Fera do Hip Hop inglês DJ Pogo fala das origens dos Breakbeats em entrevista ao ‘Electronic Music & Breakbeats Standards’

Revealing the hidden secrets: DJ Pogo (UK)

Entre suas principais revelações estão a Octopus Breaks, primeira e lendária série de coletâneas dos DJs amantes de Breakbeats, as origens da cena de Hip Hop na Inglaterra e o momento em que o Jungle nasceu, ainda no fim dos anos 80 

O craque dos toca-discos e atual diretor do DMC Brasil DJ Pogo foi o entrevistado da semana pelo livro ‘Electronic Music & Breakbeats Standards’. Entre outras declarações incríveis, revelou que ‘Rappers’ Delight’ do Sugar Hill Gang, marco zero do Hip Hop em terras inglesas, liderou por seis semanas os charts, seguido de perto por ‘Christmas Rappin’ do Kurtis Blow que estourou meses após, em 1979; foi em 1983, contudo, que o movimento atingiu proporções sem precedentes com a vinda do Worlds Famous Supreme Team com apoio de Malcolm McLaren e direito a apresentações simultânea de quatro DJs em toca-discos, muitos scratches e backspins.

Octopus Breaks: a primeira grande série de Breaks, fim dos anos 70

DJ Pogo lembrou do impacto que tiveram a série de coletâneas Octopus Breaks (uma espécie de série-mãe para todos os amantes de Breaks) e anos após Ultimate Breaks & Beats na cena de Breakbeats e em outras cenas nos anos posteriores, entre Hip Hop, samplemaniacs, Hardcore Techno, Jungle, Drum n’ Bass e outros gêneros de Breaks. “Muitas das versões nas coletâneas da Octopus tiveram beats extendidos, portanto são diferentes das originais em sete polegadas”, contou. “Os Amen Breaks (do “Amen Brother”, faixa de Soul dos The Winstons de 1969 que está entre as mais sampleadas da história) foram acelerados, não são iguais aos da faixa original”, prosseguiu. Segundo o DJ inglês, a idéia de lançar a coletânea de bootlegs da Octopus no final dos anos setenta era tornar disponível em uma série com os hits dos melhores DJs de Hip Hop daquele período que eram dificílimos de se achar. A partir de 1986, inspirada na própria série da Octopus, foi criada pela Street Beat Records a série “Ultimate Breaks & Beats” que, com advento da popularização dos samplers, mudaria para sempre a história da dance music. (Leia mais sobre o tema em ’Aesthetic Soul conta a história dos Breakbeats‘).

DJ Pogo’s brilliant repertory that includes a blend of Jazz, Soul, Funk, Disco, R&B, Rock and whatever you can imagine….

DJ Pogo se mostrou otimista com relação ao retorno do DMC no Brasil e elogiou muito o evento de abertura no Clash Club há cerca de dois meses. Descontraído, deu uma das mais impactantes declarações no final da entrevista ao afirmar que DJ Ron, dono de um dos grandes Sound Systems durante os anos oitenta na Inglaterra, teve a ousadia de tocar no evento do DMC ‘Welcome To London’ em 1988 simultaneamente uma faixa de Hip Hop e outra de Reggae em uptempo, dando pontapé no que se tornaria o Jungle. A entrevista completa você encontra no livro ‘Electronic Music & Breakbeats Standards’.

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ENGLISH

Talented Hip Hop DJ Pogo reveals the origins of the Breakbeats scene, from Hip Hop to Jungle / Drum n’ Bass on an interview for ‘Electronic Music & Breakbeats Standards’

Among Pogo’s most valuable revelations are the Octopus Breaks, the first & legendary Breakbeats compilation series, the origins of the Hip Hop scene in England and the very first moment when Jungle music was concieved, on the end eighties 

The genious turntables professional and current DMC Brasil director DJ Pogo made astonishing revelations on his recently interview for ‘Electronic Music & Breakbeats Standards’. Among other amazing declarations he revealed that ‘Rappers’ Delight’ from Sugar Hill Gang was Hip Hop’s first mark on the British lands as it leaded the charts for about six weeks, and few months ago, ’Christmas Rappin’ from Kurtis Blow would be the second to reach the status of big hit back in 1979; even though, only some years after during 1983 that the movement got really popular during World’s Famous Supreme Team tour supported by Malcolm McLaren with amazing simultaneous four DJs performances under scratches & backspins.

DJ Pogo also remembered the huge impact on the Breakbeats scenes caused by the Octopus Breaks series and years after the Ultimate Breaks & Beats.  They caused together permanent changes on the Hip Hop scene, and on the following years, affected also the Samplemania era, as well as Hip House, Hardcore Techno, Jungle, Drum n’ Bass among other Breaks genres. “Grandmaster Caz & DJ Hollywood (among others) were all DJing back in the middle seventies, since about 1973 to 74 actually. These bootleg compilations got out on vinyl only about 1979, but have been around for a while. The bootleggers would find out what the DJs were playing and decided to do bootlegs of the records so everyone could have them. At that time, many DJs would cover the label so that no one would find out what they’d play. So the bootleggers would find out about these records and get them out on compilations”, revealed Pogo. Another very interesting revelation is the fact that these Octopus compilations “had different versions from the original Soul-Funk hits from the seven inches. There, they would have extended beats and longer verions. For ‘Amen, Brother’, they speed up the drum breaks, so it’s not like the original seven on Metronome. ‘To Be Real’ from Cheryl Lynn had extended version as well”, he continued.

Octopus Breaks 12 Inch Vol. 8 featuring Manu DiBango:
The real first Breaks compilation series

From 1986 on, inspired on the older Octopus series, came out on the label Street Beat Records the Ultimate Breaks & Beats series. With the advent of cheaper sampler models, it changed forever the World of Dance Music and its many genres. (see the article ‘Aesthetic Soul Part I tells the story about Breakbeats‘).

With an expression of natural satisfaction, Pogo declares himself optimistic about the return of the DMC in Brazil after a successful DMC opening event at Clash Club about two months ago.  The author of the ‘Block Party Breaks’ I & II series made one of the most important revelations on the end of the interview for ‘Electronic Music & Breakbeats Standards’ about the origins of Jungle Music: “It started with a Beat Freak member called DJ Ron, he was into one of the big Sound Systems since the middle eighties. Ron would scratch and mix very good, he was already one of the best DJs in the UK on that decade and never got the proper credit for it. He did a ‘live DJ record’ in 1988 and on the same year, during the ‘Welcome To London’ DMC Party at the Hyppodrome that included several P.A.s, DJ Ron did a performance where he mixed a Reggae record with an uptempo Hip Hop record, and it brought the entire house down, it was the first Jungle ever! Rebel MC was his MC, he also performed on that event as well as me, Cutmaster Swift and Shut Up & Dance”. (The complete interview content will be available on the book ‘Electronic Music & Breakbeats Standards’).

DJ Pogo @ DMC Brasil Opening Party, Clash Club, Sao Paulo

Links:

. DJ Pogo

. DMC Brasil

. Brasil Ganha Etapa no DMC World Championship 2008 

. Aesthetic Soul conta a história dos Breakbeats