LIVE AT BBQ
What started 12 years ago with Lil’ Vic and Danny de Funk at Bitterzoet and became one of the most notable Hip Hop parties of Amsterdam is now moving to a new location, with the original name but a new energy. After recognizing that it’s time to move on as the sound and demand has shifted as well. Live at the BBQ has always strived to serve as a platform for artists and DJs who bring forth a variety of sounds and give a reflection of what is happening in our headphones. But the music in our headphones has changed as well as the musical landscape. So we felt that is was time for change. From now on Live at the BBQ is being held in the city oase Lo Fi every last Friday of the month. That being said the Live at the BBQ crew, existing of residents Sandor Dayala and Lion Kojo, together with programmer Ghamte Schmidt/MC Lentini curated a playlist, which represents the renewed Live at the BBQ to the fullest. To create more context 15 of these tracks has been explained in depth how they changed their way of listening to music, and how Live at the BBQ changed with them. Check out the full playlist at the end of the page and check out the Facebook event for more information about Live at the BBQ
Ghamte: Where it all started. Vic (Crezée) and me share a deep profound love for the rapper Nas. His breakout verse was on the track by Main Source and where Nas gained his notoriety, his fresh outlook on rhyme schemes and metaphors send a shockwave through the world of hip hop back than. I think that embodies the spirit of Live at the BBQ, to strive to perfect your craft and be inventive at the same time to inspire everyone from the youths to the more knowledgeable OG's who paved the way and experienced everything. I was only four at that time so I only know stories from my older brother, nephews and their friends. Vic, who is a little bit older than me, was the one who gave me more knowledge and context about a lot of that hip hop shit.
Ghamte: I think it was either Trouw or a party in Berlin where I heard somebody (might be Cinnaman, Yuri don't shoot me) play this record and I completely lost my mind as the track expanded by each minute with extra elements and melodies, especially when the drop and vocal comes in just gives me shivers on my spine. When compiling this list Sandor and I had a conversation and he found out that Hollis P Monroe has a Hip Hop background as well, which I did not know before selecting this track. And maybe it says a lot about my growth in listening and experiencing electronic music.
Lion: Isaac Hayes has been my introduction to soul music. I found out about it through the Wu-Tang Clan, they sampled it in their track: I Can’t Go To Sleep. Through Isaac Hayes I dug deeper into soul music.
Sandor: “Deze liedje heet clippen…” There is too much about this tune I love. To be honest, before listening to this I didn’t know about Grandmaster Flash and The Message, so I was under the assumption of the beat being theirs. After this I dove in the world wide web to do my research and finally understood why they were rapping their hook the way they did and found out about all the oldskool hiphop. The dopest part is the intro of Mo (Manager). Similar to the SLBMG mixtapes.
Sandor: I have chosen this song for several reasons. I understand most people wouldn’t understand my choice at first sight, but for me they are really unique. In The Hague (my birthplace) they were, and still are, really known and have made at least 10 hood anthems. I used to listen on a daily base to the “Reset The Levels” mixtape and I can still rap every verse by mind. It is beautiful to hear everyone’s growth throughout the time. If you listen carefully to the lyrics you were already able to tell everyone’s need to follow their own path, which they eventually did.
Sandor: Because of this mixtape I dreamt of being a rapper. One of the most important projects in the Dutch hip hop, maybe even Dutch music in general. The beats are really progressive. All of the rappers and producers were at the beginning of their successful career and it is beautiful to see how they were together in this. Lil’ Kleine’s verse is insane. “'We kunnen motten als Tekken, we kunnen Vani opbellen voor Tech-ennn squaddddddd”. Everyone who I tell to listen this is impressed. It is undervalued and earns more love, but it will get there. Shout out Ghamte and Bureau Punt. An honorable mention to New Wave and all of the Dutch hip hop projects.
Ghamte: A very interesting Dutch artist that emerged in the spring of 2019. An eclectic electronic sound with lyrics that hint at his knowledge of hip hop which instantly grabbed my attention. Within the transformation that Live at the BBQ is currently undergoing he fits that mold perfectly.
Sandor: I could have mentioned 100 other Future tunes, but this one is just truly beautiful. The subject appeals to me. If you truly listen to the words Future is saying, he is saying some heavy stuff, but the way he tells it to us is just like listening to a simple hit. The producer of this song is also responsible for mayor hits like Hotline Bling, One Dance, Too Much, Hold On We’re Going Home and COFEE BEAN of Travis Scott. The producer knows exactly which emotion he is able to channel through his music, it is already on repeat again.
Ghamte: One of the first tracks that really got me into electronic music or let's say opened my ears to it. Listening to a mix by Jamie XX (BBC 1XTRA ESSENTIAL MIX 2011) another track by New Look came in (Janet Remix) and I was amazed by the sound and the mix of the melodies in the track, where I normally would turn off that type of music. I quickly dove into their music and discovered their only album Nap On The Bow which I listen to on a monthly basis till this day. My favorite track switches each month which is currently Numbers. Although the whole mix opened up a new horizon for me musically, this one stands out as it stood the test of time.
Ghamte: SirOJ a former resident of Live At The BBQ used to re-work a lot of Dutch artists their singles or popular songs around 2009-2011 pre-soulection era. I think this track also embodies Live at the BBQ and it's spirit, a bit ahead of it's time, mixing in the commercial songs and giving it an 'underground' appeal by adding your own original aesthetics. And SirOJ his craftsmanship has been underrated for too long..
Ghamte: Although I was a bit aware of Grime music through some tracks by Kano, Wiley and D Double E here and there, I was not deeply rooted in the genre like for instance Hip Hop. When Skepta released It Ain't Safe it started clicking more and not long after that I started traveling more frequently to the UK where I learned even more about it. When we started influxing more and more UK music in our sets throughout the club night we started noticing that even the old Skepta tracks would resonate with the crowd as they started diving into that sound as well. I could've chosen any another track but I feel like Bullet From a Gun shows Skepta's ever musical growth. Combining that with his own personal growth and expressing that very effective through his music.
Ghamte: Dipset and especially this banger plays an integral part of Live at the BBQ... Maybe is the euphoria in the horns, maybe it's the classic verses. But when this one came on, everybody in the club knew there was no turning back and it was only up from that point on. A true party alarm.
Sandor: I could have chosen every track on the album, since the album as a whole is incredible and nice to listen to. The album is a combination of R&B and electronic through it’s production which is done by DJ Central (of Canadean Regelbau collective). I have experienced this in this way, through this fusion it sounded very refreshing. Sort of Destiny's Child, but a little more mellow and less hits driven.
Lion: Even though this is quite a recent track I still want it to be mentioned. A track like this has shown me once again that house/electro tracks with “swing” do exist. Furthermore it is a great tune used in my DJ-sets: it is easy to mix with a Burna Boy or Sarz.
Ghamte: Probably two years after the release of Tha Carter II, people started recognizing Lil Wayne as the best rapper alive, mainly because of his rapid release of iconic mixtapes containing freestyles over popular beats of that time (making the original song completely irrelevant in the process). Vic always had a profound love for Lil Wayne and mainly because he did not hear his songs in the clubs where he played and the clubs he went to. He started Live at the BBQ with Danny de Funk to play the songs and kind of hip hop he was listening to as well combining them with the classics. Hustler Musik is one of the tracks that’s in the same spirit as Dipset Anthem and several Rick Ross tracks served as the glue for various generations of Live at the BBQ public to come together.
