Pete Rock - Diggin’ On Blue
The Soul Brother #1 gets in his jazz bag to pay tribute to the highly-sampled Blue Note Records catalog.
Producer/DJ/MC Pete Rock graces the pages of The Radio Tapes chapter of Do Remember! to discuss his Future Flavas Hot 97 show with Marley Marl and the tapes of the shows that would circulate in the streets.
But Pete Rock contributed plenty more to the mixtape game. For one, a slew of Pete Rock & CL Smooth songs, plus outside-production work Pete did for other artists like Nas’ “The World Is Yours” and AZ’s “Rather Unique,” were first heard by fans on mixtapes. Here’s PR remembering the thrill and value of having mixtape DJs in New York play his songs:
Pete Rock: There’s always excitement because it’s like, "Man, this is my baby." And you want people to like your shit. So when I see the reaction of DJs, it blows me away. And I'm like, "Word? Y'all feeling this shit? Aiight bet, I'm coming.” I was telling the label to hit all these guys.
It was good promotion. I thought nothing of it. I didn't think that was the end all be all. My thing was to be able to cover all bases, with all DJs and all over the country. That was the main focus. But New York was home base. I had to make sure that I had that covered before I went abroad or somewhere else like Cali or something like that.
Though Pete Rock wasn’t as active in the mixtape space as some of his producer peers like DJ Premier or Evil Dee, he did put out a couple of gems through the years. One of those was his Diggin’ On Blue tape, where he compiled Blue Note classics from the legendary jazz label’s extensive catalog, with a hip-hop twist of course. Here’s Pete on the project:
Pete Rock: Blue Note Records asked me to do a mixtape, and I was blown away. We sample a lot of Blue Note music. So when I did the tape, it was just like, "Alright, this should be easy. I have lots of Blue Note records." I gathered up a bunch of Blue Note joints and made a mixtape where I played the original samples of hip-hop songs.
Stream Diggin’ On Blue below, and stay tuned for more 50 TAPES posts as we celebrate the release of Do Remember! The Golden Era of NYC Hip-Hop Mixtapes, out now via Rizzoli.
Pete Rock - Diggin’ On Blue
*Bonus*
While you’re here, check out the Lord Finesse Diggin’ On Blue mixtape, too.
Lord Finesse - Diggin’ On Blue