"There is not enough Africa in computers." - Brian Eno

April 12, 2010 1:00 PM

Often ignored when critics talk about the history of electronic dance music - "booty music" has long played an important role. Raw, bass-heavy, hyper-sexualized, its the exact opposite of the androgynous, slick techno and house that gets most of the attention. (all links NSFW, probably)

Detroit Ghetto Techno, Chicago Booty House, Baltimore Club and Miami Bass are the best known regional variations in the US, but recently the sound has gone international, with Baile Funk exploding out of Rio De Janeiro and Kuduro (literally "big ass") music from Angola and Portugal taking over clubs all over the world. Even American acts are having success with the sound. The BBC recently put its stamp of approval on Kuduro by turning over the Essential Mix to Buraka Son Sistema, Lisbon's Kuduro superstars who threw down a raw 2 hour mix of up-to-the-second ghetto music from around the globe.

posted by empath (52 comments total)

i don't mean to imply that all this is 'new' music, btw, a lot of these guys have been making this sound for 20 years. What IS new is that due to digital distribution, what had been isolated scenes have all of a sudden discovered each other and are playing each other's records. Being from the DC/Baltimore area, hearing an African DJ on a UK radio station drop a Bmore beat on top of a Samba beat and having it sound like it was always meant to be that way is pretty mind-blowing.
posted by empath at 1:06 PM on April 12, 2010 [3 favorites]

I keep banging the beat is indeed DJ Assault, not DJ Godfather, a better link reflecting this should be put there (it's on youtube anyway).
posted by VikingSword at 1:10 PM on April 12, 2010

its almost impossible to get the right attribution on booty house tracks, cause they usually get ripped from mixes.
posted by empath at 1:13 PM on April 12, 2010

Well, so much for my afternoon. Awesome post, empath, thanks.
posted by threetoed at 1:14 PM on April 12, 2010

Great post. Time to go to emusic and see what I can find.
posted by codacorolla at 1:18 PM on April 12, 2010

If you're just going to check one link, check the Essential Mix. If you haven't been keeping up underground dance music over the pass year or so, it'll blow you away.
posted by empath at 1:19 PM on April 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

err.. pass = past
posted by empath at 1:20 PM on April 12, 2010

Being in Philly, this is not news. I always say that Philadelphia has the worst radio and the best DJ's (Wink, Dozia, Dieselboy, Britt, Spank Rock...)

(LMAO: My monitor at work has the Eno Quote on a post-it that has to be over 4 years old
"too much Europe, not enough Africa". next to it is a Joan Rivers quote:" have no nostalgia for misery")
posted by djrock3k at 1:32 PM on April 12, 2010

Yeah, Philly, New York and Baltimore are all over this. DC is not, yet :( I've cleared more than one floor playing this stuff, but i keep trying :)
posted by empath at 1:35 PM on April 12, 2010

Great post, Empath. Anyone have a download of the Essential Mix link?
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 1:42 PM on April 12, 2010

ASS ASS TITTIES TITTIES
ASS ASS TITTIES TITTIES
posted by chunking express at 1:45 PM on April 12, 2010 [2 favorites]

Here, Kraftmatic.
posted by threetoed at 1:46 PM on April 12, 2010 [2 favorites]

Download
posted by empath at 1:46 PM on April 12, 2010 [2 favorites]

You can get probably every Essential Mix ever - and a lot more - from The Mixing Bowl
posted by jeffmik at 1:47 PM on April 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh, if only YouTube had the Booty Tape that Cornish in a Turtleneck did back in the late '90s (since popularized by Found Magazine and their touring band).

My girlfriend and I still crack each other up with "OH MY GOD ISSA BOOTY IN MA FACE!"
posted by klangklangston at 1:48 PM on April 12, 2010

link to hotfile archive
posted by nomisxid at 1:54 PM on April 12, 2010

I was just listening to the Buraka essential mix yesterday while waiting to get into a Thom Yorke show[1], and was thinking about doing a similar post.

Luckily, someone else did the work for me and did it better!

I would've mentioned Juke as Chicago's variant of this stuff that's been getting mixed up with everything else lately.

[1] And was thinking that the Atoms For Peace live shows kind of display a lot of this stuff's influence on Thom in a way that the recorded material he's done on his own both does and doesn't. Too long a though to get into at the moment
posted by sparkletone at 2:13 PM on April 12, 2010

juke = booty house, imo. But I'm sure someone in Chicago would disagree.
posted by empath at 2:18 PM on April 12, 2010

Damn, the Essential Mix is completely owning my face. This shit is so hot my headphones are going to be molten globs of plastic before I even hit the one hour mark.
posted by threetoed at 2:24 PM on April 12, 2010

Anyone have a download of the Essential Mix link?

Here is a link to a shit tonne of Essential Mixes with a variety of download sites so you can grab several simultaneously without a subscription. You can also search for anything else which tickles your fancy.
posted by gman at 2:25 PM on April 12, 2010

juke = booty house, imo. But I'm sure someone in Chicago would disagree.

No right-minded person who's up on Chicago dance music would disagree (I say this as someone from the city, who knows DJs that play chunks of juke in their sets).

What I meant was I would've picked a couple juke tracks for the Chicago links, that's all! Just nitpicking.
posted by sparkletone at 2:30 PM on April 12, 2010

Oh, one other Buraka link to throw in the pile is this RBMA interview that I thought was really interesting when I first saw it.

My favorite part (for nerd reasons) is the discussion about how a lot of the music they get sent sounds like shit (on a technical level) because it's made quickly on cheap, crappy gear by people who don't really know what they're doing when it comes to sound quality, and yet those are some of the most amazing tracks.
posted by sparkletone at 2:35 PM on April 12, 2010

My favorite part (for nerd reasons) is the discussion about how a lot of the music they get sent sounds like shit (on a technical level) because it's made quickly on cheap, crappy gear by people who don't really know what they're doing when it comes to sound quality, and yet those are some of the most amazing tracks.

Yeah, that's what makes it ghetto music. I fucking love it though. The best music is made by people who make interesting mistakes.
posted by empath at 2:38 PM on April 12, 2010

Regarding Pon De Floor: It was immediately clear to me the moment I heard a shitty Youtube version of the track from Diplo playing it at SXSW a good 4-6 months before the Major Lazer album came out that it was going to be huge but it's been hilarious to me just how huge. Starting about 2 days after a high quality of the version of the track made it out, I can count on one hand the number of parties where I haven't heard it at least once.

And it's one thing to hear it getting dropped by guys like the Ghetto Division dudes (whose usual sets it makes a lot of sense in), but it gets dropped in the middle of basically any kind of set for no other reason than people go nuts for the awesomely irritating synth hook...

For myself and the people I know who are DJs or involved in throwing parties in one way or another... It's gone past the saturation point and is now one of those tracks that is abused and needs to be given a rest for a couple years (and then brought back, of course).
posted by sparkletone at 2:46 PM on April 12, 2010

That Buraka Som Sistema mix is very tasty stuff. Thanks for posting the link(s)!
posted by jquinby at 3:05 PM on April 12, 2010

Thanks! This is great stuff. I went through a Miami Bass-obsession early this decade. The one track I wish I could find had vocals that repeated over and over again the phrase: "Fucking all day fucking all night." It is a great track. To this day I get it stuck in my head every now and again. I have since lost it. I don't suppose anyone would know what it is?
posted by Kattullus at 3:52 PM on April 12, 2010

DMX?
posted by empath at 3:53 PM on April 12, 2010

The one track I wish I could find had vocals that repeated over and over again the phrase: "Fucking all day fucking all night." It is a great track.

I've heard a lot of stuff sample the line from Notorious BIG's Nasty Boy where he sing-songs "fuck 'em all day, fuck 'em all night." So I'm guessing the line was that, but as to which track you're thinking of, I can't really say.
posted by sparkletone at 4:07 PM on April 12, 2010

It's been at least five years since I've heard it, but the voice could've been a Notorius BIG sample. It was that phrase on repeat only, no other lyrics.
posted by Kattullus at 4:10 PM on April 12, 2010

sorry, but philly can't claim Spank Rock.

I dj and play a lot of baile funke, here's some cool songs, albeit these are all old.

Rapa das Armas

Rap do salguero

Som De Preto

perla
posted by LouieLoco at 4:29 PM on April 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

I just remembered the brazilian producer i wanted to link -- Edu K
posted by empath at 4:37 PM on April 12, 2010

"Fucking all day fucking all night" is about as common a sample as "Face down, ass up, this is how we like to fuck". Booty is not... subtle.
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:01 PM on April 12, 2010

what is the premise of the show in the headline link to face down ass up?
posted by LouieLoco at 5:19 PM on April 12, 2010

Phil Donahue, probably about how 2 live crew is killing america's youth.
posted by empath at 5:22 PM on April 12, 2010

Awesome, thanks empath. I've been thinking about doing a FPP about Baltimore Club for awhile now- maybe tribute-style to K-Swift?

There's...too much booty in the pants; too much booty in the pants!
posted by GodricVT at 6:07 PM on April 12, 2010

On second thought, it looks like you did one in 2006.
posted by GodricVT at 6:09 PM on April 12, 2010

Say what you want, man, but at least "Ass & Titties" has a moral.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:18 PM on April 12, 2010

Pope Guilty: ""Fucking all day fucking all night" is about as common a sample as "Face down, ass up, this is how we like to fuck". Booty is not... subtle."

The Secret Lives of Booty Poppers.

I swear I stumbled on this while looking to support Pope Guilty's assertion with Snoop Dogg lyrics.
posted by bwg at 6:23 PM on April 12, 2010 [4 favorites]

Yeah, that's not what I thought it'd be at all, bwg.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:25 PM on April 12, 2010

maybe tribute-style to K-Swift?

Oh man, I was at K-Swift's last gig. First time I had seen her spin, too, and I was in awe. The way she mixed hip-hop with club music with rave music and kept the crowd with her was really something special.
posted by empath at 6:31 PM on April 12, 2010

What, you're not going to include BOUNCE in this list? the hell.

myspace.com

/thebouncespot
/mcshakie
/elmboypeg2
/10thwardbuck
/blaqbiggiblaq
/kingofbounce


Editors.

I mean, i guess you can leave go-go out, but not bounce.
posted by eustatic at 7:24 PM on April 12, 2010

I figure every city has its own version of it :) I was mostly focusing on the techno/electro derived stuff not so much the hip-hop/funk scenes like go-go and bounce. I really only referenced Miami Bass cause it had so much of an influence on bmore and baile funk. I wish I knew more about the Afro-Caribbean influences on Kuduro and Baile Funk to be honest.
posted by empath at 7:30 PM on April 12, 2010

Remember that issue of Grand Royal with the paper craft Miami bass jeep in it? That was awesome. That magazine was where I learned that Eric B and Luke Skyywalker still existed.
posted by Kirk Grim at 10:11 PM on April 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

excellent post. I could watch kuduro videos on youtube all day long.
posted by billyfleetwood at 10:53 PM on April 12, 2010

Great post! I loves me my Ghetto Tech!
posted by jnnla at 12:00 AM on April 13, 2010

WARING: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
posted by rush at 8:39 AM on April 13, 2010

great stuff - thanks empath! a couple of years ago I stumbled into a set by a DJ called Maga Bo - he played a lot of kudoro etc - at the time I was reading a book by Mike Davis called Planet of the Slums, in which he makes the chilling observation that somewhere around 25% of the human race already lives in totally unserviced and unplanned urban agglomerations, and yet here is this beautiful hopeful happy music pouring out, and what an amazing force for bringing people together - we can do this people!
posted by dinsdale at 12:35 PM on April 13, 2010

Hi! Imma gonna come back here and post a super-detailed and insightful comment about how much booty house has meant to me, but in the meanwhile, here are some clichés:

WANT.
¡w00t!
A++++++ WOULD READ AGAIN
sweet fancy moses, yes!
Hawt.
posted by LMGM at 8:48 PM on April 13, 2010

also:

SHAKE THAT SHIT TO THE LEFT
SHAKE THAT SHIT TO THE RIGHT
SHAKE THAT SHIT TO THE LEFT
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
posted by LMGM at 8:58 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Nice one, this is good stuff
posted by Not Supplied at 11:21 PM on April 13, 2010

Thanks a lot. Sweet beats.
posted by stinkycheese at 6:03 AM on April 14, 2010

Miss Kittin Requiem For A Hit Featuring L A Williams.
posted by chunking express at 5:46 PM on April 19, 2010