@ffffoldddd steps up for the latest cassette tape mix from Japanese streetwear brand
@cavempt . With
@spmc on hosting duties, the tape is Foldās love letter to ādark, dubby garage and proto grime from around 1999ā2002. A really sick and niche sounding era.ā
āI wouldāve been around 14 years old, through to my GCSEs and up to college time, so I have great memories of growing up immersed in the culture and driving around in my silver Ford Escort, blaring this stuff in and out of South London to the edge of the sticks where we lived.
It was pre-internet, so you had to be very resourceful and dedicated to this thing to get anywhere near it. It wasnāt handed to us on a plate and it wasnāt that popular, we were just obsessive.
We used to stick coat hangers in the antennas of our stereo stacker systems to pick up the pirates clearly and make tapes to play in the car or hand out to mates at school. Weekends meant trips to Big Apple, Wax City and Swag Records in Croydon for records and tape packs, coming back with a stack of rave flyers. Most nights after school, weād link up, mix, and record our own tapes.
I was already obsessed with drum & bass and going raving, nights like Trouble On Vinyl at Mass in Brixton, MC Convention at Stratford Rex and United Dance at Bagleys (before it shut), with older friends by the time I was 16 (donāt tell Mum). It all went hand in hand, dark music from the capital, the sound of the underground and my youth.
SP:MC should need no introduction, heās writing some of the best modern interpretations of dark 2-step garage on his label
@declassified.info . He recently collaborated with EL-B, and is one of the last generation of proper live MCs. Heās from the same era and slightly older than me, so understands all the reference points. A proper head that can bubble and toast over a set, but also bring serious bars. I really wanted to get Stu on something around 140, as he is usually known for drum and bass, but his flow lends itself to the slower BPM and we donāt often hear it.ā
Swipe through for a taste of Foldās selections.