THE DROP: DC’s Moombahton Evolution

When Dave Nada moved to Los Angeles, many mainstream DC observers probably thought that the moombahton fervor would die down, and like BYT pool parties, wearing DURKL gear and eating at Sweetgreen would lose some of their luster, and cross over into the consciousness of an accepted part of the fabric of the cachet of cool of DC. Many likely figured like the above named DC concoctions in the name of hip, moombahton wouldn’t continue to evolve and redefine itself, and continue to be a fun underground paradise. Sleeping on moombahton in the city where it was invented is like falling asleep in the lions den with lions you perceive are dormant. When you wake up, you’re likely going to be eaten alive.

 Gonna Get You Moombahton by Cam Jus

DJ’s Cam Jus, Obeyah and Billy the Gent (aka Billfold, aka Billy Bennett) are all relative neophytes in the world of production and self promotion. Cam Jus is probably the furthest along, actually taking college courses to improve his production game, and obsessed at present with a “take no prisoners, bangers only” approach to the sound, looking to gain access to the epic pantheon of top moombahton track creators. Obeyah, he got into making moombahton tracks when TGRI booked David Heartbreak to come to DC over the summer to play with both him and Cam Jus. He’s far more comfortable in the realm of deep and tribal inspired house, which in many ways has inspired his moombahton abilities. Billy? Well, he was the shadow of Dave Nada for the DC summer, and in doing so clearly has picked up Nada’s ear for tracks with populist appeal. His production chops were honed by working in the realm of dubstep earlier in the year, so he has a particular ability with finding melodies to exploit.

 Latin Love Theme by Billy The Gent

With Dave Nada announcing on Twitter that genre summer camp and key moment of progression Moombahton Massive is returning on January 12, 2011 to DC’s sonic “Temple of Boom,” U Street Music Hall, it’s quite noteworthy that on Sunday night, Cam and Billy laid out the future of the sound. From the hard edged “moombahcore” where Cam Jus’ background as primarily a hip hop DJ should come into play, especially on his incredible refix of Nouveau Riche’s Nacey’s “The Flip,” to the soft romance of “moombahsoul,” being an unexpected realm for the heavily tatted tattoo artist and heavy sound lover Billy the Gent, DC is just as relevant as ever. As well, both DJs also still kill the traditional moombahton sound, proving there is growth and flexibility amonst a more than ready and truly hungry core group of locals.

 African flute – (obeyah moombahton edit) by obeyah

Even further, Obeyah spent the weekend in Atlanta playing parties and advancing moombahton to the South, also the area of note for producer David Heartbreak. It’s important that moombahton have the ability to travel well and be in the hands of technically gifted spinners who can play the tracks and expose them in their best light.

Cam Jus, Billy the Gent and Obeyah all gladly took the baton when Dave Nada became westward bound. In doing so, they take his spirit and blend it with their own inventiveness and creative passion and have forged ahead making successful attempts to take this new progression to unforeseen heights.

Dale moombahton!

THE DROP: DJ Cam Jus’ "007" mix and his top place in the new school international underground

Cam jus – 007s by Cam Jus

Cam Jus is a DJ and producer from DC who likes drinking Orange Juice, Orange Vodka and 7-Up every day. He also has his debut EP, The Rookie Card dropping soon. Instrspective and thoughtful, he cites Mos Def as a creative inspiration. Dude is also a beast.



Let’s be real here for a second. DJ Cam Jus will be the next rising top underground DJ and producer from Washington, DC. He’s made notable leaps and jumps in 2010 as instead of going out to music and hopping on trends and getting active as a remixer, music came to him. As we’ve said here before, Cam Jus was all about what moombahton has become before moombahton even existed. Cam as a live DJ has also been all about celebrating the hood underbelliy of hip hop long before everybody else rediscovered it and started screaming about being Big Meech, Larry Hoover, MC Hammer and “going hard in the paint.” Cam’s a musical outlier. He likes what he likes, because he likes it. He doesn’t hop on trends because everyone else is, or because he thinks it will make him cool. Let’s extend it and say that also, Cam’s not cool. He’s hip, and he definitely knows what’s up, but he’s not cool. Never has been, probably never will be. But he’s eminently talented and far better than anybody realizes.

DC’s all about getting on in the urban underground because of the cliquish nature of hipster DJs. The interconnectivity of DJs influenced by the Hollerboard and partying in the same groupings for years still hasn’t broken. As well, DJs who can promote their OWN parties get on a lot quicker than those who don’t, as having the ability to promote yourself in a 1-to-1 way with a fellow DJ is a LOT easier than being reliant upon an intermediary manager or outside promoter.

Cam’s gonna break that trend. The first of many in a generation of young underground DJs from explicitly ouside of the initial community, his skills and talents with moombahton have been noted as excellent and devloping by the likes of Dave Nada, Munchi, David Heartbreak and DJ Sabo, and as a live DJ, his game has picked up locally, as he’s spun the Rock Creek Social Club’s party at Recess, Lamine Ndour’s The Talented event with Kokayi and the Diamond District amongst his regular gigs as well. Developing a style as well that’s heavy on soul, R & B, club, international bass heavy melodies and the ever present urban trending hip hop sounds. His productions have improved immensely, and he’s presently in school getting educated further on production to make his chops legitimate and untouchable.

His “007” mix includes amongst many melodic goodies, moombahton (check his latest, “The Booty,” a sex charged dance floor romp), the trending dub of Katy B’s “On a Mission,” Munchi’s incredible kuduro remix of DC homie Steve Starks’ “Get Em,” as well as yes, the winter champion of hip hop stoner crunk, Waka, Roscoe and Wale’s stip club anthem “No Hands.”

We at TGRIOnline.com have been preaching about Cam Jus for for the last year. He is a resident DJ of two of our signature events. With one mix, Cam stopped being next. Cam’s right now.

Get familiar.

THE DROP: DC’s DJ Cam Jus dreams of his Autotune Karaoke Concert at U Street Music Hall

THE DROP: DC’s DJ Cam Jus takes MIA x Moombahton as the route to success

For the last year or so, I can count on my fingers and toes how many times I was either out clubbing the night away or trying to get a solid night of sleep, and would get interrupted by a text message from DJ Cam Jus at underground Latin clubs and discotecas in such suburban Maryland locales as Silver Spring, College Park and Riverdale going on and on about how he was hearing some of the dopest remixes, edits and refixes of hip hop, club music and classic rock with salsa, merengue and other Latin beats. He also talked about how responsive the crowds were, and how it felt like the crowds had energy all night long, from the opening jam until the close of the night.

  Boyz (cam jus moombahton remix) – MIA + Steve Angello’s Che Flute (Alvaro remix) by Cam Jus 

Therefore, it stood to reason that when Dave Nada started the Moombahton movement that it wouldn’t be long before Cam would start digging through the massive amount of Latin themed CDs and tracks this development spurred him to purchase to figure exactly what would be the combination that he would put together for major Moombahton success. When DJ Sabo dropped “Jesus Loves Moombahton” a few weeks back, the bhangra contained therein tipped off the young selector to the possibility to infusing Moombahton with MIA acapellas. The choice seemed logical, and in taking MIA’s “Boyz” and dipping it in the Carribean Sea by way of Steve Angello’s “Che Flute,” magic happened and the newest in a weekly changing “top hit” of the new craze of the underground world occurred.

Dave Nada’s Moombahton Mondays at the Velvet Lounge are at present the most important party in the North American underground. On Monday night, it VERY quickly turned into an overflow crowd bolstered by the overflow from the Chromeo concert at the 9:30 Club down the street, as well as rapid spreading word of mouth. With DJ Sabo, the underground’s present overlord of cumbia (not named Toy Selectah) also spinning, it wasn’t A-Mac’s “Heads Will Roll,” Dave Nada’s “Punk Rock Latino,” Doc Adam’s “Trial by Sex Sax” or Rampage y Nader’s “If You Leave” that got the biggest response. It was Cam Jus’ “Boyz” edit, the biggest track of the week.

S*** I’M DIGGING THIS WEEK: Certified Dope Summer Bangers Edition

aka avant garde musical water cooler discussion.

1. The moombahton movement continues to grow!

If you’re not at least aware of or informed as to having a favorite moombahton track these days, then you’re really doing it wrong in being any sort of “underground tastemaker.” We hate such nomenclatures here at True Genius Requires Insanity, but, if you want to be aware of and truly appreciative of the genre, you could do worse than being a follower of this site. We’ve recently proclaimed the warm, tropical sound as the soundtrack of the post-hipster generation. As if right on time with that, moombahton inventor Dave Nada started a Monday summer residency at Velvet Lounge, with last night’s event featuring all of your favorite moombahton, cumbia and tropical bass hits, and given that it was Nada’s birthday, yep, live woodwind instrumentation as a trumpet and saxophone accompanied Nada’s mixing.

What were they accompanying? Well, only the hottest sound this week in the underground smash genre, DJ Doc Adam’s mash of East Flatbush Project’s “Tried by 12” and Drop the Lime’s new summer smasher “Sex Sax.” Agreed, alongside Steve Starks’ “Lydia,” there hasn’t been a more moombahton ready track recently released, but the blend of the acapella of “Tried by 12,” and the reinterpretation of the Trouble and Bass related DJ’s “Sex Sax” works really well, and I think is the door opener to the possibility of involving freestyle with the genre, which I think is a direction that can prove to be truly fertile.

  Tried by Sex Sax (Doc Adam Moombahton Edit) by docadam

2. James Nasty is producing the Bmore club smash of the year

Some things just make natural sense. James Nasty is a Baltimore folk hero waiting to happen. If you follow his Twitter account, @jamesnasty, you’re introduced to a life which is surrounded by sex, drugs and Bmore club. As well, he appears to be perpetually surrounded by a cast of characters that say and do the most ridiculous things. Any given night can end up with accounts of party promoters assaulting DJs at Bmore’s failed Click party, a Saturday night house party gig turning into a theater of the absurd, or random musings on missed connections, random women, and the unusual nature of his life.

James has a friend that to a good percentage of the Bmore universe is known as “The Motherf***ing Thump.” Given that I spend a fair amount of time rooting about in the deep underground of Baltimore, I definitely know Thump well enough to know that he’s easily one of the more entertaining people in the city. The idea of James and Thump collaborating, while to the average person not anything remotely close to DJ Class and Jermaine Dupri on a track, is eons more important.

Club music was built on original vocal samples over hard breaks. Ms. Tony and Frank Ski, Jimmy Jones and the Doo Dew Kidz, hell, even Rye Rye and Blaqstarr. The ultimate key to club music’s rise was to have unique underground voices with hungry producers who were building their legacy. The music always then remained fresh and intriguing. James Nasty and The Motherf***ing Thump? I like the sound of that. Again, some things just make natural sense.

Wanna hear this track for the first time anywhere? Come to WORLD CHAMPS this Thursday night at Wonderland Ballroom!

More to come…

TGRIOnline.com presents WORLD CHAMPS, a hip hop and club music party w/ JAMES NASTY and CAM JUS, 7/8, Wonderland Ballroom, DC

Hot off the heels of our first “True Thursday” monthly at Wonderland Ballroom, “FRIENDS,” which celebrated the greatest in teen pop music of the last fifty years, True Genius Requires Insanity proudly presents on July 8th at Wonderland Ballroom,”WORLD CHAMPS.” A hip hop and Baltimore club music themed monthly with resident DJ “The World Champion of Club Music” James Nasty, and rising local DC DJ Cam Jus, the goal of this event is to give club music, one of the building blocks of the current urban alternative movement, a home in Washington, DC, a city that, while only 45 minutes away from the Charm City, often seems a world away.

Nasty, nearly a decade long veteran club music DJ and producer is the headline DJ at the Moustache Party at Baltimore’s Ottobar, a position that Nasty has relished as he has infused the latest greatest party in a significant line of hipster and underground parties with energy that is at times manic, at times erotic, but always representative of the most tremendous of all forms of percussive dance music. Now, as the “World Champion of Club Music,” Nasty, a TGRIOnline.com STAMPED artist fully intends on taking his skills and talents to the next level in the Capital City.

Opening the event is DJ Cam Jus. Cam has easily been one of the more prolific professionals in the DC area this year, having already released two mixes that were met with waves of positive acclaim, alongside productions that explore the finest in dub, reggae, hip hop, electro and Latin sounds. Cam also has a pronounced and tremendous love of Dirty South crunked out anthems, and will bring those to the table as well.

Come check out the party, and definitely get down to the tunes we know are the MVPs of your booty, hip hop and Bmore club!

THE DROP: DJ’s Cam Jus & D Painter bring the summer heat with new mixes!

Washington, DC is the new epicenter of the East Coast underground. DC has always had an exceptionally strong electronic dance music history, but for a new generation of four on the floor ready party denizens, there is a veritable plethora of selectors and producers to choose from reflecting the depth and scope of the new hottest locale in EDM.

DOWNLOAD MIX HERE

If you know us at True Genius Requires Insanity, you know of our total respect for and belief in the talents of DJ Cam Jus. Cam remains an underrated but vital spinner and producer to the city. Ever thoughtful and dance floor cognizant, many ideas and concepts that Cam has explored with immediacy and precision without his knowledge have been explored by top industry veterans days, weeks or months after Cam’s handiwork has been completed. He also is a fine DJ for those who are fans of the initial generation of hipsters, those who enjoy deliberate blends of truly disparate musical styles as Cam understands how to bridge reggae, hip hop, cumbia and electro seamlessly, his intellect and trademark style showing most obvious in his craft. From his obsequious love of the Cosa Nostra Riddim to inclusions of Dave Nada’s Moombahton excellence and a number of other top remixes alongside yes, the Fresh Prince’s “Summertime,” Cam Jus once again sinks a sonic basket at the most opportune time. SWISH! (click here for tracklisting) (MIX AVAILABLE AFTER THE JUMP)

Cam Jus – Swish June2010 Promo stream version by Cam Jus

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 DOWNLOAD WITH PLAYLIST

 

If you took a look at the lineup for our Michael Jackson themed happy hour on June 25th at U Street Music Hall, “Michael Jackson is Still Alive,” and were unfamiliar with the name D Painter, well, join the club. Formerly DJ Tru and down with the HipsterOverkill.com crew, D Painter is a bicoastal house powerhouse who has had quite the 2010. If he isn’t onstage dressed as a gorilla daggering lithe bodied dancers during Major Lazer’s set at Baltimore’s Bourbon Street, working with NYC’s Roxy Cottontail, or spinning at Baltimore’s Starscape Festival, he’s spinning hot, big room trending house sets not unlike the BLORadio.com podcast below in LA, making all the requisite moves to differentiate and advance himself as a DJ from our widely respected capital city. Dennis Ferrer, Afrojack, Moguai, Steve Aoki, Armand van Helden and Sidney Samson? All present, all accounted for. It’s hot!

  D Painter podcast 01 (06-07-2010) by D. Painter

SHIT I’M DIGGING THIS WEEK – DC Dance Edition

aka avant garde music water cooler discussion

1. Nouveau Riche’s Plant Music Mix

MIX AND TRACKLIST HERE

Year One of True Genius Requires Insanity was dominated locally by the rise to prominence of DJs Gavin Holland, Nacey and Steve Starks, the Nouveau Riche crew. Holland rose quickly as the hipster rave face of Washington, DC, the Nouveau Riche developer with a blend of shrewd marketing, relentless grind, and the best local ear for taking the dance sounds of 1992 back to the future. Blended with two Dirty South hip hop devotees with a love of deep house and Baltimore club, Nacey and Steve Starks, the trio worked with razor sharp precision and developed a noted consistency for throwing the kind of parties that you never expect but always remember.

2010 finds DC’s top trio now hosting their small mashing of genres at the Temple of Boom known as the U Street Music Hall, where for the first two events, the party has been a sell out. Now 18+, the minds of impressionable youth are now in the hands of three young men who have nothing but tomfooolery, chicanery and DOPE grooves at the ready. The mix for the label that releases U Street Music Hall owners Tittsworth and Will Eastman starts with legend and presiding force over the label Stretch Armstrong extolling the many virtues of the DJ crew, and navigates with excellence through some truly magnificent remixes and edits of note, from Trouble and Bass’ Portuguese goth club crunkers Zombies For Money, house crushers Boys Noize and Dj Chuckie, and SIX new tracks from Nacey, Starks and Holland.

Starks and Nacey’s “The Flip” may be the hottest track the duo has had out since their first EP, the rumbling house winner takes a sample regarding cocaine distribution out to the dance floor and gets it soaked in sweat. Deep, funky and fun, it has pace and style. No greater mind on the nature of club and dance music than Tittsworth (who released the Starks and Nacey Lydia/TRO EP on his T & A imprint with DJ Ayres) himself has proclaimed Steve Starks as being “up next,” and his “Git Em'” is ‘the one.’ Take a listen and you’ll immediately know why. Gavin Holland is represented here with his Technotronic “Pump Up the Jam” recalling remix of Ninjasonik’s “Pregnant,” which is entertaining and a mainstream dance floor winner. Track “Power” with disco and house magnate Chris Burns is more of well, Holland being Holland, as it’s Snap’s 1991 anthem gone ravey.

Do take a listen, and enjoy!

2. Dave Nada – Punk Rock Latino EP

Dave Nada – Punk Rock Latino EP by T and A Records

I have now seen a homeless woman, two businessmen, a gaggle of hipsters and people potentially high on a whole lot more than life dancing to “La Gata” and A-Mac’s “Long Train to Moombahton” on a DC sidewalk.

If you didn’t make it by DC’s Velvet Lounge last Wednesday night, you missed what has now become a rapid evolution of the shape of Dave Nada’s ode to Dutch house, reggaeton and cumbia, moombahton. Now appearing to be far less about screwing Afrojack remixes, with the aid of Nada’s explorations into his Latino heritage, as well as the work done by the likes of Dutch reggaeton turned house producer Munichi, the sound has had yet another quick evolution, and now has depth and scope and is a celebration of the deep reaching influences of pure Latin sounds.

Nada’s latest EP features the titular “Punk Rock Latino,” a polyrhythmic thunderclap on a summer evening that features a dub remix that gets filthy and deep almost immediately, the inclusion of cumbia concepts into the sound making themselves readily apparent. The real champion on the EP though has absolutely nothing to do with “Punk Rock Latino,” but is the full release to the public of Nada’s KRS-One “Step Into a World” as a piece of eclectic magic. Horn stabs make the track a hip hop classic, and it’s the horn stabs sampled here that do it too, alongside a sped up KRS-One vocal edit and an overall feat of excellent production by Nada. Also, do check

Nada’s set at Velvet Lounge included cumbia, reggaeton and moombahton. No electro, no house, no hip hop, but all were sampled and included in the tracks played, showing the unifying essence and fully global impact of quality sonic experimentation. Do keep an eye on the rise and development of this sound. Whether as a warmup, peak hour smasher or cooldown after intense raving, it’s a sound that serves all masters extraordinarily well.

3. Cam Jus gets experimental

DC, like most of the underground dance world of the US in 2010, has gone deep into the realm of house music for new inspiration. I look to the success of Nadastrom, and namely the introduction of Matt Nordstrom’s production quality and style into Dave Nada’s cataclysmic club concoctions as the culprit for DC. This development has now reached to the realm of DC’s most inquisitive and introspective DJ mind, Cam Jus, who has been making some quality edits as of late blending Carribean rhythms with house sounds with maximum impact.

  Hold Yuh (Cam Jus remix)(Blast4 Preview) – Gyptian by Cam Jus

Also, yet to be released is Cam’s take on Mos Def’s “The Panties.” Cam’s best work comes when his mind turns sensual and romantic, and this is no exception to the rule. It may be his best work to date, and with expansions planned into both dubstep and yes, moombahton as well, the selector should at any point now be breaking forth from his shell and becoming a top quality force in the DC DJ game. Do check http://www.camjus.com for more information!

TGRIOnline.com presents TRUE THURSDAY @ WONDERLAND BALLROOM

Hello!

The “Hustlers of Culture” of True Genius Requires Insanity are proud to announce that starting with June 10, 2010’s FRIENDS party, we have entered into an agreement to provide quality dance entertainment at the Wonderland Ballroom on the second Thursday night of every month. As of press time, this deal is indefinite. On June 10th, our own DJ Cold Case teams with fantastic local rave, pop and hip hop DJ, DJ TMY to present the ultimate teen pop explosion now known as FRIENDS, which will celebrate fifty dynamic and crowd friendly years of teen pop music. This will be a quarterly occurrence, with the next FRIENDS not scheduled until October, which yes, will absolutely have a Halloween theme based around dressing like your favorite teen pop icon.

The months not occupied by FRIENDS have something just as exciting in store. If a follower of the site, you are aware of our desire to preserve and protect the legacy of easily the most bass heavy and party rocking sound in dance music history, Baltimore club music. We have paired those sounds with hip hop and top 40 to present WORLD CHAMPS, a party with a resident DJ now known merely as the “World Champion of Club Music,” our own STAMPED DJ, James Nasty, with special guest DJ Cam Jus. Not since the days of Dave Nada and Jesse Tittsworth throwing the CRUNK parties has there been such a stable home for Baltimore club music within the DC Metropolitan area. On July 8th, be prepared for fireworks when Nasty and Cam get behind the decks!

True Genius Requires Insanity is now fully committed to the development and curation of top quality and high level social events. As with everything about the site, be aware that we demand excellence, and that content as well as style are equal goals in concert with each other. The Guerilla Gorilla Movement is upon DC! More to come!

Sincerely,

Marcus K. Dowling
Co-Editor in Chief, True Genius Requires Insanity

SEAL OF APPROVAL (DC) – PARTY LIKE A ROCKSTAR – 3/26/10

If you’ve been following along, the Seal of Approval is our way of making your nightlife more manageable. Let us sort through the fliers and Facebook invites, and you won’t be disappointed. Tonight, however, our job is much harder. DC faces a glut of quality events: TGRI’s newest contributor Denman gets his crust on with DJ Steve EP at No Control at the Black Cat, DJs Jackie O and Trevor Martin throw down with Skinny Friedman at $weat$hop, and the Dirty Bombs duo of Meistro and Deep Sang are seeing Red at the U Hall.

Each promises to impress, but if you only do one thing tonight, we suggest skipping the Friday on U Street madness and heading down to one of our favorite haunts, Little Miss Whiskey’s Golden Dollar, for Party Like a Rockstar. DJs Lil’ Elle (nee Lil’ El) and Cam Jus will be playing all the bangers and club hits you know and love, for a night that will find you answering that eternal question, “How low can I go?”

Want a taste of what will be dropping tonight? Check out Elle’s CRISP top 40 mix and Cam’s slept-on Blast 3 mix.