The compound for one of Detroit’s most respected ghetto tech dons, DJ Godfather, Databass’ second coming has arrived. Boasting a catalogue that supported an early run of releases from DJs Funk, Assault, Deon and Sluggo, Databass has since turned a freshly tapped source for new DJ Godfather material. A true OG in the art of footwork, juke, electro and straight up ghetto tech, Godfather’s Electro Beats For Freaks album is a standout highlight, next to sleeper hits lile “Smoke In Da Air”, “Jit or Die”, “Shut The Fuck Up” and “Keep Your Name Out My Mouth”. Home to the sounds of Sheefy McFly, Starski & Clutch and Erik Travis too - Detroit be in the building.
Review: Detroit ghettotech icon Brian Jeffries aka DJ Godfather should require no introduction. The Databass chief is back with a new offering titled D3T.3L3CTR0. It's his fifth long player which does exactly what it says on the tin, featuring 16 tracks of pure form electro executed by one of the Motor City's most distinguished engineers. From the robo-futurist groove of "TH3Y'V3 ARR1V3D", moving into the most dystopian of funk on "ATTACK F1R5T", re-programming another sci-fi bass attack on "R3P0PULAT3" and towards the end he makes contact - with the deep space alien transmission of "TH3 AFT3R 3FF3CT".
Review: Spanning an epic 46 tracks of ghetto tech, house, electro and techno bangers welded all the more to scratch tracks, footwork and straight up motor city bangers - DJ Godfather's This Detroit Thing Of Ours has landed. With each track segueing into the next the album also includes collaborations with DJ Deeon, Goodmoney G100 and King Saaidi to Gettoblaster & Missy - you find other badass collabs vai Lil Mz 313 ("That Booty"), to soulful yet dubbier-tranced out numbers with Ricky Burns ("Back It Up"). Furthermore there's the raw basslines of "It's Ghetto Tech" featuring Dan Diamond to some slurpy-sippin' midwest club vibes of "What Up" featuring Parkhouse. DJ Godfather, better recognise y'all.
Review: More original DJ Godfather material you can take to the bank! With more undeniable Detroit electro and tongue-in-cheek ghetto tech on hand, the highlight this time may well come from the deep house, R&B, soul and funk touches you'll get outta "Late Night Funk". Get your straight up vocal club tracks with a touch of late-fidget in "Owe You Shit (feat Lil Mz 313)" with some Egytian Lover beatbox electro landing in "313 Keeps It Down" (and its bonus acapella clap track). And for another slice of peak time, acid-tinged, 808 club music that's the real deal, obviously, it's "Do It".
Review: DJ Godfather back in da house with Smoke In Da Air, the crowning track of a release that's backed up by three electro, acid and house inspired jams. "Smoke In Da Air" stands out from the get-go for its undeniable footwork flavour, detuned vocals, smokey chords and wavering bassline - a hit! For your classic slice of ghetto house head straight to "Big Girl", with "Like Some Dubstep" going from minimal groove to Ultra Music festival banger. And for a pure deep house vibe with a touch of everything Detroit - "Rebirth Of A City" is your jam.
Review: 'If you ain't got no 1200s from back in the days youse a wack DJ' preaches the Goodmoney vocal from DJ Godfather's lead cut "Wack DJ" - coming in just behind this EP's title-track "Wooooo!" Turning toward some Miami bass, beats and style in "Wooooo!" - with its stuttering horns, ruff vocal chants and skipping rhythms - "Only One City" ups the tempo for a hybrid rave, electro and dub techno number that sits next to something more percussive and dank in "Nights At The Packard". And for your tongue in cheek ghetto track, as promised, "Wack DJ" will get those bottoms ends working thanks to an undeniable 808 rhythm section.
Review: DJ Godfather rains down a chunk more of lightning bolt dancefloor music with this Loud Mouth EP, taking in tips from Pharoahe Monch in a cheeky "Godzilla 2020 (Hornstrumental)" for the show stealing DJs out there. Keeping it on a slightly humorous tip still is the riff heavy "Booty Funk" that loops its guitars hard next to some bassline house in "Loud Mouth (feat Goodmoney G100)". But really, for the players out there, this EP is all about "Shut The Fuck Up (feat King Saadi)" - a rude, fun and playful G-house number with lyrics to boot!
Review: DJ Godfather with the bizness once again offering up a point and place where the tempos of house, techno and electro can be bridged in a single mix with the BPMs of footwork, juke and jungle. Godfather flexes between 125-145 BPMs in two versions of "Make That Ass Go BOOM", with your stable tempo of course found in the original mix kept at a straight 145. Get your more tongue in cheek, Dirty Bird-like club numbers from "Up All Night (feat Christina Chriss)" next to the straight up, frenetic, and deep Detroit styled clap-track "D3T-313".
Review: DJ Godfather of late is going from strength to strength with each release, turning in a new single for his Databass label with the tongue in cheek Keep My Name Out Your Mouth - aka "Certified Freak Hoe". Featuring looped vocals from King Saadi, the Godfather delivers a track that lands somewhere between a Dirtybird and Dance Mania production with its playful basslines, scandalous vocals, space pongs and jacking snare rolls. Given two alternative tempos to play and alternate, this is a DJ-centric release for da klub.
Review: Following the release of the epic 44-track Electro Beats For Freaks album of 2020, DJ Godfather returns with a EP you can't refuse. Show Some Respect sees the Detroit bass mechanic turn in three-and-a-half new numbers in the relaxed yet deep "Sunday Morning Spliff" alongside the New York noise and post punk sounds of "These Strippers" - get your narrative content from the Dan Diamond version. The title track - centralised around a badass claptrack - angles itself toward the new techno sound of Detroit, aka Electro.
Review: Here's a meeting of great electro producers, as DJ Godfather hosts a collaboration with K-1 aka Keith Tucker on his Databass label. "Version 1" of the title track is a seamless collaboration be-tween these two creative minds, with Godfather's hip-hop scratching and bass-heavy rhythm combined with Tucker's robotic vocals and atmospheric but chilling synths. While the dub take follows a similar trajectory, albeit without the vocals, 'Version 2' sees the pair take a trip to electro's outer limits with the original vocals sent into a robotic vortex, supported by a robust, steely rhythm. It's an inspired release from the sound's most distinctive artists.
Review: It's hard to believe that after all these years one of the founding forces in Detroit ghetto tech is only now, in 2020, releasing his debut album. Well...at 44 tracks large, maybe it's been worth the wait...coming from a man who back in the day helped set up Twilight 76 that released classics from the likes of DJs Assault, Deon and Slugo to Dave Clarke and Todd Osborne. More recently Godfather relaunched his Databass label which he now champions with an epic, straight-shootin' and unpretentious full time opus that takes in every angle of Detroit ghetto tech, be it the more contemporary, breakbeat and footwork sounds of "Smoke In The Air" to the gnarilier electro vibes of "The D". Featuring crewdem like Goodmoney G100, King Saadi, Lil Mz 313 and Parhouse to Dan Diamond in "These Strippers", Electro Beats For Freaks is bold music for bold times, but fresh as fuck.
Review: DJ Godfather back in the haus with the irrefutable Jit Or Die EP with the ghetto tech sounds of Jit outta Detroit. An absolute legend, a Godfather, of Detroit's ghetto house, electro and 808 sound, it's been the last two years that we've seen a dynamic resurgence from the artist, firing in a hot streak of digital only action to the shelves over the past two years. Following Sheefy Mcfly's Jittin Aint Dead EP for Databass, DJ Godfather keeps the Detroit-born movement kicking with two tracks of frenetic rhythms and mad drums that skirt between hi-nrg ghetto house ("Jit Like Me") to the cut up vocals and footwork in "Jit Or Die". Bonus points for the rude boy Parkhouse acapella.
Bitch Get Off Me (feat Parkhouse) - (3:56) 145 BPM
Bitch Get Off Me (feat Parkhouse - acapella) - (3:51) 149 BPM
Bounce Dat Ass (feat Good Money) - (3:06) 150 BPM
Bounce Dat Ass (feat Good Money - acapella) - (3:08) 150 BPM
Review: DJ Godfather is unlikely to ever win an award for the most politically correct track titles, but as this release demonstrates, he remains one of the most entertaining ghetto producers. Like all of his career highlights, "Get Girl" is remarkably uncomplicated but highly effective. Underpinned by rolling snares and a primal, jacking rhythm, it features an unknown female vocalist intoning the track's title. It's a similar situation on "Bitch Get Off Me", where Parkhouse utters the title's command over a rudimentary groove and repetitive house organ riff. However, neither can compare to the title track, where Godfather teams up with vocalist Good Money for a trip into high-octane, lo-fi ghetto funk.
Review: When we saw another release had dropped from the Databass US catalogue we couldn't wait to get stuck in, especially with DJ Godfather at the production helm. We begin our venture with 'Elektro Rok', a somewhat nostalgic instrumental track, bringing together synthetic electric guitars and 8bitty riffs. It all goes very Detroit at the next turn with the skippy drum work and unusual percussive rolls of 'They Wanna See My Footwork', before we finish up the EP on 'The D'. This one is an old school electro roller, driven by its siren like lead synthesis and extremely clean drum designs, signing the EP out in style.
