Cheers for stopping by. My name is Andre, I have been on a music tip for as long as I care to remember. I'm not quite sure what year the name "oneofakind" entered my brain as a DJ name.......
I use the name oneofakind when DJing mainly because when I started out, there weren't too many folk (on the island) doing what I did....which was basically mix/scratch (not that I can now) everything from underground hip hop to Mo Wax isht etc, funk, reggae, soul, whatever I felt like basically, its been over 16 years now and I am still buying records more fervently than ever before!
I started buying records about 16 years ago (I am cunningly avoiding writing about all my early "influences" like soft rock and rollerskating in the 80s) however I was fully into from early hardcore, Manchester dance scene, breakbeat and jungle, mixed in with hip hop like Public Enemy, De La Soul, ATCQ, Pete Rock n CL, Biz, Marley Marl, Eric B and Rakim, Run DMC, LL Cool J, Ice Cube, Jungle Brothers, etc, etc......fast forward to 1997, went to my first Hip Hop gig that was Fresh 97 in Folkestone, from that weekend forward my life changed.
So a BIG UP to Mick @ Fresh for being a visionary and an inspiration - nearly 10 years ago we witnessed The Invisibl Skratch Piklz and Jurassic 5 amongst many, many more!
I knew what I wanted to do was to just be as involved as possible with Hip Hop, beats and funk! I flew out to Hawaii for the ITF DJ champs in 99 and met very influential and dope people and forged ahead with building and promoting of www.sure-shots.com, I sold a few records over the years and met an awful amount of like minded folk thanks to the shop and site forum.Contacts were made and before you know it I have hosted and supported the likes of Jehst, Tommy Evans, Evil Ed, Yungun, Doc Brown, Aspects Crew (at least twice!), Def Tex crew, DJ Woody, Foreign Beggars, Lewis Parker, Diversion Tactics, Mr Thing, DJ First Aid, Humurak D Gritty, Inja, Monkey Moo, Shlomo, Dr Rubberfunk, Quantic, Joe Driscoll, TM Juke, Rob Luis, DJ Food + DK etc, etc with a whole lot more planned for 2008......
I still sell a few records across the UK and beyond and actively DJ everywhere in the channel islands (Jersey being a recent addition). My main thing right now is to continually expose the local people to dope music by bringing over some of the finer UK talent in all things Hip Hop, DJing, Funk etc.
When promoting LIVE stuff - my nights go under the "Bear Witness" tag, they tend to consist of at least one UK LIVE act that represents all that is dope in the hip hop scene.
Up until now, all the gigs have been at The Fermain Tavern, essentially a pub with a reasonable seating area and dancefloor!
Guernsey isn't exactly over run with venues but once we whack my rig in there and stick some visuals on, it's usually all good....the busiest night was about 250 people (rammed!!) for Jehst and Tommy Evans....
Yes, it's promoting but not as you know it....I don't give a hoot about making money from putting on nights. To me, it's a hobby. I have a good job that sorts me out, so if I can get people out here to represent and everyone can leave with more cash than they came out with, get a good meal, travel all paid up, I'm good with that.
BR
You need to be on a level, remember we live on an island, we are pretty chilled, so no bullshit egos etc and remember when it was just about the music?
I am straight talking so just message me here on Myspace or email with any ideas at [email protected]
....and when I'm DJing with my boy Manzur in the club we use "The Get Down"....
The Get Down is me and Manz flexing our record collection on to the masses...mainly good time (and dirty!) funk, soul and beats, a smattering of classic and underground hip hop, plus a healthy dose of reggae in it's various forms.
There are no real rules, hence the title of the night. It's very dope, a lot of fun and we have had over 800 people in a night and for Guernsey thats a bloody busy night.
I think it's fair to say that the highlight was when Quantic graced us and gave us what can only be described as a ridiculous education into beats! - I could have shed a tear that night...to have over 500 people bopping to Mexican funk records in Guernsey is a real sight to behold!
Thanks for reading!
NEXT UP
HEAVY! @ The Fermain Tavern
Sat 29th September from 8-12:30
Reggae, Dub + Dubstep with DJ's Rob R, Killa + oneofakind
