Dj Nate / Da Trak Genious

Planet Mu

DJ Nate, born Nathan Clark, grew up on Chicago's West Side. The 20-year-old artist started making Footwurk tracks five years ago, more recently turning his hand to hip hop and R&B. With only a few self-made CDRs and YouTube videos, Nate attracted the attention of London's Planet Mu Records, who is proud to present his proper debut releases. On Da Trak Genious, DJ Nate uses samples from pop and hip hop, pitched, layered and triggered into unusual edits and often edging into distortion. Simple phrases are repeated to hypnotizing effect, combined with sparse 808 drum patterns, busy fills, relentless triplets and off-kilter accents. Tracks like "Back Up Kid" and "You're Gonna Love Me" work with modern R&B samples, while others like "Footwurk Homicide" and "Fade Da Black Trak" echo the contemporary British grime sound. "Go Hard," "Let The Beat Build" and "Free" reach back to earlier soul music, crossing half-time drums with slow, looped soul licks, while "A+ Mayhem" cranks the pitch up to hysterical effect. A distant relative of breakdancing, Footwurking (also known as Jukin') is a style of dancing native to Chicago. The Footwurk sound has its roots in Chicago house music--the influence and speeds of pioneering label Dance Mania are clear--but the linear, hypnotic 4x4 sound has been re-calibrated with ultra-syncopated rhythms to test dancers.

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