MXM: Were there any tapes that were harder to get than others?Įpee: A DJ Premier mixtape was magical in Paris. Like DJ Rectangle, he was Warren G’s tour DJ. Then I took note that most touring artists traveled with their DJs, who sold mixtapes after the show. In 1996, I found two records stores in Paris that sold mixtapes. DJ Enuff came to Paris for a party in 1994.įunkmaster Flex came when he released his first album. I got familiar with many US DJS in 94-95. Sometimes he gave me copies or sold them to me for $6 or $7. He would bring tapes back to Paris from New York. MXM: How did you get this tape all the way in France?Įpee: I used to get mixtapes from a guy who had family in the Bronx. My friend copied the tape from the guy, and I got a copy of that copy and that’s how I got “Live at The Cotton Club.” I told them, “This is my friend, Ron G, he’s the youngest in charge!” They looked at me like I was crazy. Little did they know, I had already secured a copy of Ron G on WBLS. I don’t recall the date.Ī friend of a friend was playing a tape in his car, he had bought in Brooklyn while on vacation. MXM: What was your first mixtape from a US DJ?Įpee: It was Ron G, mixshow on WBLS. You could hear all the hip-hop releases from the US and in between he played freestyles by French rappers. It was of a French DJ named Dee Nasty of Zulu Nation France, who had a show called “Deenastyle” on Radio Nova. I heard it on a Funk Master Flex, Hot 97 tape.Įpee: The first mixtape I recorded was in 1988 off of the radio. MXM: What were one of the songs you heard on a mixtape for the first time that you had to find on vinyl?Įpee: “ Shook Ones,” by Mobb Deep. It was Goldorak, a Japanese cartoon for kids. After beginning to collect tapes, especially blend tapes, I started looking for the vinyl of the songs that DJs used to blend, from there my vinyl collection grew.Įpee: I was 5. Over the last decade, Epée Hervé Dingong has gathered an insurmountable amount of data on mixtape DJ culture to prepare for the release of his book about the history, business, and evolution of the hip-hop mixtape.Įpee: Approximately, 100 mixtapes on compact cassette, 300 mixtapes on CD, and 5000 pieces of vinyl. I’ve always collected vinyl but started crate digging harder because of mixtapes.

In this new series, MXM features avid mixtape collectors and their analog collections. At “Hip-Hop Beat on the Arab Street” Exhibit in Paris.

Dj clue mixtapes 1996