This is how I feel right now
Why, you ask? Because of
this mp3 of an almost 20 year old Dr Dre mixtape
Before NWA hit big when Dre was just doing mixes on KDAY & in the World Class Wrecking Cru, he used to make mix tapes and sell them at the Roadium swap meet on the Torrance/Gardena border not too far from Compton. Like a lot of kids growing up in the Southbay I used to make it to the this swap meet with my family & picked up a few of these tapes. And if you got there late the parking lot was packed & you had to park at El Camino & ride the school bus down the street to the Roadium.
"86 In the Mix" & "8-Ball" were without a doubt the two most legendary mixes Dre sold at the Roadium. I never even had a bought copy of this, I had a dubbed copy I found at Del Amo Mall in Torrance & my "8-Ball" was a dub off a friend. They were that popular in the area. Even the hippies at my Jr High/High School had a dubbed copy of "8-Ball". I never bought mixes at the Roadium till "Fuck The Police" (FTP) which came out a few years later. We could never figure out how he did these mixes since we didn't know what 4 track recorders were. But he always started every mix with that megamix style taking full effect of the 4 track. "86 In the Mix" took this to the extreme, the whole first side was a megamix & half of side 2. Insane. We worshipped these mixes. This got me started on Hip Hop, DJ culture & his mix "Old School" which was mainly P-Funk got me into that stuff.
Sometimes stuff you loved as a kid you get a chance to revisit years later & it kinda dissapoints. This mix delivers & my weekend is made because of it.
Oh yeah &
this article talks about the Roadium mixtape phenomenon.
