Lately, I've been noticing a lot of DJs are spinning mashups -- a song with two separate singles by two different artists mixed together. Now, granted, sometimes these things are great (there was a tight mashup of TLC's Creep over WC & The Maad Circle's "West Up" back in the mid-90s), but there are also times when they just plain suck.

The most popular (and worst) mashup at the moment, that I've been so privileged to hear over and over and over:

DJ Nita's Kelis vs. Madonna - Milkshake/Holiday
Why does every New York circuit club's pop room DJ feel the need to spin this sh*te? The only reason this track's so popular stems from the Re-Invention tour-mania in the U.S. If I see another Maddy fan in girl-fit Diesel jeans shaking their a** to this song I'm gonna hurl.

I dig Kelis, but how many times are muthaf**k*s going to mash this track up? I've heard it mixed over Vanity 6's "Nasty Girl," Beyonce's "Naughty Girl," Ursher's "Yeah!", Britney's "Slave 4 U," etc. We won't even get into Madonna's Holiday. Leave that in retro playlists or don't play it all. Is it me or are a lot of club DJs nowadays lazy as hell when it comes to their musical selections? Give me something I haven't heard before! Mix up Goldfrapp with Tricky, DJNB with Non-Prophets, anything other than the same-ol'.

There are way more popular mashups that I won't even bother mentioning for fear there'll be green and yellow chunks on my keyboard.

Please, please, America, leave this sh*tty trend in Britain.
[This message was edited Thu Jul 22 9:20:52 2004 by JANFAN4L]

i....liiike....mashups....


seriously, there are some good ones out there, and the trend is giving way to a whole new generation of "bootleg" DJs who are doing really creative, fresh things with dance music in a relatively lo-fi, DIY kinda spirit (which i'm all for).

if i have to hear christina aguilera/the strokes "stroke of genie" one more time i may scream, but i really enjoy the creativity behind these mixes.

I heard a Mashup while I was in Spain two years ago and I thought it was pretty good. It was the Jay-z/Nas Mashup. Nas says, "Better get yourself a gun" and Jay-Z comes on and says, "I got myself a gun." It was interesting, but I agree with you; I don't want to see it become a trend here. That would get really annoying. I hate when I'm listening to a song and I'm getting into it and it just stops and another song comes on...pisses me off to no extent.

and come to think of it, mashups were probably the worst trend of 2002...but who's counting?

Anxiety said:

Yeah, and it keeps reoccuring, which really irks me.

Anxiety said:

thats what i thought. but like JANFAN said, it hasn't stopped

i got a brilliant one of james brown sex machine and prince kiss called sexy kiss machine , its one hell of a funky groove , but the best one i've ever heard is of the strokes mashed with christina aguilera.

my most recent favorite mash-up is a mix of the doors' "riders of the storm" and "rapture" by blondie. it's pretty freakin' brilliant to my ears.

Anxiety said:

I'll have to track that one down. I've been listening to The Doors a lot lately.

The strangest I've heard is "Love Will Freak Us", Missy vs. Joy Division. I can't tell whether I should be crying or dancing. So fucked.

my favorite was one of the first popular ones.... Stardust's "The Music's Sounds Better With You" w/ "Holiday"


i heard a pretty good one with "Holiday" and "Miami" (Will Smith)




come to think of it, i hear a lot of them with Holiday

The best I ever heard was Prince's "Erotic City" mixed with Laid Back's "White Horse". I heard it WAY back in 1984.

There is nothing like a good mix!

vainandy said:

dude, i don't think that was a mash-up.

I don't think I'm understanding quite what a mash-up is? The two tracks I'm mentioning are beat mixed and play continuously. The vocals from one records plays while the intro or breakdown on the other record plays. The whole thing is then cut and edited to make one continuous mix that sounds like one song.

Are you talking about what they have been doing on The Tom Joyner Morning Show lately? They play the instrumental of one song and the acapella vocals of another record overlaps it. On Tom Joyner, they usually mix an old song's instrumental with a new song's acapella and they edit it several times to make one song.

dodgydicko said:

yes!!! i was just bout ta mention the james and prince one. i looove it! one really bad on tho is MJs in the closet wit brits I'ma slave 4 u..its calld i'ma slave 4 u n the closet...its good up 2 a point and then it gets baad. another kinda good on is sporty thieves no pigeons mixed wit tlcs no scrubs...that ones also good up 2 a point
[This message was edited Thu Jul 22 19:50:16 2004 by Moonwalkbjrain]

vainandy said:

oh oops, i honestly thought you were making a joke because erotic city sounds so much like "white horse", and i was just going with it.

you're right on as to what a mash-up is...the current craze right now is to take the jay-z vocal tracks from "the black album" and mix them with beatles, prince, etc.

i'd love to hear that white horse/erotic city proto-mash-up mix, by the way - lucky dog!

hence the purple album witch is real good. gotta go buy it.. i love public service announcement its set 2 darling nikki.

2MANYDJS!!!!!

I can't get enough of em. Well, I mean I can. I haven't listened in a while. But goodness! the first time I picked up the illegal import for way too much money I listened to it on my headphones and couldn't even go home, I was walkin/dancin all over the city! I've since aquired a million of their mixes and I love em all.

My fave is still the ACDC Back in Black guitar riff with Missy Elliot Get Yo Freak On vocals over top. I don't think much can top that.