Kat Says: “No-one Ever Really Dies”
I spoke to Busy P about the late, great DJ Mehdi and why it’s important to live for the ones you love.
Busy P stands in front of a mural of DJ Mehdi at the now-defunct Miami club Grand Central.
Hey Friends :)
If you subscribe to this newsletter, you probably know what a big Ed Banger fan I am. The French label is home to some of my favorite dance music artists of all time (Justice, Mr. Oizo, SebastiAn, Breakbot, Uffie, Kavinsky, Myd—we can keep going).
It was founded by Pedro Winter, aka Busy P, in 2003. He had some down time, because his only other real big gig was managing this band called Daft Punk, and they were between albums (Discovery [2001] and Human After All [2005]). He met these kids at a party who handed him a remix of a song called “We Are Your Friends” on a floppy disk, and the rest is history.
This crew literally changed my life, so you can imagine how excited I was to get an email that said “You know about DJ Mehdi, the respected Ed Banger artist who died unexpectedly about 10 years ago? Well, Pedro is releasing a song of Mehdi’s next week in tribute of him … would you be interested in an interview?”
I was blessed to catch DJ Mehdi behind the decks, even if it was only once. He was opening for Justice on the duo’s first U.S. tour, the MySpace bus tour of 2008. (Diplo was scheduled to play but didn’t, prolly because the show was in Orlando and that’s like, where he’s from. I can only imagine what 2008 Diplo was up to in fucking Orlando lol).
There was a stage where Justice was all set up with those Marshall amps, but there was also a podium in the middle of the dance floor, and this skinny brown dude with a shaved head was DJing in it, absolutely destrooyyyyinnggg. I stood transfixed as he bounced to the beat, the crowd filling the theater around him, his big smile beaming as he mixed hip-hop and French touch tunes with a deftness that made you forget any boundaries between genres existed. I never forgot the name DJ Mehdi after that.
I went home and listened to his album Lucky Boy. The track “I Am Somebody” turned me on to Chromeo. “Pocket Piano” makes anything you happen to be doing feel like the climax in a legendary 1970’s urban grit film, and “Signatune” remains one of the most important and era-defining loops of the bloghouse era. I mean, when Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk wants to “remix” your song and he just extends it by five minutes, you know you’re on to something good.
Mehdi continued to impress. If you want a taste of the magic, check out this b2b set Mehdi delivered with A-Trak at something called Electron in 2009.
Things got even groovier when Mehdi teamed with English DJ-producer Riton to form the group Carte Blanche in 2010. Their single “Gare Du Nord” from the five-track EP Black Billionaires was a run-away hit on the scene, a song you heard in every dope DJ set that year that sunk under your skin and made you an instant fan.
DJ Mehdi was the type of artist you just knew had a lot more up his sleeve. Tragically, he passed away in a freak accident a year later. He was actually celebrating Riton’s birthday, and some friends were hanging out on a roof. Mehdi and three others fell through the glass of a skylight that gave way. The other two victims survived their injuries.
When Mehdi’s life ended, the #MehdiForever movement was born. You’ll notice his logo on recent Ed Banger releases is fashioned as an M with a heart and an infinity sign. In the last few years, I’ve learned a lot more about Mehdi’s influence on the French rap scene. He had an iconic career before he ever met Busy P and started making electro-house loops. He’s buried today in Paris’ famous Père Lachaise cemetery, alongside other cultural luminaries including the pianist and composer Chopin, literary giant Oscar Wilde and the Doors’ lead singer Jim Morrison.
Busy P lit up as soon as I mentioned the Myspace bus tour. What I experienced that night was a small slice of how anyone who met Mehdi inevitably felt. He was gregarious and kind, a music nerd with an encyclopedic knowledge, the kind of dude you just wanted to work with (which is how he got Thomas Bangalter to cuss on a French hip hop song in 2002).
All this to say, you should read my interview with Busy P in Billboard. It’s really a touching conversation, and it tells a bit more about the track released this week, “MPC 2021,” which is itself a beautiful message in memoriam to a lost best friend.
It’s so wonderful that Busy P has the power to keep his friend’s memory alive. It’s a feeling I can relate to. My friend Kairo passed away of a heroin overdose in 2016. He was only 23 years old, but he’d already proven his talents as a visionary in my eyes, and honestly, in the eyes of many others. His work as DJ-producer Chalk. was ahead of its time, honing in on the ‘90s nostalgia that was yet to dominate modern house tracks, churning late-night mystery with psychedelic grooves, samples of street walkers and boom-bap beats.
Kairo was fashionable, cool and completely inspired. He encouraged everyone he knew to be creative, but his inner demons won the battle against his body and mind. I had the horrific honor of writing his obituary for the Miami New Times. I’d love for you to read it.
I had a dream last night that I saw Kairo in Miami. I’d already moved back, and I was celebrating and reconnecting with friends. I gave him a hug and said “I’m so happy you’re still alive. I know that’s morbid, but I am.” I asked him how old he was now. He looked at me funny and said he was like, 28. I went to give another friend a hug, and I started wondering like, why did it feel so good to hug Kairo? Then I remembered, it’s because he wasn’t really alive anymore, and it woke me up.
Busy P said we have to live our lives even harder in honor of the ones we love who die too soon. I can’t release Kairo’s music on some big famous label, get an interview in Billboard about how he deserved to grow his career alongside mine for decades to come, but I can include some of his music in this newsletter, and I can keep living my life to make him and others proud.
Alright, now that I’ve made everyone fucking cry AGAIN, let’s get into some good songs.
Absolutely Necessary
(This is the part where I share songs that are so good, they’re absolutely necessary to listen to. That’s it. That’s the bar.)
I made two Spotify playlists for this section that you can follow: one weekly playlist updated with just the new stuff every week, and one cumulative playlist that will host every song I pick ever (until Spotify tells me it's full). Check them out! I made them for you—and me, but mostly you.
This week for Billboard Dance, I wrote about Black Coffee’s delicious remix of fellow South African producer Themba’s track “Reflections,” and Slushii’s high-octane ode to unrequited love, “After Midnight.” Read all about those jams in First Spin!
Busy P x DJ Mehdi - “MPC 2021” Feat. Santigold, Benjamin Epps
You already heard this one, but it’s on the playlists for sure.
Ivy Sole - “Call Me”
This Brooklyn-based rapper is new to my ears, but I’m instantly hooked. Ivy’s pronouns are they/them, so check that before you wreck that, and also check this music video that they co-directed with visual references to Missy Elliot, Busta Rhymes and other ‘00s iconography (not to mention the obvious Lil Wayne interlopation in the hook). “Call Me” is sooo good, and it’s a cut from their forthcoming album Candid which I will definitely be checking for.
Dhruv - “Grateful”
Okay, this is my first time hearing about this dude. The singer-songwriter was raised in Singapore and is inspired by Frank Ocean and Bollywood. This song just pure sweet-cool Sunday evening groove, and it’s the final track on his eight-song debut EP Rapunzel, which just dropped. “Rapunzel is a scrapbook I’ve kept during a really important few years of personal growth,” he says in a press release. “The title is in reference to a lyric in the closing track, which talks about our childhood selves often being our least inhibited and truest selves. In many ways, I think this project is about me trying to find that version of myself.”
Oden & Fatzo - “Lauren”
This is also my first time hearing of Oden & Fatzo. Hilarious name, extremely funky nu-disco single. (Apparently the song came out in November, but the music video came out this week and I’m just hearing it so fucking whateverrrrrr.)
Party Pupils - “Renegade” Feat. Big Gigantic
Lots of love always to the Big G dudes. Me and my people have been rockin’ with them since the early days in 2010. Party Pupils is a funk master, and this lil collab is funky, boss-fueled and perfect for getting the funktion started right.
Wilkinson - “Close Your Eyes” Feat. Iiola
Eyyyy, throwin’ it back to my early rave days in Hollywood, FL, circa 2003. We were always bangin’ to the liquid dnb, we loved them breaks boiiii, this one for the old heads.
Kasablanca - “Immunity”
This song is billed as “melodic techno,” and I can hear that, but I’m also hearing a synth-pop night drive jam that tickles all my ‘80s neon bones. Turns out this act only performs live, creating music on the fly with analog gear. They’re tight with both Lane 8 and Rezz, which is a pretty wild range. Something to look out for, for sure.
Rich Brian & Warren Hue - “Getcho Mans”
Y’all already know I’m a big Rich Brian fan. I’m a pretty big fan of the 88Rising crew in general. There’s something really fun about Asian rappers reppin’ their culture. It just feels different and fresh—and they didn’t even have to go this damn hard. I’ve never heard Brian rip bars so fast, and his boy is breaking necks while stayin’ cool as a cucumber.
Angelique Kidjo - “Agolo” (Shimza Remix)
Angelique Kidjo is a Beninese singer-songwriter that Time Magazine once called “Africa’s premiere diva.” She came out with this pop song called “Agolo” in 1994, but nearly 30 years later, South African DJ-producer Shimza gives it a dark and sleek, techy update. I spoke to Shimza in 2019 for Billboard, and I’ve been a fan of his work and his infectious attitude ever since.
Here’s what’s coming up:
Next Week:
Wednesday, Jan. 26: Cutie Club: Dawn FM. We’re curating a radio station based off of the songs that inspired and strike similar chords with The Weeknd’s latest album. We’re talking Michael Jackson, Kavinsky, maybe a little Bowie? Follow me on YouTube and Twitch, and tune in to find out!
Thanks for tuning into my newsletter. Listen to the playlists on Spotify. One is updated weekly with all the songs from each edition. The other is cumulative with all the updates ever!