Godbrothers 2. Another crucial building block in the House of Rondevu. In the spring of 2004 I was really coming into my own in the mixtape game. I was developing a steady following and things were definitely progressing. I made a side project a few months earlier called Godbrothers Instrumentals with only Nas & Rakim instrumentals. I was thinking about doing a proper mixtape with that theme and after hanging out with the legendary mixtape collector “Tapemasta” in Brooklyn and he suggested it too I knew it had to be done. After some dedicated time in the lab I dropped it and it was immediately embraced. The bootleggers had a field day. The hip hop website reviews were all great and it even received a “Classic” rating from the highly critical mixtape review website “RAPMULLET.COM” Below is a clip from the mixtape. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you will know about all my latest drops.
The year was 2005 and my mixtape career was in full swing. After over a decade of paying dues in the mixtape circuit as the underdog with actual tapes I had finally moved up to be one of the more recognized djs in the game. The preferred medium was now CDs and a lot of the top guys from when things were tapes were losing their positions. With Das Efx on hiatus I was no longer doing world tours with them or spending time in the studio working on songs. I wasn’t interested in any bookings for parties and I focused all of my attention on mixtapes. Since the 4 Horsemen Pt 1 I had been dropping classic material with every release. I had just put out my independent album and dvd “Dangerous Minded” and I knew I had to drop another classic mixtape to follow it up. I had set a high standard for myself so I had to meet it if not exceed it. I put in almost 2 months of work in the lab and the result was The 4 Horsemen Pt 3. Below is the entire mixtape for your enjoyment. Please make sure to subscribe to my YouTube page while you’re listening.
The year was 2003. I was making steady progress in all areas. I made a name in NYC but especially Brooklyn as an exceptional party DJ. Back in those days you usually had different people for the hip hop segments and the reggae segments. I could be the “reggae guy” and play with a hip hop DJ as well as the “hip hop guy” if I played with a reggae sound system and equally rock the crowd. By this time I had been Das Efx’s tour DJ for 4 years and had been around the world with them a few times and parlayed that into doing headlining solo party gigs across the globe. My production reputation was growing as underground white labels I produced were selling out in record stores and I even produced the title track to Das Efx’s 5th album “How We Do”. As a mixtape DJ I was respected because I mixed and transitioned well and always had a few good blends/remixes on my projects. However, I didn’t drop frequently and do quite enough to separate myself from the crowd. That was about to change. With “The 4 Horsemen” I finally turned the corner.
Instead of doing a regular well mixed project with a couple of blends/remixes I decided to make my blends/remixes the focus. I couldn’t compete with the DJ Clues of the world with “exclusives” who were running the game at the time but there were few, if any, that were as creative as me. Instead of a few days as I would do in the past I worked on this mixtape for over a month. With a well flowing mix of mostly blends/remixes that I made and an overall theme “The 4 Horsemen” was my breakout mixtape project. The mixtape websites and my network of mom and pop record stores were steadily reordering. I was even getting calls from new out of town stores because they got the bootleg and wanted to order some from me directly. The hip hop websites were giving it rave reviews. It also got a mention from Kurt Loder on MTV’s Mixtape Monday which greatly helped my visibility and credibility. Shoutout to Shaheim Reid.
Not long after putting out “The 4 Horsemen” Das Efx decided to take a hiatus that would last almost 4 years. It was then that I put down the parties and world tours and approached the mixtape game with a laser focus. I figured out the formula that would work for me and the lane I had to run in. There was no looking back.
If you didn’t know, I’ve been putting in work behind the boards for quite some time now. Since the early 90’s to be exact. As I was on the come up I was dedicated to every aspect of DJ life. From rocking parties to turntablism to mixing and making mixtapes I worked tirelessly to improve. I also spent countless hours “digging in the crates” at thrift shops, yard sales, and many other dusty settings to acquire old records and learn the art of production. From pause tapes to the crunchy 8 second sampler on a Gemini Scratch Master up to a full Akai MPC and keyboards midi studio setup I paid my dues to be able to call myself a “producer”. From releasing underground white labels to internationally charting party break records to producing multi platinum artists I have put together a respectable body of production work. I have started a series on YouTube that will showcase some of these songs that you may or may not know of. Please subscribe to my YouTubePage so you can know about them when they drop. Enjoy
What it is fam? It’s been quite a while. The world is a different place since my last post. Last time I checked in I was letting you know about a month long European tour with my brothers Das Efx. We now live in a world of vaccine passports and lockdowns and ain’t no tours coming anytime soon. We were lucky enough to finish out the entire tour and we made it home 2 days before Europe was completely shut down. Shortly after we returned to the US I took a vacation to the Caribbean where there were virtually no cases of the “cough”. Sure enough after being there 3 days the airport, the country and pretty much the entire world shut down. What was to be a 2 week trip turned into 5 MONTHS! I’m not complaining though. Better to be locked down in paradise than a concrete jungle.
Hopefully next year there will be some type of order in the world and we can resume rocking stages around the globe. Until then here’s a clip from a show in Berlin,Germany. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube page. I have a library of material to share with you guys and will be uploading regularly. All the best.
