//Anatomy of ExtraLoving

//REWIND
This is the third in my series of Valentine's mixes. Now, I'm not a huge fan of V-Day, I'm not all into it... it happened because I wanted to make love-themed mixes dedicated to my incomparable wife DJ Zita. The first one I made when we first started dating! There had been some great love mixes already done, some of my favorites included Neil Armstrong's Warmfuzzy and Cosmo Baker's Love Break. Back in '06 to my knowledge no one had done a mix of Lovers Rock reggae for V-Day, so I did a short selection and made a hand-drawn cover (only 1 in existence!). I liked it a lot so it was the first mix I uploaded and shared online. There are a couple tunes on it that I had to include on the new mix, they just fit so well. It's still up here: LoversRockTunes.

The next year I wanted to take it up a notch, so I did a more eclectic mix with jazz, hip hop, soul, r&b and reggae, got drops from the homie Kirby Dominant, and had my mellow Shing02 create artwork for it, the "Mixtapes in Love" illustration which is brilliant. I called it loveisloveisloveislove... Download here or purchase the CD here.

Later that year, in December '07 I was scheming on my next V-Day mix. I decided I wanted to expand on the first lovers rock mix, make it full-length. Me & Z had gotten booked for "The First Annual Cupcaking Invitational" at Sake1's PST. I did a draft of the mix, but the time constraints were not going to allow me to put it out properly and I didn't wanna halfass it. Plus Sake dropped his Hardcore Cupcaking mix that night which is off the chain.

//FORWARD

So for this year I got started early. I was happy with the draft I had done in Dec.'07 but I knew it was not complete. I am even happier now that I didn't put it out. The year that followed is history: Zita & I got married, and while honeymooning I got to build with selector Red-I in Manila and dig for 45s in Tokyo (big UP Rocker's Island!). Also, I had the Guardian Angel riddim already on my mix, but the acoustic version came out which was dope. Don Corleone dropped his Secrets riddim which was a sureshot for the selection, and Jazmine Sullivan introduced a reggae burner over the Queen of the Minstrel riddim to R&B radio. Then, in a twist of fate our crib was burglarized in October. In the process of rebuilding we finally started converting to Serato. So then I was able to use the built-in effects on the mix and also include 2 tracks that are not on vinyl: Hawai'i reggae band Ooklah the Moc's "You Light" and the super brand new "Forever More" by Alaine & Tarrus Riley. The rest of the selection is almost all Jamaican 45s with like 3 LP cuts thrown in. All in all, you will find a mix deep with classics, some more obscure, and some newer tunes, all top-notch lovers.

I really gotta give it up to Jidan Koon, my folks from way back, who contributed an original canvas to our fundraiser back in November. After I peeped her style I would have to hit her up to create the visuals for ExtraLoving. She came through for real, with a vibrant collage that captures the feeling and the sound of the mix. I just told her to do what she do, whatever comes out naturally, and she did.

Lastly, can't forget my brother MC Zulu. We collaborated on my mix STOP THE FUSSING AND FIGHTING! back in '07 and his voice MUST be included on any reggae mix I do! I used some vocals from our past sessions. MC Zulu is really at the forefront of a future international dancehall sound so get familiar! Lookout for some Riddim Killah mixes from us and SFF part 2 in the future.

//SELECTOR!
Thanks to Green B for having me rock 1LOVE last night for my CD release party and much love to everyone who came thru.
Cop the cd at Giant Peach or holler at me.

Next on the blog: Extra Extra Loving! I'ma post some of the tracks that I had to cut from the mix. Dammit it's hard to keep it under 80mins sometimes!

//1neLuv.