It’s been five years since my debut Essential Mix, half a decade (!) and it’s mad to look back at the journey I’ve been on since then. When I got asked to make a second Essential Mix (thank you Radio 1 by the way) I wanted to approach it a little differently.
2020 has been an absolute curveball year in itself and I felt like it was all the more reason to make something that wouldn’t necessarily be expected of me. Whilst I’m a house music DJ/producer first and foremost there’s a whole lot of background to me as an artist and I decided to delve into my roots and showcase my early influences.
I started out DJ’ing UK Garage and Speed Garage when both genres were in their peak in the UK around 2002 and to this day, nearly 20 years later, I still love to drop tracks from that era and get inspired by the sounds. My Essential Mix features 39 Old Skool Garage tracks and every single track featured provides me with many amazing memories. I had a huge amount of fun searching through old drives, taking a trip down memory lane and getting intricate with the mixes which is something I always love to do when making mixtapes, I love to get super creative.
I hope you enjoy listening to the mix as much as I enjoyed making it and I hope it either brings back many amazing memories for you too or, if you’re not from a UKG background, opens your ears up to an incredible and classic genre of music.
Big love. 💕