Easy Mo Bee spun at Turntable Lab
January 12th, 2019 by chocko
Legendary producer Easy Mo Bee made an appearance last night at Turntable Lab in New York City, a pristine and well organized record store in the East Village. As soon as I saw them announce the in-store, I mentally prepared for the grueling commute from New Jersey to the Motherland smack dab during rush hour on a Friday night. By the time I got to the store, Mo Bee was already full swing into a mind melting, all vinyl (mostly 45’s) soul, funk and dance set. Just a quick bio on Easy Mo Bee for those not familiar with him…this DJ turned producer worked on Big Daddy Kane’s 1989 album “It’s A Big Daddy Thing” which got him work on Cold Chillin’ Records producing singles for The Genius and Prince Rakeem who the world would know later as GZA and RZA of The Wu-Tang Clan. Mo Bee then worked with Bad Boy Entertainment to work with an up and coming artist named BIG (he wasn’t Notorious yet!). That song was “Party and Bullshit” off the 1993 “Who’s The Man” soundtrack. Mo Bee went on to produce 6 of the tracks off Notorious B.I.G.’s debut album, “Ready To Die” which dropped like an elbow off the top rope in 1994. The songs on that slab of wax which got blessed with Easy Mo Bee beats were the following: Gimme The Loot, Machine Gun Funk, Warning, Ready To Die, The What, and Friend Of Mine. During this time, Mo Bee also produced the monster smash “Flava In Ya Ear” by Craig Mack. Mo Bee also produced tracks on 2PAC’s 1995 album “Me Against The World” along with the long list of artists he would work over the years such as The Lost Boyz, Busta Rhymes, Zhane, Mos Def, Sean Price, Alicia Keys and Miles Davis…it is clear that Mo Bee has been putting in the work!
I soaked in the tunes for an hour…lots of songs that would later get sampled heavily in hip hop, furiously funky and obscure gems and after 7PM he was going more into a dance and house direction. Peace to Easy Mo Bee for letting me interrupt the set and get some CDs signed while geeking out and quoting lyrics from the time he was in a rap group, Rappin’ Is Fundamental. I brought their 1991 CD with me along with the “Who’s The Man” soundtrack , “Ready To Die” and Biggie’s double album “Life After Death” which featured two Easy Mo Bee tracks on that…”I Love The Dough” and “Going Back To Cali”. Another album I threw on the pile was “Now Or Never: Odyssey 2000”. Follow Easy Mo Bee on twitter and instagram to see what he’s up to. Peace to Turntable Lab…hope they have more cool in-stores and if you’re in the area, stop in and check them out at 84 E 10th St, New York, NY (between 3rd Ave and 4th Ave).
Tags: easy mo bee, hip hop, in-store, live dj set, new york city, notorious b.i.g., nyc, record store, turntable lab
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