one in the works. But for right now, I recommend any or all of these recent mixes, all by very amazing DJ’s.
DJ Ayres - Michael Jackson Mix
Jaycee - Michael Jackson: The Soulful Years
J. Period - MJ Tribute
And I guess we will be playing some MJ tomorrow night at The Come Up.
