i think you're spot on with the below. in the uk most of the people who go to parties (from my experience) tend to be either mainstream (won't get ghetto tek _ever_, in the same way they wouldn't get jeff mills) or are 'alternative'/hippy/raver types who think booty is not politically correct enough for em to listen to, and therefore missing out on why this stuff is fun.
i've played stuff with lyrics in like "take it from the back" (which is quite mild by booty stanadrds) to a room half full of horrified faces. robin... > There are a few reasons Ghetto Tech hasn't crossed over as well as techno: > > - Its emphasis on DJing skills: outside the US there's less of a culture of > respect for a DJ's skills on the turntables. A ghetto tech promoter I work > with booked Disco D to play in Brixton, and while the set was technically > brilliant most people in the crowd standed around bemused. > > - Narrow emotional range: when you think about it, you're never going to > get a "Strings of Life", "Someday", "The Message" or "Inner City Life" out > of the ghetto tech scene; such a track would even cease to be ghetto tech at > all. Ghetto tech has far less scope, melodically lyrically and emotionally, > than other genres like house and techno, and as a result ghetto tech is > unlikely to explode in the same way house and techno did. > > - You need a crowd that's pretty into taking off their clothes rather than > dancing in a semi-ironic way to booty music, and most crowds in the UK are > too reserved for that sort of thing... > > - Lack of understanding overseas: even the most clued-up people outside of > the US still have a slightly patchy idea of how to promote ghetto tech. Do > you pitch it to the "breaks" crowd, the techno crowd, the hip-hop crowd, or > the drum'n'bass crowd? How do you sell, say, DJ Assault, to people who > haven't heard of him? People like Neil Rushton (who was instrumental in > breaking Detroit techno in the UK) haven't yet emerged in the non-US ghetto > tech scene, so at the moment any promoters are battling a wave of public > ignorance. > > James Lavelle's flirtation with booty came to an end partly because of poor > sales and lukewarm response (again, only people who knew who DJ Assault was > were buying Belle Isle Tech), but also because the bust-up between DJ > Assault and Mr De happened at around the time Lavelle was dealing with them, > causing lots of headaches over track clearance and so forth which put him > off the whole scene. Also, Lavelle didn't do an amazing job of marketing the > booty sound in the UK (as in the previous point) and the DJ Magic Mike album > was pretty poor (apart from "Drop The Bass" of course!). So Lavelle has > given up. The current main UK exponents of the sound are Ed DMX (who put out > a DJ Nasty record on his label this year) and Andrea Parker (who has had > Assault and Godfather collaborate on some new tracks). > > Miami Bass seemed *about* to blow up when people like Tag Team, 95 South and > Sir Mixalot were impacting the UK pop charts in the early 1990s, but it > didn't reach critical mass because at the time it was associated more with > cheesy novelty hits than with banging dancefloor tracks. I know a kid who > tried DJing Miami Bass in the mid-1990s, mainly to black crowds in London, > but didn't have much luck and eventually sold all his records. > > The best thing about the whole booty scene, though, is the diversity of > records you can mix in. From Taxi Cab to Planet Rock, Play At Your Own Risk > to Jam The Box, Cosmic Raindance to Master Organism, you can pack a lot of > historic or obscure tracks into a booty set without necessarily disrupting > the flow. > > Brendan > > > | -----Original Message----- > | From: Cyclone Wehner [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > | Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2002 3:18 PM > | To: 313 Detroit > | Subject: [313] Mo' Ghetto Tek > | > | > | Thanks for all the great Ghetto Tek leads. > | > | DJ Godfather is making his first trip to Oz, hence my research. > | > | Why do you all think that Ghetto Tek has not crossed over (ie left its > | geographic base) in the same way that techno has? > | > | Miami bass hasn't either really - though Khia's My Neck has blown > | up lately > | across the US into the Billboard charts (such a great song)... > | > | I guess Washington go-go never did either. > | > | Yet James Lavelle did flirt with bass on Mo Wax... and > | occasionally DJs from > | hip-hop or breaks will drop ghetto-tech. > | > | Any thoughts? > | > | > | --------------------------------------------------------------------- > | To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > | For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > | > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > robin... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Robin Pinning | E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Manchester Computing, University of Manchester, | T: +44 161 275 7028 Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom. | F: +44 161 275 6040 --------------------------www.mrccs.man.ac.uk------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
