Before I begin, a big shout out to Jonny Blaze, home early from his stint in a Maryland State Detention Center. In short order, I believe we’ll have some brand new material from the ever ribald and spiritually renewed father figure of club music.
When we interviewed Scottie B and Shawn Caesar in July, it was Caesar himself, the Unruly Records head who stated that “club music isn’t going to die, it’s just going to go underground for awhile.” There was no discussion from Caesar as to who or when this underground movement was going to start, but if you’ve paid any attention as of late to club music, you’d have that answer. Bmore Original Records has had a tenuous relationship with the club music community in the past. Solid but underwhelming releases, and a roster of heavy hitters like the Doo Dew Kidz, and collaborations with the likes of Mullyman, and terrific self promotion, but nothing that this journalist would call fresh, new, exciting or different. In falling right in line with what was expected of a club music label, they were a solid #2 in their own city, a position that given the dedicated hard work of label head DJ Excel, had to be a significant frustration.
However, recent changes in the atmosphere in the Charm City have created from where most people see a door that DJ Class open and shut behind him to mainstream credibility, an open crevice does apparently exist that Bmore Original sees fit to exploit. The new leader in Baltimore club music in Baltimore is the blinking boy with a black caesar haircut, the representation of the crew at Bmore Original Records.
The hipster movement is dead. In the hipster movement dying, this has created a curious issue for club music. It almost doesn’t help your career these days to be a “Bmore Club legend.” The sheer number of self identified “Bmore Club legends” still in Baltimore is amazing. One would believe that if you had reached “legend” status that you would either be a) gainfully retired, b) making moves in the mainstream either seen or unseen (production deals, ghostwriting productions, etc), or c) commercially relevant. In all frankness, for many of these “legendary” performers, none of that even remotely exists, and a mansion built from a deck of cards is still a mansion, and yes, still impressive, but not something built with any level of stability. Are you looking for a retooled label with an eye to the future and many of the “legends” still viable in the game? again, look no further than Bmore Original Records.
Bmore Original now boasts the following producers and DJs:
The Baltimore City Paper’s 2010 Best of Baltimore Winner for Best Club Music Producer: Murder Mark
Headliner for the Top Weekly Alternative Underground Party in the City, Ottobar’s Moustache Party: James Nasty
Producer for rising Bmore born and now Atlanta based emcee, Mullyman: DJ Booman
92.3 Friday Night Club Mix DJ and creative force behind two of the most “instant legend” club music songs of the past two years, “Swift’s Revenge” and “Bring in the Kats”: KW Griff
Alongside that crew, DJ Excel still churns out material at an alarmingly high rate. Benny Stixx is a still evolving producer, and may be the most underrated top 40 refix man in the game, as that mainstream niche market which was the cornerstone of the old Bmore Original model still has a place for a opening up to a great track. In recent memory, his refix of Twista’s “Wetter” and Gucci Mane’s “Lemonade” (refixed as “Sour Lemons”) are both killer tracks. Jimmy Jones is a vastly underrated legend known mainly for the vocals on the ubiquitous “Watch Out for the Big Girl,” but with a pronounced legacy in club music, and rounding out the roster is relative unknown Jon Kwest who has been tearing up Bmore Original Radio as of late.
Just a year ago when the apex of club music’s fame occurred, many quietly found issue with Bmore Original’s method of rapid fire releases. However, a mere year later, this method does not appear as outmoded, as the recent spate of nine releases in seven days keeps a constant immediacy, and a perpetually bubbling to the top state for the now “underground” genre.
In final, club music’s not dead. DJ Class has ridden the break from “I’m the Shit” around the entirety of pop music and abused it like a rented mule. If a fan of club music, this is a great development, but if you’re a club music producer may make the sound more boring and predictable than ever. If needing to find a plethora of all styles of club music from inventive producers digging into classic sounds yet still pushing the sound ahead? Visit http://www.bmoreoriginal.com.
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