Babu: The World Famous Beat Junkies, Vol.1 2CD Babu

What a flashback! My friend let’s me borrow this World Famous Beat Junkies mixTAPE (actual cassette) back in 1999 and a half an hour after getting it, I’m laying in my car listening to the whole damn thing. I couldn’t get over the fast cuts, the sick hip hop selections, the drops, juggles, and scratch solos. Babu straight fucked my head up, just like he did an entire generation of scratch DJ’s and turntablists. He along with J-Rocc, Melo-D, Rhettmatic, and D-styles defined the signature LA DJ style, and their sound has reached far and wide. Still sounds so fresh on this crisp CD version of the original mixtape on my desk. The sounds are like liquid nostalgia and the vibe is still on point. Nobody puts work into mixes like this anymore. This could be recorded on an 8 track mixer for all I know. Expect all the indy hip hop hits that defined the era, flipped, mixed and reconstructed by Babu: Arsonists’ “The Session,” Jungle Brothers’ “How You Want It – Remix,” Charizma & PB Wolf’s “My World Premiere,” Siah & Yeshua Dapo ED’s “Gravity,” J-Live’s “Braggin’ Writes,” Kool Keith’s “Lovely Lady,” Eastflatbush Project’s “Tried By 12,” and much more. Coming at you with the realness… two times! That’s right, this double CD also includes Babu’s Comprehension mix which is an all out assault of pure turntablist rawness. Classic breaks meet sick scratch and juggle routines to make your head spin (including the infamous Guru-sampling “Suckas” routine!). If you didn’t listen to this back in the day, cop it now and get a schooling in classic turntablism. Recommended.

reviewed by Cmish