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One of the most talented Club music producers anywhere, Longbranch, New Jersey’s KAYY DRiZZ has been setting off dancefloors from Newark to London for the past few years, becoming one of the most sought after producers and DJs in the meantime. A member of the legendary Brick Bandits crew, KAYY DRiZZ has formulated an identity as one of the hardest working members of the Jersey club world, impressing via her tireless work ethic and anthemic originals and remixes. Rightfully known as the Jersey Club Queen, Drizz’s sets are live wire exhibition of the Jersey and Bmore sound past and present, drawing lines between classics from Rod Lee, DJ Technics, DJ Booman and recent hits from scene heavyweights DJ Sliink, Mike Gip and DJ Jayhood. The fact that Gip and Jayhood have become cult figures outside of Newark (and no longer or rarely make Club music) is testament to the genre’s success throughout the rest of the world and the external pressures heaped on the formerly insular Jersey sound.

These days, you can hear KAYY DRiZZ bangers like “Bang” and “Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here”, an insatiable Deborah Cox sampling, Nicki Minaj drop adorned track from 2015, in Los Angeles, London, Paris and Tokyo and considering the success of DRiZZ, UNIIQU3, Sliink and Nadus, as well as up-and-comers like DJ Tiga, DJ Albyy and DJ Cueheat, it’s hard not to see the world of Jersey club in a state of health at the moment. Of course there are ups and downs as far as the hype train and we know as well as anyone how short and fickle the attention span(s) of the dance music media are, but with DRiZZ energetically pushing Jersey bounce and institutions like Nadus’ Thread continuing to create a platform for young artists, there genuinely seems to be a tangible movement coming out of Newark and its surrounding cities. For her part, DRiZZ is seemingly tireless, stepping out from her solo work to provide vocals for DJ Problem’s “Skinny Girls” and to remix “Stoner Chick” with FIIN$$E.

Meanwhile, her two side, rab/club mix for Black Marble collective has been on repeat since arriving in April and today we’re overjoyed to bring you the KAYY DRiZZ Astral Plane mix. Taking the classics approach, DRiZZ went about a little astral projection and brought back tracks from Rod Lee, Debonair Samir, DJ Technics, Jayhood and more for this mix, peppering in a fair amount of Brick Bandits and her own drops to properly modernize timeless anthems like “Dance My Pain Away” and “Mr. Postman”. It’s a joy to run through Jersey and Bmore’s past in mix form and it’s hard to imagine anyone drawing the lines between Club music’s past and present quite like KAYY DRiZZ.

Legion Mix For The Astral Plane

By Gabe Meier

April 22, 2014

Mixes

1 Comment

One of the most pervasive criticisms of American club music is that it lacks a level of maturity. American grime and dubstep producers don’t respect the history of their respective genres. Ballroom and footwork are functional sounds produced to assist a dance and nothing more. Jersey club is a bed squeak sample and nothing else. We call bullshit. These criticisms have been rampant since Uncle Luke and Miami bass were demonized and, unfortunately, there will also be a semblance of racial rhetoric in these discussions. Former member of Westside Schmucks and current Atlanta resident Jay Murphy knows a thing or two about club music in America and has quietly positioned himself at a major axis point of a number of scenes and sounds.

These days, Murphy goes by Legion and reps crews like Brick Bandits, Tomahawk Chop and Freshmore. In the past, Murphy has dealt mainly in the mid-Atlantic sounds of ballroom, Jersey and Bmore, but under his Legion pseudonym, he has refined his sound is a gritty amalgam of both British and American sounds. As far as DJing goes, you would be hard pressed to find someone more voracious for dubs, exclusives and wonky bootlegs, resulting in a fun, unexpected result in all of his mix work. Legion’s Astral Plane mix touches on why American club music has to be taken seriously without coming off as presumptuous, marauding through 23 tracks from members of his own crews, as well as AP favorites like Grovestreet, DJ Milktray and Inkke. The mix is breakneck and angular, settling into an aggressive modus operandi early on and never letting up. Stream/download below and hit the jump for the full track list.