DJ HURRICANE
(Beastie Boys) - NYC
http://www.beastiemania.com/whois/dj_hurricane

"hur-ri-cane: a tropical cyclone with winds of 74 miles per hour or greater that is usu. Accompanied by rain, thunder, and lightning and that sometimes moves into temperate latitudes" ... Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary

D-J-Hur-ri-cane: a runaway sonic-tornado that brings on rolling t'under 'n' lightnin' beat devastation to headphones, boomboxes, SUVs and house parties from Hollis to Tokyo" ... Hip Hop Dictionary

From its' South Bronx B-Boy early days to these D.I.T.C - Ruff Ryders - Cash Money times we be living right now, hip hop's raison d'etre breaks down to this: two turntables and a microphone. No dis to all the larger-than-life syllable spitting soloists/crews, producers/remixers/beat scientists that (deservedly) get the props but at the end of the day, its the headphone sporting cat in the back getting swivey on the wheels that really keeps the trains running on time. Thanks to the ongoing renaissance of turntablist new wavers (Rob Swift, Kid Koala) and mixtape godheads like Funkmaster Flex the party-rocking DJ is back in style once again. DJ - DJ Hurra - DJ Hurricane you on....

Respected worldwide for his gig with the Beastie Boys (1986 - 98), beloved by the underground for his works with the Afros ('91's Kickin' Afrolistics) and the head-ringing anthems "Elbow Room", "Comin' Off" ('95 solo album The Hurra), DJ Hurricane justifies and exceeds all expectations with his TVT solo version excursion Don't Sleep. Chock-a-block with gettin' crunk face-offs from off the meter tag teams like Xhibit-Pharoah Monch-Gipp ("Connect"), Rampage-Rah Digga-Lord Have Mercy ("Come Get It"), Ad Rock-Black Thought (Kickin Wicked Rhymes"), ill skits (Ali), and fresh, old school-flipping bops like "Hurra's So Fly" (Dr. Buzzard) and "Can't Stop Us Now" (Temptations), Don't Sleep reveals Hurra to be a DJ with big ears, wide vision, mad skills and a very bright future.

"I had the idea of trying to be more in the back and just get different artists on the record." says Hurra. "Each song holds its own, each song has it's own style, each tempo is not the same tempo throughout the album and lyrically everybody's not talking about the same thing. I do all the tracks, I write some of the lyrics and I come up with my own hooks and I'm able to get on the mic and also bust a rhyme or two (check "Background", "To Make Things Better" featuring Talib Kweli, N'Dea Davenport). Feeling like a magic night at the old Lyrical Lounge, boom-bap 'n' swerving like a bootleg mix tape, Don't Sleep is in Hurra's words, "It's just like a party CD; you able to party to like 95% of it."

"You played it for her Sam, now play it for me"... Humphrey Bogart,
"Casablanca"

Ladies on the floor/Let me see you shake 'em 'til you can't no more..."
Infinite, "Shake 'Em"

"Check, I'm comin' sweeter than La Femme Nikita..." .... Rah Digga, "Come
Get It"

All those gritty, bones-making years of cold sweating other folks' music on the ones-and-twos are first distilled then booglarized to a high stank in Hurra's Don't Sleep songs. Old School bump? Check "Keep It Real" ("To Be Real" rhythm track, on-the-one snare, Faith Evans doin' Cheryl Lynn, dawg barks, scratching, Lost Boyz freestyle). Booty freestyle? Try "Connect" (Curtis-feeling wah-wah guitar, double-back/double-time funky drummer, bumbling bass, three-way cipher, Hurra hyping the chorus). Stoopid yet Beautiful? "We Will Rock You" (monster "Rock Box" beats, 1200s squeaking chirping-slurring, cheesy metal guitars, whiny white boy choir, Scott "Billy Squier" Weiland contorting on the mic, our man punk rapping like it's 1988 all over again). Eleven to go....

DJ Hurricane has come a long way from his Beastie Boys days, even further from the days when he rocked the mic for Hollis, Queens DJ Godfather Davey D. He's got a major label writing checks, a hype video ("Connect") blowing up coast to coast and a tour soon come. Unfazed by it all, Hurra's eyes are firmly on the prize. "A lot of people nowadays they come into it for the money, when I originally came into it, it wasn't for the money -- it was more for the love. So if you don't love it, if you're not having fun, than you need to stop doing it. You gotta love what you do in order to be successful at it or to make longevity out of it. God blessed me with the skills to make records. So this is what I'm blessed with so this is what I gotta go with."

DJ Hurricane. Don't Sleep. Ever again.

- Tom Terrell, July, 2000