Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez
Profile
Born in 1970, Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez grew up in Brooklyn's Sunset Park. By the early eighties he was absorbing the hip hop beats that were being played at the local street parties, and in 1985 he started to work in a local record store, WNR Music Center. Along with his partner, Mike Delgado, Gonzalez organised a series of neighbourhood parties under the Masters at Work alias, and these were regularly attended by Brooklyn hero Todd Terry, who eventually borrowed the MAW name for two releases — "Alright, Alright" and "Dum Dum Cry". Terry returned the favour when he lent Gonzalez a drum machine, and in 1989 the resourceful rhythm addict recorded a series of Powerhouse beat tracks for Frank Mendez's cutting edge Nu Groove label. --http://www.mawrecords.com/artists/index.php?action=view_artist&id=2, accessed Mar 2004Breaks and Beats
"I was basically a thirteen-year-old kid sneaking out of the house and watching these DJs working these records. That's where I started to learn about breaks and beats." --Tim Lawrence, http://www.bbemusic.com/features/maw_notes.html, accessed Mar 2004
Masters At Work [...]
Gonzalez, along with his partner Mike Delgado, stepped into the DJing arena, organising neighbourhood parties under the pseudonym Masters At Work. [...] When Terry asked if he could use the Masters at Work alias for two new releases 'Alright, Alright' and 'Dum Dum Cry' on Fourth Floor Gonzalez was only too happy to help out his new friend. "I was like, 'Go ahead. Use it.'" --Tim Lawrence, http://www.bbemusic.com/features/maw_notes.html, accessed Mar 2004Kenny "Dope, was doing mobile DJ work with his crew who called themselves the Masters At Work. While dropping hip-hop beats at neighborhood parties, he decided he could create beats and tracks at least as well as the people on the records he was spinning, and so he created Dope Wax, his own independent label. After several underground hits on his own, he started doing tracks for the New York independent record labels that included Strictly Rhythm, Cutting, Nervous and Big Beat. By the time mutual friend, Todd Terry (To whom Kenny lend the name Masters At Work to for the 1998 release, "Alright, Alright") introduced him to "Little" Louie, he had built a reputation as one of the best beat men in town, well versed in hip-hop, dancehall and house. --Tim Lawrence, http://www.bbemusic.com/features/maw_notes.html, accessed Mar 2004
'The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind)'
[1995] Nothing, though, was as big as 'The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind)', a Kenny Dope production that appeared under his Bucketheads alias and was released on Johnny 'D' DeMairo's Henry Street Music. "Since the beginning of MAW we've both had separate recording careers and I wanted to do something raw, something that was fun," says Gonzalez. "One night I was driving from Manhattan to Brooklyn with Johnny 'D' and we were listening to all of these terrible records. I said, 'Fuck that! I'm going to make to make some music!'" Gonzalez went home, pulled out a series of classics and produced "a whole album in three days." --Tim Lawrence, http://www.bbemusic.com/features/maw_notes.html, accessed Mar 2004The ensuing twelve-inch turned out to be a bit of a sleeper, in part because 'I Wanna Know' was released as the A-side. "That's the track that everybody was playing in New York," says Gonzalez. "But for some crazy reason, the Europeans were loving the B-side." not crazy at all. 'The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind)' is an incredible track of driving drums and a screeching sound effect build to a crescendo and then wittily break into an extended sample from Chicago's melodic 'Street Player' ó and before long it was shooting up the charts in several countries. --Tim Lawrence, http://www.bbemusic.com/features/maw_notes.html, accessed Mar 2004
"That shit sold so fast it was unbelievable. We were like, "Yowww! We got a problem! Sample clearance!" For which Gonzalez blames the European Trainspotting Association. "Everybody was saying, 'He sampled Chicago!' The press didn't realise it but they were destroying me! They were like putting handcuffs on me and saying, 'Take him!'" Chicago didn't mind, but then they hadn't written the record. "The shit ended up costing me thirty thousand dollars," says Gonzalez. "And that's a lot for dance. There was a lot of drama behind that record! But it was a good turning point." And a fitting climax to an extraordinary first five years. --Tim Lawrence, http://www.bbemusic.com/features/maw_notes.html, accessed Mar 2004
CDs
- Hip Hop Forever (1998) - Kenny Dope [Amazon US]
Disc: 1
1. Intro - Kenny Dope
2. Ill Street Blues
3. Come Clean - Jeru the Damaja
4. Fortified Live [Dirty Original Mix] - Reflection Eternal
5. Tonight's Da Nite
6. I Got To Have It
7. She Fe MC's - A Tribe Called Quest
8. I Got It Made - Special Ed
9. Who Got Da Props - Black Moon
10. DWYCK
11. Make Room
12. Off The Books
13. Uptown Anthem - Naughty by Nature
14. You Gots To Chill
15. Straight Out The Jungle - Jungle Brothers
16. Thinkin' Of A Master Plan
17. Flava Of The Month
18. Shining Star - Sunz of Man
19. Bring The Pain - Method Man
Disc: 2
1. You Gots To Chill
2. Tonight's Da Nite
3. Everybody
4. She Fe MC's - A Tribe Called Quest
5. Off The Books
6. Forsaken
7. DWYCK
8. Shining Star - Sunz of Man
9. I Got It Made - Special Ed
10. Straight Out The Jungle - Jungle Brothers
11. Ressurection 95 Extra P Mix
12. Ill Street Blues
Disc: 3
1. Flava Of The Month
2. Thinkin' Of A Master Plan
3. Hard Rhymes
4. Come Clean - Jeru the Damaja
5. Angeles Times
6. Rhymthologist
7. Hardcore Hip-Hop
8. Fortified Live [Dirty Original Mix] - Reflection Eternal
9. Who Got Da Props - Black Moon
10. Uptown Anthem - Naughty by Nature
11. I Got To Have It
12. Bring The Pain - Method Man
13. Make Room
- Strange Games & Funky Things V.3 - Kenny Dope[Amazon US]
- Kenny Dope Gonzalez Presents: Disco Heat [3 CDs, Amazon US]
Disc 1
1 Life On Mars - Dexter Wansel 2 Me & The Gang - Bohannon 3 You Got Me Running - Lenny Wiliams 4 I Need You - Sylvester 5 Groovin You - Harvey Mason 6 New York Moving Ahzz 7 Funkanova (Kenny Dope Version) - Wood, Brass & Steel 8 Street Player - Chicago 9 When The World Is Running Down - The Police 10 Test Press - Tango Hustle
Disc 2
1 Love In C Minor - Cerrone 2 Saturday - Norma Jean 3 Dance With Me - Carrie Lucas 4 25 Hours - Lanier 5 Power Line - Double Journey 6 Go Bang - Dinosaur L 7 Jazz Carnival - Azymuth 8 Keep On Dancin’ - Gary’s Gang 9 In The Bush - Musique 10 Delirium - Francine McGee
Disc 3
1 Hitman - Chantal Curtis 2 The Night The Lights Went Out - The Tramps 3 Double Cross - First Choice 4 Just As Long As I Got You - Love Committee 5 Here I Go Again - Thelma Houston 6 Congas Fun - Congas 7 Soul On Your Side - Rhythm Makers 8 Twilight Zone - The Manhattan Transfer 9 Pow Wow - Cory Daye 10 Gotta Get Your Love - Clyde Alexander 11 Sweet Jazz Music - PanacheA wealth of spacey disco tunes -- all selected by Kenny Dope for this massive 3CD set! 2 of the set's CDs feature unmixed tracks -- a total of 18 in all, with a wide range of obscure dancefloor numbers from the 70s and early 80s, especially those that have had strong currency in recent years, thanks to a far-thinking approach to production and instrumentation. Disc 3 of the set features Kenny mixing together tracks on the other two -- coming up with a swirling batch of grooves that are all linked by the unique Dope approach! There's loads of choice rarebits in the set -- and tracks include "Just As Long As I Got You" by Love Committee, "I Need You" by Sylvester, "Powerline" by Double Journey, "In The Bush" by Musique, "Go Bang" by Dinosaur L, "Me & The Gang" by Hamilton Bohannon, "You Got Me Running" by Lenny Williams, "Grooving You" by Harvey Mason, "Got To Have Your Love" by Clyde Alexander, "Keep On Dancin" by Gary's Gang, "Life On Mars" by Dexter Wansel, "Delerium" by Francine McGhee, "Jazz Carnival" by Azymuth, and "Here I Go Again" by Thelma Houston.