dj yoda - how to make a mixtape - 80's edition
after 2 fun mixtapes which used a whole range of fine and upstanding current hip-hop tracks as the basis for a lot of toilet humour and in-gag references, comes this spinoff from 5 mins on vol2 where the yoda one added several 80's 'classics' to the mix. this small section generated quite a lot of attention, and was referred to in many reviews. so i guess yoda decided to run with it, and, given the current demand for all things 80's, see where the yellow brick road was going to lead him.
when i heard about this mix i have to admit i feared the worst kind of school disco revival with a bit of scratching bullshit .. well it is. in parts. but luckily that is very much the minority aspect, as the actual track selection is by no means totally cringeworthy, cept for rick astley, and johnny hates jazz !
starting off with the regulation scratch intro with all sorts of yoda callouts/movies/cartoons to an old sugarhill loop (the message) your memory is already firing off multiple points of recognotion .. climaxing in ferris buellers day off sequing to a timmy mallet introduction, what ever happened to his hammer ?
then once things get going the fun really starts ..
classic track 'the message' gets the ball rolling and makes you realise just how wonderful and relevant this track still is 20 years on ... move over eminem, this still rips, but than adding johnny hates jazz to the groove is a little messed up and makes me break out into a grisly sweat. luckily though as with any decent mixtape any parts of pain are short lived as the lp does not hang about, and not only that, but yoda adds a whole bunch of extra snippets over the dreary 80's pop .. this style continues and continues .. so we get climie fisher, paul hardcastle, reminding us of the glorious yamaha dx7 sounds that were so dominant in the 80s'.
tis not all bad 80's pop though, yoda has resurrected several true dance classics that completely make you wish for those long gone innocent dance pop days. hello betty boo, s'express, herbie hancock, terence trent d'arby (damn he was good for a couple of years ..), even a decent ub40 track etc .. adding tv themes from knightrider, airwolf and the wonderful hill street blues (a personal fave part of the whole shebang) you realise that the decade of waste wasn't all culture club and duran duran. so if you want to hear a whole set of tracks that were supposedly buried alive aha, thompson twins, nena (argh), prefab sprout all pushed though tv themes. even dynasty, hart to hart are somewhere in there ! all this is mashed up with adverts from the era. you cannot fail to love this, or at least smile a lot. unless all the injokes mean little then this may all be a bit too off the wall for standard mixtape fans.
a lot of fun in 60 minutes, dig out the red braces and filo and have a blast ...
but please, i hope this is a one off, my grey cells were worn out by the end as they tried to fit the jigsaw pieces into their right place.
really looking forward to yodas lp proper as is being made as i type.