Mr. Sonny James

Get involved. The legacy of J Dilla continues on and on and on.

The long awaited remix single to Heavy Soul by Foremost Poets and Alfa Paare will be in stores February 19th!!!

This week, the iconic Tasty Treats party returns to a weekly with our own DJ Statik aka Mr. Sonny James joining the crew permanently adding some Illvibe flavor to the mix.

Philly, we can't wait to see you all in the house for this special launch.

To get you in the mood for a rockin party, you can stream and/or download the free 2013 Tasty Treats Mixtape Sampler below mixed by DJs Mike Nyce & Mr. Sonny James.

Disco Dave & The Force of the Five MC's (Crash Crew) - High Power Rap: 

This is one of my favorite early hip hop records and a 12" I'm proud to own.  One thing I love about the early rap acts is that they actually performed as a group - playing off each others lines, practicing routines, doing back ups and harmonies and whatnot...you know like a real group...and this record is a pretty good example of that era.  There's also lots of quotables, sampled phrases, and it's an overall engaging record - you can kinda picture these dudes in front of you performing this live on a stage in an outdoor park circa 1980.  Extra snaps up go to this 12" for being one-sided and having the cool looking vinyl etch design (but no music) on the b-side. 

World's Famous Supreme Team - Hey DJ: 

Another old-school rap classic from 1983.  For those who don't know, The World Famous Supreme Team were a radio team that hosted one of the earliest hip-hop radio shows.  Granted it was late night and on a smaller FM station from outside of NYC so folks prob had to fine tune their radio dials with precision just to get a taste of the rap, breakbeats, and "street music"  they'd play, mix, and scratch every week.  Of course the show was a bit before my time, and geographically impossible for me to have tuned into, but from the tapes of the show I've heard, the effort seems like it would've been worth it.  Somehow the WFST linked up with ex-Sex Pistols manager and British entrepreneur Malcolm McLaren, and contributed a few songs to his hip-hop/ african exploitation album "Duck Rock", this being one of them.

M/A/R/R/S - Pump Up The Volume: 

This one holds a place in my memory as one of the first cassette "Maxi-Singles" I ever purchased.  There was no full length M/A/R/R/S album, so the only way to get that song I liked from the radio, was on 12" vinyl, cassette single, or cassette "maxi-single" - which for you young schoolers is essentially the 12" vinyl version in a cassette format.  Comparing the track listing on the back of the cardboard wrapped "cassingle", to the hard plastic cased "Maxi-Single" revealed that the maxi had two additional versions of the song I liked, and that one was a whopping 7+ minutes.  Say Whaaat?  So I took a chance and went with the slightly more expensive, but ultimately more rewarding maxi-single. 

In hindsight, I probably should've gone with the 12" vinyl purchase, but cassettes were just more convenient as they could slide right into your walkman and have you jamming on your way out of the store, and that's where my head was at on that day in 1987.  Luckily these records were easily available through the years and I've now owned several copies.

Eddy Grant - Time Warp: 

"Electric Avenue" was and is one of my all-time favorite 80's jams.  It also has the honor of being one the first commercial tapes I convinced my parents to buy me as a preschooler (Naked Eyes, Men at Work, and Billy Joel cassettes also come to mind).  But this tape right here was something special...Why?  Because it contained "Two Bonus Tracks!!!".  The long version of Electric Avenue which was exciting enough, and "Time Warp", which sounded unlike anything I had ever heard before, and also completely out of place on the reggae/ pop-ish sounding album.  I won't front like I was on some electro proto-house visionary listener type shit at 4 years old, but the song did make an impression - something like "This music is weird".  But I don't recall fast-forwarding the song like some others on the album just to get back to Electric Avenue.  

Fast forward about 15 years later when I'm starting to DJ some parties here and there and hunting many a used record shop gathering all of my favorite songs on vinyl.  "Electric Avenue" on a 12"?... yeah...gotta have that.  So later that night, when listening to vinyl purchases of the day, I eventually got around to flipping over the Eddy Grant record, and was instantly flooded with childhood memories of sitting on the floor with my gray boombox wondering what to make of this weirdo bonus track on the Eddy Grant album.  I also couldn't believe that until that moment I had completely erased the song from memory, and had to slap myself for forgetting such a completely awesome and influential track for about 15 years.  Just goes to show that sometimes the best shit is right in front of you and you don't even realize it.  Thanks for the reminder Eddy!

Who're You - Fela (1983)
This jam takes me back to the first time I was introduced to Fela's music in 98. I was all about Gil Scott Heron and James Brown. Fela was like the African version of those two legends combined. I couldn't believe how amazing his tunes were and that I had never heard them before. The first two that got me hooked were Lady and Water No Get Enemy. When I became tight with Rich Medina, he introduced me to a whole other world of Afrobeat. When I first heard Who're You, I nearly sharted. It became one of those records I shopped for for years and when it would get played at Shine or @ Lil' Ricky's at APT in New York, it was a reminder that I'm in the right party at the perfect time. My dance moves with my homegirl Vero got put to the test many nights to this tune. Big up.

Disco Africa - The Ogyatanaa Show Band (1976 [2004 release])
When illvibe first formed, we were mostly hired as a crew to DJ at B-Boy battles. Phillee Blunt and I had a mission to find the funkiest breakin' friendly joints we could, hitting Cue Records, 611, Armand's, Sound of Market, The Philadelphia Record Exchange, and Funk-O-Mart. When I stumbled upon this jam, it was perfect for many of the funk/soul moments we had at The BODYROCK as well as the high energy moments at the B-Boy jams. One of my favorite memories of getting this record off was at The B-Boy BBQ at Hawthorne Center. In a lot of ways learning to pull off joints like Disco Africa in "hip-hop" situations contributed a lot to who I am as a jock in Philadelphia.

Women Beat Their Men - Submission (1997)
When I first started going to house clubs, this record was everything. When Robbie Tronco played it for the first time at Shampoo, I got an instant Charley Horse. Then I ran to Armand's and asked Joey Blanco about it and he said he didn't have it in yet. Then I went to Sound of Market and Randy Flash (RIP) promptly handed it to me as well as several other hot tracks at the moment. Randy knew exactly the type of house music each DJ bought and he had 12"s prepared for each of us as soon as we came into the spot. When I copped this one, Randy smiled and said "Something told me, you'd dig this one." I always bought tribal shit back then. This one is particularly special because it marks the period in my career when I stopped shopping for primarily hip hop 12" and really got on the quest for funky music of all genres. And Randy was quite a dude to have on your side when looking to get familiar with new underground music.

Lets Start The Dance - Bohannon (1978)
This was one of the first records I ever owned. It was in constant rotation at my house when I was a child and I loved it so much that my mom eventually gave it to me. It began years of digging. And the rap is by a DJ from WDAS in Philly.
"Let's rock the house, let's shock the house!"

Greetings,

We have the honor and privilege of hosting one of three Red Bull Public Assembly events this year in Philadelphia. It is a competition in which 3 different DJ/Promoter crews are given the task of throwing the illest party they can throw with Red Bull supplying the budget. Also competing this year are our homeboys from Mad Decent as well as Rob Paine and The Shakedown crew. Every party looks like it's going to be out of hand and ours is tonight at The Blockley. To make things extra nice, we are bringing hip-hop icon, Talib Kweli down to rock the mic while we rock the party. Adding a Red Bull & Vodka open bar and our comrade, MC Elixir to the mix and we're ready to get things popping. And it's only $5! Details & RSVP Link below. See you there!!

Last year our album, All Together Now was released on Soulspazm/Fat Beats. It was our debut album. Now we are prepping the release of our second album, All Together Now (The Remixes). It features reworks by J-Boogie, Hezekiah, Mr. Len, Yellowtail, DJ Roddy Rod, and more. We can't wait for you to hear the whole remix album.

One of the All Together Now tracks that received the best feedback was the dancefloor rocker, DJ Play ft. our man Kokayi from DC. Broken beat flavor with wobbling bass and a catchy hook. "Throw Your Hands Up!"

Hey folks. Happy Labor Day Weekend x End of Summer x Made In America x BODYROCK Weekend!

We return to Kung Fu Necktie this week with a special event to celebrate the end of summer. We all play our own respective gigs but it's safe to say that when we get down together, something special happens. Illvibe Collective & GL Productions team up once again for The BODYROCK (Hip Hop . Funk . Classics . Culture). RSVP Below.

It's the only place to be this Friday! We can't wait to hang with you all and have a drink!

Tonight, we are please to be rocking at one of the newest venues in Philadelphia, Underground Arts located at 1200 Callowhill. The party is called RANDOM and it is going to be a true basement party. We are celebrating the birthdays of some of our favorite Taurus's, Mr. Sonny James, Brendan Bringem, and DJ Phsh. Also providing the soundtrack for tonight is DJ Excel and MC Elixir from the Skratch Makaniks Crew. The theme for this evening is Party Under The Stairs meaning; come dressed to sweat it out like a classic night under the red light. No dress code, genre restrictions, or pretentiousness whatsoever. Let's just rock and roll!