If you've been following the blog for a while you'll know that occasionally I speak to DJs or rappers who were around back in the day and get them to speak on how they came up in the game and generally reminisce a bit. This time out the focus is on a man best known for his mixtapes of insanely rare demos and unreleased material: NYC's DJ Mike Nice...
Who You Be?
I am the original DJ MIKE NICE, formerly of Upstairs Records NYC. I am known as the King Of Da Crates in regards to my mass assortment of unreleased material and demos, and a record collection of 40,000 at last count back in 94!
At present I’m the A&R of Venom Records and DJ and produce for my group The Faculty (EI8Trak & L.Y.F.E)
What was your ‘Day One’ ?
The first record that got me open was around 1981: The Gap Band ‘You Dropped A Bomb On Me’. I was 6 years old at the time.
The 1st Hip Hop record that I recall getting me open was 1984 Rockmaster Scott ‘The Roof Is On Fire’. Shortly after that, ‘La Di Da Di’ and ‘The Show’ by Slick Rick & Doug E Fresh. I was born in 1975 and growing up music was always playing in the crib. My parents played a lot of Disco, Soul & R&B so I heard a lot of breaks early on, even if I didn’t know the name of the song.
