NAUGHTY BY MAJORS - BACK 4 MORE: THE SEX TAPE VOL.4
'If you don't know where you came from, you don't know where you're at'...
There was a time when everything was done with a certain quality and care, mixtapes or the music itself, it was crucial that to be the man, first and foremost you had to be NICE...
It's with this kind of attitude that DJ Lee Majors goes about his work... 'There is definitely a lack of integrity in the game these days' laments Majors, although the upside of that is not lost on him either... 'at the same time that just gives me a bigger spot, being 'good' is my lane, those bullshit mixtapes... That world's way too competitive for me haha'
As a DJ of around 15 years, Majors started out in 1995, armed with his trusty SoundLab turntables, KAM mixer and of course, vinyl... 'Everybody started out on those things (laughs), if you didn't know what you were doing with the SoundLabs you were in trouble!' So far removed we are now, that any 'fan' can become a mixtape DJ overnight (or at least however long it takes for their graphic designer to knock out a cover!)...
Majors would put together his first mixtapes in around 1996 (at the tender age of 16!) for his friends, although it wasn't long before they were appearing on the shelves in local record stores such as Slam Jamz and Fat City, in his home town of Manchester, England.
'That was definitely my era! All I was hearing was dope music, plus you had DJ's doing all the right things, cats like Tony Touch, Ron G and Premier as well as Semtex (originally from Manchester) and MK from out here in the UK, that's how a mixtape's supposed to sound'
Soon after his mixtapes were out there, Majors would link up with local MC Konny Kon of the Microdisiacs. It was around this time when Majors (then known as 3rd Degree) began playing out in bars and clubs in the city, also DJing for the Microdisiacs at various club nights, including 'Homegrown', an event which Majors set up as a platform to push UK talent. However, Hip Hop was tough to spin back then, 90% of bar/club managers were against the idea, citing Manchester's notorious gang problems as the reason. Adjusting to this new environment, Majors switched his focus to the R&B scene and with artists such as Mary J Blige, Total, Jodeci and Case already on heavy rotation in his walkman, it was an easy transition.
However, always with Hip Hop in his heart, in 1999 Lee Majors (3rd Degree) became resident at one of Manchester's biggest (and now legendary) club nights, Eardrum @ Dry Bar. Eardum was massively popular in no small part due to the live element and it was here where he would link up with MC's DRS and Strategy (once again, formally of the Microdisiacs), who would in the future form to become Broke 'n' English. Lee would DJ Broke 'n' English live shows for around 2 years, performing at club nights and festivals across the UK and beyond, until parting ways due to creative differences, which then saw good friend Konny Kon take over the wheels of steel.
Now Lee was an established DJ in the city, spinning at a multitude of bars and club nights, primarily on the R&B scene but also playing Hip Hop where he could as well as 70's & 80's Soul/Boogie etc... In around 2002, Lee was invited to guest DJ a weekly R&B night called Gin & Juice, at Revolution on Deansgate Locks in Manchester. So impressed were they at the venue that Lee was asked to come back the following weeks, until he became a permanent fixture there. In the coming months Gin & Juice developed into a 2 floor affair, with Lee on the top floor and long time DJ partners D Large and Baby Wayne downstairs. The event went from strength to strength and is now considered by many to be THE weekly R&B night of that era. Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end and in 2004, due to differences with management, Gin & Juice was no more...
Falling out of love with the club scene, Lee chose to concentrate on his long term ambition to produce. In the years that followed Lee worked at his craft, taking influence from the producers that so many aspiring beatmakers idolise such as DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Large Professor, Beatminerz, Alchemist, Just Blaze etc...
After steady progress with the beats as well as artists on board, in 2008 Lee decided it was time to take it back to the essence and get on the mixtapes once more. It was definitely the platform that he needed, not only as an outlet for his production but also to push real music, so disappointed was he in the quality of music receiving 'airtime' on the mixtape circuit...
Since then, Majors' mixtapes have received global recognition and Major Surveillance is becoming widely recognised as one of the few brands you can rely on to bring that undeniable heat...
If you would like to book DJ Lee Majors, Elevatorz (DJ Lee Majors, D Large & Baby Wayne) or you need a mixtape producing you can email leemajors.music@gmail.com
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