Trip to New Orleans

Got back from New Orleans on Sunday. Went out there to DJ a small exhibition battle between the New Orleans/Baton Rouge b-boys vs the Lafayette b-boys. That was interesting and the footage is up on youtube but honestly not the most exciting part of the trip.

I'd never been to New Orleans before and really only knew about it through my friends Nick and Patience who moved to Atlanta after Katrina. What I had heard about it left me both intrigued and terrified. From what I understood I could be expected to see breasts, random fights, vomit, horse crap, voodoo, and beignets. And I did. What I didn't count on was how much I'd love it all.

Now besides the horse crap and vomit, the city also oozes culture and music at virtually every turn. On the first night in New Orleans b-boy Jesus (or Justin Kenney for you SYTYCD fans. That's right, I know famous people) took a few of us out to a Dancehall night and on the way there, a trio of a drummer, a tubaist, and a trumpeter was setting up. We stopped for a bit and got to hear some raw ass funk in the middle of the street. Then it was a short walk to hear one of the best dancehall sets I've heard in a long time. Afterwards, a stop at another bar to hear another funk band. And we only paid one cover charge! And then we saw a woman tell a guy "If you touch me like that again, I'll slit your fucking throat!" Good night? Most definitely.

The rest of the weekend pretty much followed suit. Every where you go there's a funk, second line, or zydeco band killing it. Or a street performer. Or a NOLA Bounce DJ playing in a club. Or a woman threatening to kill someone. And all you have to pay for is the ungodly strong drink in your hand!

And the food is good pretty much everywhere you go. I had a Muffaletta, beignets from Cafe du Monde, a "Ferdi Special" from Mothers, some tiny but tasty tacos (not a sexual euphemism), two kinds of bread pudding, pralines, and had a Hand Grenade and a Hurricane for the first time; two drinks that probably shouldn't exist anywhere. For every place I ate at there were at least five others that I also wanted to eat at. I'm pretty sure I gained at least 10 pounds just spending a couple of days around the French Quarter.

Alcohol is everywhere. Coming from a county where they don't serve on Sundays it's a bit of a culture shock. Every gas station is a liquor store, you can go anywhere with a drink in your hand, and you can get daiquiris at drive-thrus. Every time I was drinking something on the street I felt naughty and kept looking over my shoulder for cops. And oddly enough I hardly saw any all weekend. Maybe 7 total and 5 of them were on horses.

Didn't get a chance to do a lot of digging but did stop off at a place called Beckham's Book Shop. You walk in and the first thing you think is that you might find a copy of the Neverending Story somewhere inside. There are three stories to the place and the top floor was a dusty, cavernous room lit only by the sun coming through the windows highlighting a few rows of vinyl. For a DJ or crate digger, this type of place seems like something out of a dream. A forgotten room with endless possibilities for what you might find. I only had a quick glance this time I around but hopefully I'll be able to come back and spend a day digging. Then maybe ride a Luck Dragon!

We also spent a bit of time at club called The Spanish Moon in Baton Rouge. I was pretty impressed. It reminded me a little bit of MJQ here in Atlanta. The bottom floor was a little smaller than MJQ's main room and the second floor had another bar and a few pool tables. Got a chance to meet DJ Otto who DJs there a few nights out of the week and spun a great selection of music...house, hip-hop, B-more, and Bounce. Even heard Spottieottiedopalicious which made me feel right at home.

Speaking of Bounce, you can't go anywhere in New Orleans without hearing it. And the songs on the radio seemed to all be bounce remixes of songs I hear in Atlanta. I love any kind of regional club music so I loved it. I don't think I ever got tired of hearing the Triggerman sample or being told to "Work it like a, shake it like a, twerk it like a..." although I'm still not sure what I should twerk, shake or work it like.

Thanks to all those who showed us hospitality while we were there; Jesus, Lobzter, Chris, D-rick, Alex The Rocket Scientist, Jason, DJ Otto, and the people at Metropolitan. Can't wait to head back.

Keep it movin' like a Uhaul,
-Alpha

Gotta Have Soul Jam this past weekend

Had a pretty dope weekend at the Gotta Soul Jam @ the Atlanta Bench thrown by Ken Fresh from the Funklordz. Ethical held it down on the turntables and my crew (Risen from the Ashes) was in full effect. Been a while since we've all held it down at a jam since a lot of us have been busy with life. Doeboi made a big comeback in his first competition in over a year and won the 1 on 1 battle in a final battle against Marcus (Dark Knight) from Illville crew. Good to see him back on the scene. We also battled in our newest member, Fathom. Hope to see big things from him and the rest of the fam for the year to come.

Check out pics from the jam at Eye of the Cypher

New Mix! T.W.A. (Trackz With Attitude)

Just finished a new mix, first b-boy one in a while. It is a b-boy mix but I tried to make it something fun to just listen to as well. It's in two halves, all hip-hop. I tried to go with tracks that weren't necessarily standards at b-boy jams and most tended to have a bit of an edge to 'em, hence the title of the mix "T.W.A. (Trackz with Attitude). First half is mostly east coast hip-hop (with some Chicago thrown in) and second half is mostly west coast (with some British coast thrown in). The parental warning's real folks...unedited versions are on this mix. So don't listen to it with your mom if she doesn't like Ice-T (New Jack City Ice-T, not Law & Order Ice-T).



Download here: T.W.A. (Trackz With Attitude - AlphaTrion (Sharebee)

EDIT: Some people were having trouble with sharebee so I just added it to divshare as well-



Direct Download: T.W.A. - AlphaTrion

Alternate titles for the mix:
"East Coast Vs West Coast Vs Great Lakes Coast vs British Coast"

"M-po, Stop Asking Me For A Mixtape"

"AlphaTrion still makes B-boy mixes?"

New (Old) Mixes Pt. 6 (An Unfortunate Product...)(B-boy Mix)

This is the first b-boy mix I ever made. Story behind it goes like this: At the time I had been b-boying for a couple of years and was a Drum & Bass DJ. When me and some of my Drum and Bass friends went digging for new records I'd pick up b-boy breaks whenever I happened to see them. After a while I had a small collection and decided I wanted to do a mix so I could have something to practice to. I mostly had some very obvious songs that everyone knows, a few old school hip-hop tracks, and a couple of songs me and my crew liked to dance to. Thing is, I never really intended to get serious about spinning breaks. It was just a hobby.

Regardless, I made it and burned a few copies to give to some b-boy friends. I gave one copy to Sako and Ku'ulei of Sound Savages who I was practicing with at the time since I started at Georgia State University earlier that year. They heard it, liked it, and asked me to spin at their first event, Triptych Smackdown. It was myself, DJ Notech, and Faust and Shortee. I did the best I could with what I had, and didn't embarrass myself so they asked me back for their next few events (Triptych Smackdown II, Five Deadly Combos 1 & 2, Spinfactor ATL). As I was getting more b-boy event gigs, I was sort of drifting apart from the Drum & Bass scene and the other guys I used to DJ with. I started having more and more fun playing b-boy music, kept building my collection, and kept spinning events and before I knew it, I had become a breaks DJ.

Ok, maybe that was long story and kind of pointless but there it is. One cd basically turned me into what I am today and this is it.

Enjoy.

Download Here: An Unfortunate Product of Unnatural Causes

New (Old) Mixes! Pt. 5 (Another Unfortunate Product...)

This was maybe the third or fourth mix I ever recorded and was one of the montly b-boy mixes on bboyworld a couple years back. I'm a little reluctant to call it a full on b-boy mix cause there's a couple of tracks that probably aren't necessarily considered b-boy tracks. However, a majority of them are so you might like practicing to it. It's mainly a mix of hip-hop and funk with a small Michael Jackson section thrown in the middle. 50 songs in an hour and twenty minutes.

Enjoy

Download Here: Another Unfortunate Product of Unnatural Causes

New (old) mixes! pt. 4 (Tru Groove)

This was a mix I did to promote a small event I threw alongside DJ Ethical back in March. I got a call on Wednesday afternoon to get a mix done by Thursday so it could be played on 88.5 (Georgia State Radio) that weekend. So I tossed this together quickly. It's all funk and if you're a b-boy, you'll probably dig practicing to it. A few of the tracks on here will also be on the next b-boy funk mix I'm working on.

Tru Groove Mix (Sharebee)

Enjoy.

New (old) mixes! pt. 3 (Hipster-Ish Mix)

Ok, back with another one.

This is a mix I was working on a year or two ago, did a quick recording while I was practicing and never went back and re-recorded. It's mostly indie rock and indie rock remixes with a few electro house, mash-up, and bmore tracks thrown in. Basically, stuff that hipsters like (hence the title of the mix). One of my friends burned it off my computer one night, passed it around and people liked it. Since I'm not gonna go back re do it, I'll just post it up here.

Download Here: The Hipster-ish Mix (Sharebee)

Enjoy