Move Mothafucka Move
DJ Spanish Fly – “Smokin’ Onion (Remix)”
DJ Spanish Fly – “Get Buck”
DJ Spanish Fly – “Shoottriggaman“
from I’m Da Nigga (underground, 19??)
The mp3 dorkosphere got Memphis on lock. While most other underground tape scenes remain largely undocumented online, huge chunks of the Memphis catalog has attained permanence in the rabbitmegauploadshare circuit with great regularity for the past few years. I assume we can thank some paypal fat not flat German dudes for obsessively ripping undergrounds from Triple 6, Tommy Wright, Al Kapone, etc. and I’d encourage anybody with the knowhow to find and explore some of these tapes.
DJ Spanish Fly may one of the craziest (and earliest) to emerge from that scene. I’ve been sitting on this and another tape of his for a while and I had completely forgot about it until I was listening to this pause tape from a couple months back and I was like shit yeah this shit bangs. Crawling, unbalanced pre crunk/screw styles spliced together out of seven minute triggaman loops and primitive NWA and Marvin flips. It’s the exact off kilter sound that lo-fi impresarios like Madlib and Dilla were striving to emulate. Except built for getting buck at the club instead of getting wine and cheese at a headwrapian art show.
Fly was a mainstay on the Memphis scene dating back to the 80’s and apparently still holds down the late night slot on Hot 107.1. There’s a very detailed bio up on his Myspace. He has a new record that supposed to be coming out sometimes soon and will appear on the forthcoming Three 6 album. Fader ran a piece on him a little while back in their artists pick their heroes issue, at the behest of Project Pat, so I guess I’m sort of playing catch up. There’s a PDF of the issue here.
May 9th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Damn, that shit is tight! You can definitely hear the influence on Project Pat and 36. Awesome!
May 9th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Noz, I have alot of those Memphis tapes converted like that 196 clique – Crusafixex….gr8 post
May 10th, 2007 at 8:44 am
That Fader piece was really fun to write, whenever Lex Records ends up putting out the Spanish Fly reissue I’m going to post the full Q&A. Pat also shouted out Rodney O and Joe Cooley (”They could have been the mayors of Memphis!”).
May 10th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
i like that post what wtf is it with the reference to madlib an dilla being on some bougie shit? they are/were about the 2 most aloof smoked out mfs thats been in music… they aint on some art gallery bullshit… good post that had to have a sour taste at the end, lame.
May 10th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
“they are/were about the 2 most aloof smoked out mfs thats been in music… ”
aesthetically they do/did not make club music, for the most part.
May 10th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
The beats on these bang. I’m not feeling the rhymes though.
May 11th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
headwrapian, HA!
May 11th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
noz that doesn’t mean they are some heads that are into burning incense n talkin about their new poetry books.. hell you know what the dilla lade is?
May 12th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
“headwrapian” lol. Genius.
May 13th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
“hell you know what the dilla lade is?”
dilla’s failed lemonade brand?
May 16th, 2007 at 10:33 am
[...] Three 6 Mafia – Last 2 Walk (Sony/Hypnotized Minds) 5/22 Seems like the buzz for this has died down considerably ever since they became MTV/Pop Culture poster boys. But let’s be honest Three 6 was on top of their game before the Oscar frenzy and Pat’s album featured some of their best production in a minute. I see no reason why their sound would change up. It’s not like they have Paris Hilton on the album. They have Al Kapone and Spanish Fly. [...]
May 21st, 2007 at 11:26 pm
Please post more mp3z — you’re our only hope.
July 8th, 2007 at 12:41 am
[...] One of the biggest complaints amongst old school nostalgists is that hip hop lost it’s focus when the attention shifted from the DJ to the MC. But down south the man behind the decks remains a force. [DJ] UNK runs with one of the nicest crews around. “A Bay Bay” is a shout to a DJ. Screw music is probably the last major innovation in turntablism, and is appropriately revered by rappers and civillians alike, not just by aspiring djs. And respect to Three 6, former DJs themselves, for showing love to the creators of the form. In addition to Felli Fel (whatever…) the legendary Spanish Fly has also recorded some shit for their new album. [...]
October 10th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Man, I love Spanish Fly’s “oh word”… no one else seems to squeeze quite so much power out of sparse 808 cowbelling
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Whattup Moz… thanks so much for creating your site, because it has inspired me to personal greatness in my own life, and newfound levels of excellence in the rap music I now listen to.
http://marlostatus.blogspot.com/2008/03/dj-spanish-fly-199x-2003.html
my DJ Spanish Fly megadrop is here. Mostly complete, excavated from a post from a wacker prervious blog. Hope everyone enjoys it, because it’s pretty frickin’ amazing.
For my money, “Goin’ to Mr. Zs” has some of my favorite tracks and a productions. Was/Is there still a “Mr. Z’s” in existence?
January 24th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Yes, I believe Mr. Z’s still exists in several locations in Memphis.
September 17th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
just saw this…nice post…
I still love “smokin onion” after all these years…
I go to memphis every now and then…
Mr Z’s still exists, but is a shell of what it used to be…
they dont sell tapes or even CDs anymore….
strictly speakers and car sudio stuff…
its a shame…
August 16th, 2010 at 11:54 am
I was hopeful to win a train ticket to ComorosBut will weigh to stop by this page when i am back.