DJ E-Rok: Rewind to Summer '95
A tribute to a great mix and to songs of the summer
Greetings - I’ve had a difficult time lately trying to figure out what the song of the summer was this year. Your song of the summer can be a personal choice (related to travel, a fling, an overpriced music festival), but i’m talking about that one or two songs that capture that summer. Think about the last few summers: Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Kendrick Lamar, Charlie XCX - all had hit singles that just felt like, yeah, this is that summer cut. Billboard1 and social media are also there to provide data and feedback about what the official song(s) of summer are.
This year though? Think about it, was there an ear worm of a song this summer that was undeniable, and it played just about everywhere? High tempo, to-the-window-to-the-wall type chorus that a six and 60 year old can sing? Is it a sign of the music apocalypse if that damn Jet 2 Holiday meme is considered the/a song of the summer? As my kids would say, are we cooked, chat?
Deep breaths…and exhale. Aight i’m good. What gives me relief is being able to just listen to anything I want from any time period. In my humble opinion the 90’s (or what younger folks are calling the 1900’s I guess) had the best summer songs, giving recognition to the two decades before (summer or not) that directly influenced2 all the songs that are about to be heard here.
It’s the 30th anniversary of a summer that holds a lot of nostalgia for me: 1995. I just graduated high school, left my part-time after school job3, with no real plans but to kick it. Back then that meant driving around Seattle. Like hella. When it only took 10-15 minutes to get to your destination no matter where you were coming from in the City, plus gas was cheap (I probably complained about $1.25/gallon back then).
All that driving around had to have a soundtrack. Radio and MTV played the same songs (same as it ever was), so my best option was to dub compilation tapes (the 120 minute ones if you could find/afford them) of popular songs, but also mix in some b-sides, album cuts, songs that you could just cruise to. I did pride myself in the way I put my compilations together (and the printed covers with the tracklisting), but it didn’t beat the actual mixtapes by DJ’s - how they set a tone, showing off technical prowess, the production value, the care they put into their finish product.
I had been collecting any DJ mixtape I could get my hands on a few years prior, and in the summer of 1995 I purchased DJ E-Rok’s Summer ‘95 mixtape from Music Menu4. The mix would go on to be my personal goats and would inspire me to have the courage and buy my own turntables years later. I’m in my 21st year of DJing and haven’t mastered much in the realm of turntablism, although I have so much respect and admiration for the craft. Much of this creativity can be heard in E-Rok’s mixtape, which you can listen to here exclusively in its entirety, shared with permission from E-Rok himself:
I had no idea who DJ E-Rok was when I purchased the tape, the only thing I knew is that it had to be dope based on the cover art and the tracklisting5. Over the years I found out more about him and eventually met him at hip hop shows, but I don’t really remember saying to him how important that mixtape was to me. Maybe I did and forgot. But i’m writing this here to serve my guy the flowers he deserves and preserve a mix that only exists in a physical form, so rare that (in my opinion) it is basically priceless.
This is also an opportunity for E-Rok himself to tell his personal story and how he made this mixtape, in an interview that I did with him in 2017(!) and have held onto since then. Please enjoy the mix while reading along, and understand why the concept of “Song(s) of the Summer” are so important to me, especially in the context of my favorite genre of music, coming from the City that I love so much6.
Tell me about yourself. Where did you grow up, what music did you grow up listening to as a kid? What or who inspired you to be a DJ? Tell me about the first time you saw a DJ up close in person. Tell me about the first time you got your first turntables and mixer, and how that felt.
I was born in Seattle. Lived on Beacon hill as a kid then moved to Renton, but would always hang out with friends and family in South Seattle to get the hell out of burbs. My parents would play a lot of Beatles growing up and my older brother would listen to a lot punk, new wave, and R&B.
First time I remember hearing hip hop was Herbie Hancock’s Rockit, this was because everybody was bboying to it around that time. I had no idea what that scratching sound was coming from. I thought it was somebody moving a zipper up and down really fast! I was too young to comprehend! But, it was one of the most illest things I ever heard in my life at that time. Way later on in my life, I was able to hang out with Grandmixer DST and talk about the scratches he did on that record, and on how he made the famous “This Stuff is Really Fresh” sound that everyone scratches with. Amazing conversation we had.
It was Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel that made me realize what scratching was cuz he was cutting up copies of Good Times. Which is odd, because that record came out before Rockit did. That Grandmaster Flash song was revolutionary for its time. We were bboying to this record also. If it wasn’t for bboying, I may have never been entrenched in hip hop culture as I am today.
Then later on, hearing Jazzy Jeff on Live at Union Square doing his crazy transform scratches gave me enough inspiration to become a DJ.
I also used to listen to Nasty Nes mixes on KFOX and on KCMU Shock Frequency with Glen Boyd. That may have been the first time I heard four track mixes because I knew that he was definitely not doing some of those mixes live on two turntables. They were dope though. It inspired me to make my live turntable mixes to sound like they were done on a four track.
Flash, DST, Jazzy Jeff, Nasty Nes were some early influences. Later on I would become friends with some homies in the Southend who did mobile DJing. This was like late 1988. My peeps Gerald Cornel and Eric Aquino were the first of my peers to have DJ setups. I think the first setup Gerald had was a Numark mixer with old Technic SL D1s? They were setup at a house party Eric was throwing at his crib and I saw my man Larry Corpuz walk into the room and jump on the turntables and start scratching. I was blown away because that was the first time I ever seen scratching live in person. He was cutting up “This Stuff is Really Fresh”. I would roll with Gerald and Eric to their mobile gigs. Mobile DJs were kind of a big thing around this time. We were doing birthday parties, hall parties, debutante parties. We would have to play some corny shit sometimes but eventually we would play cuts and incorporate scratching when the party would start jumping off. I remember Gerald would use mostly the phono/line switch on his mixer to scratch instead of the fader. It definitely gave a sharper cut on the transformer scratch. We were scratching like Joe Cooley and Aladdin during this time. Really fast and to Planet Rock Freestyle beats.
I didn’t get my own setup until 1992. I saved enough money from my part time jobs to get 2 Technic 1200s right off the bat. I was using an old Pyramid mixer that was wack, but it helped me refine my mixing skills. At this time, I was starting to hear B-Mello mixes on KCMU Rap Attack. Melo would have the dopest underground New York cuts and dope mixes.
I eventually met B-Mello and he helped me get my mixes on to KCMU Rap Attack. This was when Nes was hosting the show. Much respect to both of those guys for putting me on.
Also around this time I met DJ Kamikaze and his crew Source of Labor (RIP Wordsayer). It was dope meeting Kamikaze because he was a fellow Filipino brother but from Atlanta. So he brought a different music sensibility into my influence because of where he was from. He was always ill with the dope mixes because he would drop different type of music genres in his mix. I’ll never forget his Billie Holiday mix with Make The Music with your Mouth Biz instrumental underneath it, or Sade “Kiss of Life” over Spoonie Gee “Love Rap”.
Me and my man DV ONE starting hanging out at this time too, and we would have practice sessions at our cribs that made me and him better DJs. We would always pretend to battle each other or help each other with certain skills and records. Me, him, and DJ Ace would later become a DJ/Turntablist crew called the “Spinnovators”. DJ Ace was the master of scratches at this time in Seattle. Nobody in Seattle could fade him on the scratches. He was the first to DJ in the area to get the “Flare” scratch down that everybody was trying to get from Q-Bert and Babu.
So these people, along with Vitamin D, Topspin, Vanzai, SkratchPiklz, Beat Junkies, X-Men, Kid Capri, and Stretch Armstrong were big influences.
Once you got better at DJing, tell me about how you learned how to scratch, and how you got hired to do parties/mobile gigs.
I learned scratching by watching and listening to other better DJs and countless hours of practicing. I used to play a lot of basketball but I shelved that for about 10 years while I striving to be a better DJ. I still think my scratches were never the best but I made sure I had dope records and mixes which got me hired for gigs. I would constantly dig for old records and stay up on the new record releases. These were fun times, when you were able to go to used record stores and get old records on the cheap and then go to Tower Records or Orpheum to get the latest releases. I would also get a lot of promo new releases on vinyl from record promoters since I was making mixes for the radio. It was so dope seeing new record packages coming back from school from Loud, Relativity, Tommy Boy, Def Jam, etc.
I started getting more gigs through word of mouth. Basically from DJing for the homies in my basement, house parties, hall parties, clubs, and then to opening up for big hip hop shows at the time. It wasn't easy since back in the 90s there weren't too many venues for hip hop DJs like me to spin at.
What inspired you to make your "Summer '95" mixtape? What were some of the things going on in the Seattle hip hop community around this time? Were there other DJ's that inspired you to make it?
Making mixtapes at the time was the thing to do if you wanted to stand out from other DJs. B-Mello, Kun Luv, DV ONE, Kamikaze, and Topspin were making them too. So I wanted to be included in that group as well. Summer ’95 was made so you can bump it in your car while cruising around the town. Also, I remember making a trip out to NYC around that time and I wanted to be equipped with something to give to people when I was out there and make a name for myself.
Tell me about the creation process: Choosing songs, buying records, recording and distribution.
From what I remember, a lot of the records were the new joints at the time. B-Mello used to sell other mixtapes from other NYC DJs like Kid Capri, Doo Wop, Ron G, and Stretch Armstrong shows. And those tapes always had the latest underground joints on them. That was kind of the trend back then. I would say a lot of those records were new unreleased promos that I got from the record label reps. At the same time I would throw in some older joints just because they grooved well for cruising in your whip during the summer.
I never four tracked my mixes so everything was done live on two turntables. That’s why there were some imperfections in the mixes and scratches. Hard to do all that when you’re quick mixing and trying to talk over your mix at the same time.
I think I talked over the mix a little bit too much when going back and listening to the mix. I was young and full of energy at the time that was done. Way too much yapping from me in the background! Ha ha!
I would duplicate the tapes via straight dubbing on a dual cassette deck. I tried to always use high bias tapes as well and not the cheap joints. I wanted to know that you were buying a quality product overall. I would sell them on the street, school, on consignment at Orpheum or Tower Records, and my man Paul at Hardy’s shoe store used to push them hard for me too.
My tapes were never a money making venture. If anything, it was extra record money and getting my name and DJ style out there.
What was the response when you distributed the tape? Was it sold out, and was there a demand for more? Do you remember how many you made? Did the tape open up any doors for you - were people hitting you up for parties and whatnot?
People really dug the mixtape, but I can’t exactly remember how many I made. Definitely spent long hours and nights continuously making more dubs of the tape.
I can’t remember what specific events I was hired for after this tape but I definitely started getting more work around town DJing. There was a time when my name was on almost every dope hip hop show in town. Granted there weren’t a lot of hip hop shows in the 90s compared to now.
Who are the creative folks past/present that you look up to, and why?
My man Supreme is somebody I’ve always looked up to hip hop wise. He’s been the guy who’s always been around the hip hop scene from the early 80s until now. He always shows and tells me little things about hip hop history I never knew of.
Jon Moore, RIP was also influential as far as getting me shows to DJ and providing good philosophical and spiritual advice while keeping it bboy.
What is your opinion about DJing today? How do you currently spend your time on the turntables?
There a some real good DJs out there right now, but there are a lot of wack DJs more than ever. Wack DJs no longer have to spend time and money hunting down records at record stores. They can do it for free from the comforts of their own couch via computer. Obtaining dope records and putting those records into a dope mix was the defining line on who can become a good DJ back then. Not to mention, carrying five heavy crates of records to gigs was a factor too.
These days I don’t jump on the turntables as much as I used to when I was younger. I have other interests and a day job that keeps me busy. I do have my setup and records still and will brush off the rust every now and then.
What advice do you have for the aspiring DJ?
Become knowledgeable in music past and present and always strive to learn the fundamentals and history of DJing - but aspire to bring something different to the table.
Billboard’s 2025 songs of the summer has three Morgan Wallen songs, and a few other songs that arguably started to come down from their high before the beginning of the summer.
I’m talking about the clever (and not so clever) use of samples.
I worked at a prestigious law firm in downtown Seattle, defense lawyers who had high profile cases. I did everything from making copies, picking up dry cleaning, and delivering paperwork.
This Facebook discussion I found reminds me that I purchased my tape not from the original location on Rainier, but the location when they moved across the street. I do remember the original location though but my childhood memories of walking in there are very fuzzy.
Unfortunately I lost the original artwork, but I have hope that it might(?) be deep in the archives of the Wing Luke Asian Museum. That’s another story for another time.
Despite all the bullshit politics, gentrification, displacement, etc etc etc.
'I’ll never forget his Billie Holiday mix with Make The Music with your Mouth Biz instrumental underneath it, or Sade “Kiss of Life” over Spoonie Gee “Love Rap”.' Always great to hear about these old blends.