Hip-Hop History Month #10

Egyptian Lover actually started as a dancer back in the day watching the DJ´s doin their shows. They did some mixing and repeat phrases on the wheels. He thought it would be cooler to do the mixing every bar. So at home he started to recorded short sound phrases stop the deck and record this phrase again. That was the beginning. A club manager heard my stuff and said “Hey man this is cool can you do it live?” I asked “How? Should I bring my tapes?” – “No you must do it on the turntables". I could not imagine how this will work, but I give it a try and the crowd stopped dancing and watched me doing my show. Then they went crazy, cause they never heard and saw anything like this before. I called it “Live Editing”. In this time we had no crossfader, sometimes the mixer had only knobs!

He progressed to wanting to make his own beats.

Africa Islam, who was a producer/dj of Ice T's, and known as "the son of Afrika Bambaata", told him that in order to make beats you need a 808 drum machine. He had $200 and his mother gave him the rest to buy my first 808. Arabian Prince mentioned in the Red Bull Interview that "his 808 is special cause it has a short delay that makes his sound so unique". Every 808 sounds different but they have to sound precise.

Uncle Jamms Army, where a lot of up to 50 people & Roger Clayton (a.k.a. Mr. Prinze) started and managed Uncle Jamm. Clayton was a big fan of Funkadelic, that's why he named the Crew "Uncle Jamm's Army". Egyptian Lover was one of many DJ´s and Roger organized parties in the LA area. One big party with Uncle Jamm happened in San Francisco with 10,000 people. The name "Freak Beat Records" was inspired from the song Nairobi / Funky Soul Makossa Free Beats Version.

He was one of many DJ´s at the beginning of Uncle Jamm's Army. As Roger heard the sound he was spinnin, he had fear the party people leave because Roger could not imagine that anybody will dance on these uptempo beats. So to force a Egyptian Lover to leave, he interrupted his set and advised him to play a real slow record with a load of female singing. “...that shit song has only a 1 minute part with good beats, what should I do"?, he thought. He took the second copy, pitched both records up to max and looped that terrible wax to death. People did the dance called "The Freak" and went crazy, Roger too. From that night there were no doubts anymore.

Fun story.....within a story (I guess): In 1984 as the party scene got really big, they decided to book a lot of live acts, as well. So came Summer Jam in the Sports arena with Run DMC as opening act (trip, right?). Run DMC liked his sound and said "it would be great to work with him on a electronic uptempo song". But their album was already finished at that point and then they went successful with Hip Hop so it never happened. Later Run DMC ask him “how did you make so much money"? He said, “First I don't have to split my money like you in three parts. When I earn a million bucks it´s all mine.” Fair enough.

Now, his FIRST time in the studio, he recorded the "Breakin' & Entering" soundtrack. A true Electro recording. Getting his style from Kraftwerk and enjoying the 808 drum machine and programming the hell out of it. He loved beats and no one was making beats back then. You could only get a (bonus beat) at the end of a 12" single. So he made his own. After that he went into the studio with Uncle Jamm's Army and recorded "Yes, Yes, Yes" with beats that sound like that "Breakin' & Entering" ksoundtrack and "Dial-a-Freak", which was one of his all time favorites.

Most of the Egyptian Lover's successful recordings were 12" singles. He eventually released some of the earliest rap LPs, but they were less popular than his singles. On the strength of an alternate mix of his most popular single "Egypt, Egypt", 1984's On the Nile was moderately successful. After a break in the early 1990s, Egyptian Lover returned in 1994 with Back from the Tomb, his first full-length album in over ten years.

He had so much fun in the studio after his first couple of times, he had to go back and record some more. He booked the time and grabbed his notebook of raps and went in to record his solo project "Beast Beats". His mother and sister read the title of his song and said "You better not make that song, don't play with the devil" So he went to the studio and changed his mind and programmed the beat to "Egypt Egypt" . He didn't think that song was going to be a big hit, actually. He just wanted a song to play at the dances he was D.J.ing at to say his name in it. Which is understandable; back then, saying your name a lot in a song wasn't anything unusual.

So he started making the beat for it, Did the music the way he had mixed other music, arranged the song like a mega mix of all the songs he had mixed at the dances and took out his notebook of raps and put together the song. It was all pieces that was mixed together. When the song was completed...he would take the tape to KDAY and they LOVED it. He went back to the studio and recorded "And My Beat Goes Boom", "What is a D.J. if He Can't Scratch?" (which was my favorite) and "The Ultimate Scratch". He didn't know what he was in for. He started doing concerts and having more fun than ever. His music took him all around the world; and thanks to all of his fans all over the globe, he's still doing shows and keeping it going.

One day he was spinning at a party and a local reporter said “Hey man you are better than the Egyptian Lover, what´s your name"? He said “My name is DJ Spermcell. “ The next day there was a article bout the party and the topic was “DJ Spermcell better then the Egyptian Lover”. Imagine: he was never in the newspaper before that day. And his friend had to laugh while seeing his picture with that header.