Paths of Rhythm (Formerly Once A DJ)

COP THE NEW ESSA & J FELIX ALBUM AT https://essa.hiphop
Paths of Rhythm is brought to you with support from vinylunderground.co.uk - take 10% off your next order with the code POR10 and free UK shipping on orders over £100
Paths of Rhythm is a Remote-CTRL production. If you're looking for audio or video production, then check out https://remote-ctrl.co.uk to see how they can help.
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Follow the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Any feedback or questions? Hit up https://www.instagram.com/pathsofrhythmpodcast/

This week I'm joined by my first ever rapper on the show: Essa, formerly known as Yungun. He's an entertainment lawyer by day, a rapper by night and a stalwart of what I'd call the golden era of UK hip hop. His love of hip hop started with a De La Soul flexi disc cut out of a Frosties packet. As one of a handful of hip hop kids at boarding school, he tuned into every radio show he could find, sneaked out midweek to see Diamond D and Big L at Subterania, and wrote lyrics on scraps of paper in his room. Open mics, ciphers and a beatmaker called Harry Love led to his first studio sessions, his first 12-inches and a career in UK rap that's still going strong.
Essa was open about growing up mixed heritage, part English and part Nigerian, and always feeling between worlds. We talk about code shifting, his Igbo dad's very clear views on careers ("you're going to become homeless first"), and how he's ended up making music and working as a music industry lawyer at the same time. We also get into the craft of multi-syllable rhymes, authenticity and cultural appropriation in hip hop, single-producer albums with Mr Thing, Pitch 92 and J Felix, and why he'd call his music soulful rap rather than soft rap. To finish, he gives a lawyer's view on where AI music is heading, and why he thinks our humanity will become more valuable, not less.
What we get into:
A De La Soul flexi disc on a Frosties packet
Finding hip hop in the suburbs and at boarding school
Radio shows, open mics and a community of outsiders
Britpop mates and the 90s golden era of hip hop
Learning to write lyrics, and how Blak Twang showed him he could rap in his own accent
Multi-syllable rhymes, Devise and Dupa Styles
Writing in the zone and keeping a bank of ideas on his phone
Sneaking out of boarding school to see Diamond D, Big L and O.C.
Mixed heritage and always living between worlds
Code shifting as a skill
Life as an entertainment and music industry lawyer
UK rap, tough talk and feeling like a village kid
Hip hop's roots, cultural appropriation and authenticity as a North Star
Ciphers, open mics, Harry Love and the first records
An old school Igbo dad and the lawyer career path
Why "two things can be true at the same time"
Education, privilege and having an open mind
Single-producer albums with Mr Thing, Pitch 92 and J Felix
The Fifth Foundation, live musicianship and an inverted Michael Jackson
Pitch 92's beats and the bruschetta theory of production
Comparisons with Common, and soulful rap vs soft rap
Ghostface, Names Bliss and soul in rap
The upcoming album with Doc Brown
AI music: lawsuits, licensing, slop and the value of being human
His top three MCs: Black Thought, Big L and Blak Twang
The Fifth Foundation tour, including Nottingham with Karizma

Paths of Rhythm is brought to you with support from vinylunderground.co.uk - take 10% off your next order with the code POR10 and free UK shipping on orders over £100
Paths of Rhythm is a Remote-CTRL production. If you're looking for audio or video production, then check out https://remote-ctrl.co.uk to see how they can help.
Other ways to support the show
Follow the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Any feedback or questions? Hit up https://www.instagram.com/pathsofrhythmpodcast/

My first knowledge of Jake was as a wind up merchant on message boards in the mid-2000s...fast forward 15 plus years and he's a 7 time world DJ champ, teacher and mentor, and former top 200 international poker player. Find out how everything links and what makes him tick in our conversation.
A couple of reference links:
The Mixmaster Mike part of the DMC Showcase with Qbert (the first vid Jake had to learn from)
DJ Babu's Blind Alley Beat Juggle (as referenced when Jake was advised to study some classic beat juggles)

Paths of Rhythm is brought to you with support from vinylunderground.co.uk - take 10% off your next order with the code POR10 and free UK shipping on orders over £100
Paths of Rhythm is a Remote-CTRL production. If you're looking for audio or video production, then check out https://remote-ctrl.co.uk to see how they can help.
Other ways to support the show
Follow the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Any feedback or questions? Hit up https://www.instagram.com/pathsofrhythmpodcast/

This week I'm joined by someone who's really in a category of one: multiple DMC champion, Invisibl Skratch Piklz founder and absolute turntable legend, DJ Qbert. Qbert grew up in San Francisco. His parents came over from the Philippines, and his dad loved disco and only wanted music he could dance to, so he handed his son all the records he didn't like. That's how a young Qbert ended up with Ravi Shankar and classical Indian tabla music. Then Rapper's Delight came on the radio, the Bay Area electro scene took hold, and when he heard Herbie Hancock's Rockit he had no idea the sound was coming off a record. In 1985 a friend showed him how to scratch, he put his whole palm on the record, and that was that.
From there we follow the whole journey. We talk about losing battles with his high school crew and treating every loss as a lesson, an empty school cafeteria whose echo made him feel like he was getting good, and meeting Mix Master Mike at that same gig. We also get into the car accident that stopped the body tricks and made him focus on becoming a real musician, and winning world team titles with Mike and Apollo. Qbert talks about mushrooms, Bruce Lee and being one with the music, odd time signatures and Dave Brubeck, Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Musik, making Wave Twisters, his huge vintage sampler collection, and why studying Rakim and Kool G Rap's flows is a gold mine for scratch patterns. It was a 4:30am start for him, and he still brought so much energy and generosity to the conversation. It's one I'll be coming back to for a long time.
What we get into:
Growing up in San Francisco with Filipino parents and a dad who loved disco
Ravi Shankar, tabla music and inheriting the records his dad didn't like
Rapper's Delight, four on the floor and the Bay Area electro scene
Hearing Herbie Hancock's Rockit and not realising it was a record
1985, and putting his whole palm on the record for the first time
Competing with his high school crew: win or learn
Scratching on his dad's record-stacking turntable
The echo in the school cafeteria and meeting Mix Master Mike
Philosophy, mushrooms, Bruce Lee and being one with the music
Ego, battles and scratching for the music instead of the other DJ
Studying the New York DJs before the New Music Seminar
Doing everything on 45 at the DMC, and Christian Marclay
Forming the Invisibl Skratch Piklz and winning the DMC team titles
The car accident that made him focus on what comes out of the speaker
Odd time signatures, Dave Brubeck and scratching over Take Five
Yogafrog, Skratchcon, Turntable TV and The Shiggar Fraggar Show
The new Piklz album with Shortkut and D-Styles
Disk, Buckethead and Brain from Primus
Scratching versus beat juggling, and Jimi Hendrix-style soloing
Going global and the scratch DJs he thinks deserve more attention
Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Musik and Rap Pages
Break records and getting straight to the good part
His collection of vintage drum machines and samplers
Daily routine, forever beats and making Wave Twisters
Product design, the QFO and the portable scratch scene
Advice from Mix Master Mike: make up your own style
Rakim, Kool G Rap and rap flows as scratch patterns
Sleep, spring water and happy scratching

This week I'm joined by Martin 2 Smoove — Ministry of Sound Milkshake resident, tour DJ for Eve and for Romesh Ranganathan, and a man who held down a Pacha residency alongside Trevor Nelson. Martin was born in Kerala, raised in Basildon, and spent his teens watching Trevor on MTV Base thinking that's the job I want. A night out at 17 watching the Dream Team turn a room inside out sealed it. What follows is one of the most honest accounts of the slow route I've had on the show: an economics degree taken to keep his parents happy, summers as a runner at Wise Buddah fetching drinks for 50 Cent, years of breaking into halls of residence with armfuls of flyers, and a long stretch between 2010 and 2012 where nothing moved at all while everyone he graduated with got on with their careers.
Then a call from a contact at Atlantic about an American artist needing a tour DJ turned out to be Eve, and thirteen years later he's still there. We get into the craft of it too — the Leicester Square residency where the owner would ask him to clear the dance floor on purpose, six years playing 80s and 90s pop at Jazz Cafe that taught him more about music than anything else he's done, why Shazam charts are a month ahead of the actual charts, and why being easy to travel with matters as much as what you can do on the turntables. Martin's the kind of guest who makes you want to take the unglamorous gig. Really enjoyed this one.
What we get into:
Growing up in Basildon with no music in the house, and finding Michael Jackson, MTV Base and Trevor Nelson
Seeing the Dream Team at 17 and deciding on the spot that making a room happy was the job
Studying economics at Keele to shut his parents up, and hating every minute of the academic side
Why he'll still take the right gig for free, and how the long-term view has paid off repeatedly
Being a runner at Wise Buddah, getting studio drops from Mariah Carey and Xzibit, and learning artist etiquette the hard way
Warming up for Trevor Nelson at universities, and twenty years of Milkshake at Ministry of Sound
The 2010–2012 stretch where nothing happened, and the digging-for-diamonds meme he wishes he'd seen then
Two summers at Pacha, and bringing R&B and hip hop to an island that wasn't playing it
Leicester Square and Jazz Cafe: learning to clear a dance floor on purpose, and what Karma Chameleon does to a room
The U2 end-of-tour party where nobody danced for four hours until one request changed everything
Getting the Eve call, messing up the second gig, and the look of death on stage
Gumball 3000, working Mondays unpaid to learn the clothing business, and a BAPE collaboration on the way
VJing Romesh Ranganathan's arena tour, and how to add value rather than just play a set
Why Shazam charts beat the official charts by a month
Running a DJ agency with Andy Purnell and Luke, and why being easy to travel with is a professional skill