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The Influences of BALTIMORE CLUB MUSIC Some of BALTIMORE'S History in club music:below are records that impacted our scene in the late 80's and early 90's. please dont blame my heart if you DONT SEE something here that should be...it will be changing daily as i come across records when i find them in my collection. so, please bare with me.Records in the late 80's where underground house records that carried over into so-called local ghetto clubs..hence..the term CLUB MUSIC.
This is a record by DJ EQUALIZER from baltimore, an early loop record that we used to sample in making tracks. this series of records came out with the help of SCOTTY B. the time was around 1990-1991 on this particular record.big shouts to BOB a surviving cancer victim who reached out to me when he found me online.great talkin to you BOB !!!
This gat dayum record fuckin confirms for me that NEW YORK was without a doubt listening to BALTIMORE shit. 3 years before this, me and a friend did DICKONTROL. same fuckin beat.ARMAND VAN HELDEN jacked us for the beat and went to STRICTLY RHYTHM and killed us with our own shit.This is STILL to this day played IN HEAVY ROTATION in clubs here in Baltimore.LONG LIVE ZULU !!!! THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE RECORD !!! THE CATCH IS ....THIS IS A UNDERGROUND HOUSE RECORD...NOT A BALTIMORE CLUB RECORD.
This record is a hip hop record by LAKIM SHABAZZ that featured a slick ass so called club track (ADDING ON) by the 45 KING.The track has a mean sample of D-TRAINS " YOU'RE THE ONE FOR ME" SCOTTY B turned me on to this record in 1989 while we worked in the SOUND OF BALTIMORE record store downtown baltimore.45 KING regularly places a so called club track on all his break beat lps.do your own research.meanwhile BALTIMORIANS ate this record up for at least 6 or 7 years.I STILL PLAY IT ..it sounds fuckin unreal on a serious system. NOTE: SCOTTY B'S name will repeatedly come up in these descriptions. records like this paved the way towards BALTIMORE CLUBISH SOUND.
This is where we got the infamous BLOW YA WHISTLE EDIT from. this record has loops of classics from back in the day.i was told that TODD TERRY did this but it has not been confirmed.i paid $18 for this...how much shoud it be now ?? we still play this to this very day !
This is where the infamous MICHEAL JACKSON "MAMASAY-MAMASA" came from.a loop record series called "GROOVES"from DMC in NYC. this son of a bitch sold for an easy $20 back in 1989. i think i have 4 copies. this whole record is the truth on the real. hip hop and house loops. the ultimate dj tool. this sound good even with all the cue burn.we would play this to get people pumped up right before we'd drop a hard beat.works every dayum time til this day !
This is MS TONY aka Big Tony's 2nd record. "HOW YA WANNA CARRY IT"bka "Whatzup? whatzup"produced by SCOTTY B & SEAN CEASAR of UNRULY RECORDS. a serious early baltimore classic that people still ask for in AND out of town.this is a landmark record at any price ! a sho-nuff party rocker even in NYC !
This is K LIFE'S first try at recording and it was an instant smash. PUFF ALOTTA WEED is the track featuring him on the vocals and DJ BOOMAN assisting on the production. this is a killer record ....if ya woofers arent screwed in tight ...they will jump out of the cabinet on this fucker !!! yessir !!! i think this was aound 1995.correct me if i'm wrong.
FRANKSKI set the world on fire with his "COME ON BABE" by 2 LIVE CREW inspired track. this is one of the Commercially know baltimore club first records. there were a few before this and we will get to those later but this record is what everyone wants to think of as the first so called baltimore club record. a party rocker from 8 to 80. thank ya FRANK for your contribution to the baltimore sound.
this is DJ KENNY B one of the pioneers of Baltimore Club and an allstar cast of djs and artists. EA-EA by MS TONY is featured on this record as well as a DJ PATRICK REMIX of ITS HOT IN THIS MUTHAFUCKA. this was done at FRANKSI'S HOUSE IN 1993. he helped produce and engineer this record. a classic that cannot be denied ! This is still one of the most popular party records of all time ! If you dont have this record you aint no fan of Baltimore Club Music ! Big shouts out to my man KENNY B !
this is one of the records that came from CHICAGO long after they stopped the hip house thing.djs in baltimore were long time fans of CHICAGO'S djs and producers as well as DANCEMANIA RECORDS.you will see later how many records came out of CHICAGO.JAMMIN GERALDS remix of "GIT DA HO" by BALTIMORES own DJ THOMMY DAVIS and DJ SPEN of THE BASEMENT BOYS is and was a killer club classic. the first 2 minutes of this doesnt even play on my copy..its all cue burned badly.
this was the second time FRANKSKI put out the "Pull Ya Gunz" out track by MS TONY. this mix has regional chants instead of the local hood chants like the first record.rest in peace to the late TONY BOSTON who died a few years back.
in 1989 DJ AUTOMATOR did this slick dj tools type record that had an early sample of LYN COLLINS. it also had scratch sounds. this was one of the slower records that did get played. it was around 116bpm compared to 128-130bpm that we normally played.
In 1989 SCOTTY B while working in the store SOUND OF BALTIMORE slipped up and realized that this record was the future of BALTIMORE.a re-make of the LYN COLLINS song "THINK" produced bt CHICAGO'S FARLEY JACKMASTER FUNK. this record changed BALTIMORE for life. SCOTTY B had one copy in the store at the time...when he realized what was on the record, he called the record company and ordered 100 copies of this killer club classic. it still gets played to this very day. a true baltimore club classic. mind you...this was still considered a hip house/underground house record.
one year later in 1990...FARLEY does it again with LATRICE. same beat as "THINK" but with a killer SYNTH riff in the beginning.this was a vocal record but we never let it play past the first 64 bars. ya had to get 2 of these and run them back and forth.SCOTTY B put me down with this as well ! baltimore ladies ate this shit up!These imports sold for $9.99 in 1990. AND YA HAD TO BUY 2 OF THEM TO GET THE JOB DONE.
In 1989 i found this record by mistake.i'm not sure how SCOTTY got it but oh fuckin well....history was made with this record. we sampled the hell out of this shit.its a comedy record by ANDREW DICE CLAY that was produced by RICK RUBIN.all imma say is LYN COLLINS !!! BUT .....RICK heated this bitch up by adding heavy 808 kicks to the exisisting drums and putting too much reverb on the overall track. YA-BAD SISTA ! good luck finding this shit kiddies ! New York aint got shit on some of our rare grooves...hahahaha.
ALL HAIL THE 1ST BALTIMORE CLUB RECORD ! In 1987 Thommy Davis & Dj Spen released this record know as "GIT THE HOLE" We in the streets always said that this song was actually saying "GIT DA HO GIT DA HO" Oh well who cares...nevertheless.I have contacted my musical counterparts and we all have agreed that this is in fact the true 1st BALTIMORE CLUB record. Even though at the time this was considered house music STILL ...this was the first time that a dj in baltimore saved up his doe and put a record out..PERIOD ! Anyone that wants to contest this statement can contact me! Its my understanding that this record sold well over 4000 copies in 1987 and was licenced a few times too. It was so slick at the time that when cats in chicago couldnt get it anymore they did their own version by LIDDELL TOWNSELL on TRAX records in 1988...SIMPLY CRAZY !(later LIDDELL blew up with his hit record "NUNU")Thommy Davis a then producer in the BASEMENT BOYS put this record out and sold tons of copies of these out of the record store he worked in called METRO STEREO that was located in MONDAMIN MALL.
In the summer of 1989 while on one of my trips to METRO STEREO, JEROME HICKS a dj and empoyee at the store was blasting this record and told me that even though this was considered a house record, i should play it for my clubheads.Well needless to say...i bought 2 of these and the rest is history. 45 KING produced this with his homie & rapper DOUBLE J.This was hot when the HIP HOUSE thing was still going on so i figured this was one of 45 kings answers to it ! WHAT THE FUCK ???? This record is serious when played !!! Thanks for the hook-up on this one JEROME !
In 1988 this was released after coming out before on an independent label COSLIT records.Sugarbear was a popular rapper back in the day and took a crack at the HIP HOUSE thing. This is what he came up with. "Hype As A Heart Attack" !!! Scotty tells me that a friend of his that he worked with in another record store with back in the day, introduced him to this record. Dj Warren was his name and they worked together in Music Liberated ....EVER HEAR OF THAT STORE ???? I cant say much other than Scotty put me down and now i'm telling you. Of course it has a LYN COLLINS sample in it !
Ever heard the PERCULATOR and wondered where the hell it came from ??? This is it right here."KEEP MOVIN" by CAMERE of CHICAGO. This record incorperated sounds that had never ever been heard before on record. A coffee pot perculating sound to a beat.ROCKIN !! This 1st in 4-5 attempts that CAJMERE made at getting his point across.I first heard this in the infamous ODELLS nightclub on SUPER SUNDAYS with SHAWN MARSHALL spinning. Whats funny is the best mix is the one called "straight up drugs mix" I guess CAJMERE did some great drugs at the time he came up with this shit here ! Classic fuckin Baltimore shit ! CAJMERE was our club king before WE were kings of our own ! KING CAJMERE ! Check back once a week to see newly added records to this area !!! Baltimore
Club Defined The pioneers of Baltimore's signature sound where from it's earliest conception:DJ THOMMY DAVIS and DJ SPEN who was the first to save up his lunch money and put out the record we know as "GIT DA HO" on THOMMIX records in 1987.The rest came pretty quick:
*SEE THE TOP OF THIS PAGE FOR LABEL INFORMATION* Baltimore Club is exemplified by its 8/4 beat structure and tempos at or near 130 beats per minute. It combines repetitive, looped vocal snippets similar to ghetto house with humorous vocal samples from television shows like Sanford and Son and Sponge Bob SquarePants, and also includes heavy breakbeats and call and response stanzas similar to those found in the Go-Go music of Washington, D.C.. More often than not, the breakbeats are pulled from two records; Sing Sing by Gaz, and Think by Lyn Collins and James Brown. Much like the rave-era sub-genre of Techno music known as Breakbeat Hardcore, Baltimore Club sounds as if the music was purposefully produced in a hurried manner as the each song is made with a limited pallette of sounds and is based on a similar templates. Some say Baltimore Breaks grew out of Miami Bass, largely due to Frank Ski working with Luke Skyywalker Records in the early 1990s, remixing songs such as Disco Rick's Wiggle Wiggle in 1992. Frank's production of the 1991 track Doo Doo Brown by 2 Hype Brothers and a Dog samples heavily from the 1989 "Doo Doo Brown edit" of C'mon Babe by the X-rated Miami Bass group known as 2 Live Crew. This most likely explains the genre's nickname of "Dew Doo Beat". Despite its roots nearer to Miami Bass, the sound of the music itself more closely resembles Ghetto House. Frank Ski helped to pioneer the sound with his nightly radio show on now defunct V103, playing many Breakbeat Hardcore songs such as Acid Party, Too much Energy and others, alongside his newly released Doo Doo Brown track. The influence of the UK Breakbeat Hardcore was critical in the development of the genre. Soon after the release of Doo Doo Brown, Frank Ski teamed with Miss Tony and Scotty B on the release of "What's up What's up" and "Pull Ya Guns Out", two of the earliest examples to feature the signature Baltimore Club sound. Baltimore Club has long been popular in Baltimore, largely in African-American venues where DJs spin exclusively Baltimore Club, but has recently spread beyond the city's borders to Philadelphia and New York City and inspired offshoots in New Jersey (D.J.Tamiel) and Alabama (Bamabounce). This expansion is due largely to the success and influence of the DJ duo Hollertronix, who present Baltimore Club in conjunction with hip-hop, rock, and other dance music. The warehouse club The Paradox, along with smaller clubs such as Club Choices, 32nd Street Plaza, Odell's and Louie Louie night at the rock club HammerJacks, have all been popular hotspots to hear Baltimore Club the way it was meant to be heard: On a very large, very loud and bass heavy sound system. Club Paradox also hosted one of the most poplular "Rave" themed club nights on the east coast, Fever, and helped to spread the popularity of Baltimore Club with a wider audience. BCT RADIO XPRESS plays on this page for your convenience. To listen while surfing the web, press stop and hit the "CLUB RADIO" on the homepage MAKE SURE YOUR SPEAKERS ARE CONNECTED TO YOUR PC AND ARE ON |
