Few if any producers have managed to make the transition between hip-hop and house as
successfully as Vincent Williams, a.k.a. DJ Spinna. But until now his hip-hop career has been
better documented. Here, for the first time, is a collection of the cream of Spinna’s house
remixes, a collection likely to win a place in the homes of anyone who loves their house music
with a deep and soulful twist.
Brooklyn-born Spinna absorbed all the influences that were available to a young man growing
up in 1980s New York, from the Caribbean and Latin vibes found in his own home (his father’s
record collection a major stimulus), through the block-rocking beats that were being dropped
by the nascent hip-hop scene at neighbourhood parties, to the soul and disco being spun by
Frankie Crocker and Shep Pettibone on the radio, and by Larry Levan at The Paradise Garage
where Spinna became a punter.
Spinna took this rich musical heritage and ran with it, learning to DJ and quickly gaining a rep
for himself on the hip-hop scene of the latter-half of the ‘90s, a reputation cemented by a string
of classic studio productions as part of The Jigmastas. When the hip-hop scene split so
radically between its commercial and underground wings towards the end of the decade,
Spinna, a hero of the underground, found himself frustrated by its inherent insularity. ‘I didn’t
want to be playing to the same two-dozen guys every night’ he says.
Disco and soul had always been part of his repertoire as a party DJ though, and as he became
disenchanted with the smallness of the underground hip-hop scene, he found himself drawn
increasingly to their contemporary manifestation, house music.
Sure enough, Spinna almost immediately found a wide audience for his dance productions,
hitting paydirt with his remixes for UK singer Shaun Escoffery, achieving cult success in New
York with Space Rider and true worldwide anthem status with Days Like This –one of the
biggest tunes of the past ten years or so for the soulful house cognoscenti. Both are included
here, along with his remixes of stellar contemporaries like Kerri Chandler, Karizma and Louie
Vega, ‘live’ artists including Raul Midon, Bah Samba, saxophonist Jimmy Sommers with
Rahsaan Patterson, Fertile Ground and Tortured Soul, and a slew of up and coming dance
producers.
One listen should make abundantly clear why many of the world’s premiere DJs have known
to head straight for ‘the Spinna mix’ for a decade now.