Streetlight Records

Reviews:

Many years ago, back when people cared about this sort of thing, lots of drumand bass fans believed that U.S. producers would never be able to create decentdrum and bass tracks. Granted, this was coming mostly from Brits sore that they,in turn, could not make hip-hop, but plenty of people have been aching to provethem wrong. One of them is Orlando-based DJ Dave "AK1200" Minner,a guy who has been building his rep ever since the early days of the Americanrave scene by playing just about any city with a sizeable scene of white gangstapreteens. Of course, he knew every bit as well as Dieselboy that one day hewas going to have to prove that he could do much more than play the records.So now, after more than a decade in the trenches, AK1200 bangs the drum andbass for himself, trying gamely yet in vain to make people care again.

Apparently, Minner put a lot of care into making this a drum and bass debuteveryone could agree upon. Many of the tracks here were co-written by MovingShadow head Rob Playford, the man who ghostwrote all of Goldie's tracksback when he was still relevant. And a list of cameos abound, both from peoplewithin the drum and bass scene (Dom & Roland) and without (Phife Dawg fromA Tribe Called Quest, Junior Reid from Black Uhuru). Most of the tracks focuson heavy, breakneck hip-hop-oriented roughness, with the occasional surprisethrown in, such as "Midtempo Treat," the breakbeat suite done withfellow Orlando producer DJ Icey. But those who've never been to a clubor played a Playstation game may still wonder what's in it for you. Sadto say, AK1200 has no answers for you. He just shot up a thinning dancefloorwithout saying much.