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TopRock

About Me


A BRIEF HISTORY OF ME - Justin 'TopRock' Mckenzie - IN BITESIZED CHUNKS!!!
West London born, Parents from Trinidad & Grenada.........
Started playing instruments at the age of 4 (violin)..........
Played for various orchestras and played in many concerts as a soloist ..........
Growing up in the church nurtured vocal, harmony and arrangement skills ..........
Also sang for a brief period with the prestigious Harrow Youth Choir ..........
Having an older brother and older cousins around, I grew up listening to gospel, jazz,
rare grooves, soul, electro, hip hop, reggae, calypso, funk, boogie ..........
Picked up various instruments throughout youth including bass guitar and guitar ..........
First true soca fete experience as a young lad at Cocoyea (Swiss Cottage) in 1991.........
Started Deejaying seriously and collecting vinyl in 1994..........
In 1996, formed progressive Deejay outfit 'Leaders of the Old Skool' with long time
friends Adam Rock and Motet ..........
In 1998, Leaders... started old skool fete 'FLAG PARTY'...........
In 1999 'Leaders of' joined with fellow connoisseur music outfit 'The Soulmasters'
(Bunny Bread, Daz i kue and Steve Austin) to form event/promotions organisation
'OldskooltilIdie Productions' ..........
In more recent years started studying and playing world percussion instruments
including Afro Cuban, African, Brazilian and Asian percussion (mainly hand drums) ..........
Also started studying the Chinese flute ..........
In 2000 started record label/production team Uprock Recordings with five musically
like-minded friends ..........
In 2003 started Graphic Art/Fine art/Illustration company - TopRockArts ..........
In 2006 expanded the company (TopRockArts) remit, setting up TopRockArts Creative Network
agency. Providing tutors and facilitators from all creative backgrounds, for various projects,
schools, institutions, etc. (see blog section for full run down of TCN).
Presently teaching art/graphics/illustration and music in High schools/secondary Schools
(contracted through my company), working on graphic art projects, illustrating books,
writing, producing, arranging, deejaying, running creative network agency, etc.......
Putting a whole heap of effort into TopRockArts, Uprock Recordings, Jazz re:freshed,
Futurism and Cashew Nuts.......
...STILL KEEPING THE FAITH.
SEE SLIDES BELOW FOR A SMALL SELECTION OF SOME OF THE MUSIC/EVENT RELATED
ARTWORK I'VE COMPLETED OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS.....
(TOP SLIDES - JAZZ RE:FRESHED RELATED ARTWORK)
(2ND SLIDES - UPROCK FLYER RELATED ARTWORK)
(3RD SLIDES - FUTURISM RELATED ARTWORK)

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 4/3/2006
Band Website: www.uprockrecordings.com www.jazzrefreshed.com
Band Members:

UPROCK RECORDINGS:
TopRock,
Adam Rock,
Motet,
Bunny Bread,
Daz i Kue,
Steve Austin,
Johnny Sumthin

LEADERS OF THE OLD SKOOL:
Adam Rock, Motet & TopRock

CASHEW NUT BROTHERS:
Bunny Bread & TopRock

Influences: FIRST AND FOREMOST:
THE CREATOR, MY LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.

Now in categories and in no particular order...

MUSIC/ MUSIC CULTURE:
Take 6, The Winans, Patrice Rushen, Herbie Hancock, Max Roach, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, Johnny Hammond, Pleasure, Fatback Band, Jimmy Castor Bunch, Blackbyrds, Dennis Coffey, Run DMC, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Lord Kitchener, Sparrow, David Rudder, Superblue, Ajamu, Crazy, Fela Kuti, Manu Dibango, Clifford Coulter, Azymuth, Donald Byrd, Bugz in the attic, 4Hero, Azymuth, John Coltrane, Andre Crouch, 4Hero, Kaidi Tatham, Mark de Clive Lowe, Afronaught, Daz I Kue, Norman Connors, Ray Barretto, Sergio Mendes, Oscar Peterson, Tania Maria, George Duke, Airto, Giovanni Hidalgo, Dennis Brown, Smiley Culture, Bob Marley, Omar, Incognito, IG Culture, Demon Boyz, London Posse, Hardnoise, Hijack, Gunshot, James Brown, The Meters, Buju Banton, Roy Ayers, Don Blackman, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Jazzanova, Mckoy Tyner, Jimi Hendrix, Tom Scott, Steely Dan, Bobby Caldwell, Average White Band, Wes Montgomery, Danilo Perez, Jason Rebello, Jeff Lorber, Ahmad Jamal, Ramsey Lewis, Bob James, Weather Report, Stanley Clarke, The Young Disciples, , Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway, Miguel Anga Diaz, Rock Steady Crew

PERSONAL:
Errolyn Mckenzie, Wilcox 'Mac' Mckenzie, Jason Mckenzie, Vere Francis, Alan Neckles, Jason Hicks, the Mckenzie family, the Giffard family, the Samuel family, Ekklesia, Adam Moses, Tracey Moses, Ken & Hannah Moses, Stephanie Joseph, Fulham SDA, West Indies (Trinidad & Grenada in particular), the Bartholemew family

ARTISTS (visual):
Maurits Cornelis Escher, Savadore Dali, State of Art, Seen, Mode 2, Snug1, Paul Guagin, Andy Warhol, Piet Mondrian, Franz Marc, Vincent Van Gogh, Chuck Close, Bill Max, Richard Estes, Jackson Pollock, Stuart Davis, Otto Freundlich, Peter Hally, David Bomberg, Bridget Riley, Henry Rousseau, Victor Vasarely, Laszlo moholy-nagy

TV, FILM & POP CULTURE:
Babylon (1979), Commodore 64, The Simpsons, SuperChamps, Dogtanian & the three Muskerhounds, Transformers, Being John Malkovich, A-Team, Brazil, After Hours, Star Wars (original 3), 12 Angry Men, Why Dont You, Tony Hart, Krypton Factor, Gladiators (yep, loved it! Even wanted to enter it!!!), Knightrider, Back to the Future (all 3), Indiana Jones (all 3), The Last Dragon, Style Wars, Wildstyle, Beat Street, The Freshest Kids, Krushgroove, Behind the Beat (Def II), The Equalizer, Police Squad, Airplane,Drunken Master 2, Monkey Magic (big influence on my dress sense!!!), MAD Magazine

MARTIAL ARTISTS/BOXERS:
Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Yip Man, Rickson Gracie, Marco Ruas, Derek Jones, Dan Inosanto, Ronald Winky Wright, Pernell Whittaker, Roy Jones Jnr, Ricardo Lopez, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Azumah Nelson, Jack Johnson, Pat OMalley, Geoff Thompson, Royce Gracie, Jude Samuels

SPECIAL PEOPLE:
Frederick Douglass, WEB Dubois, Marcus Garvey, Bell Hooks, Malcom X, Martin Luther King Jr, Paul Robeson, Muhammed Ali, Langston Hughes, Bobby Seale, Huey P Newton, James Baldwin, Booker T Washington, Shirley Chisolm

SPECIAL MENTION:
Marco Van Basten, Kenny Dalglish/John Barnes/Ian Rush, Zinedine Zidane, Maradona, Zico, Roti Hut, Ravenscourt Park, The Bushkillers...

This is an impossible task and will take the rest of my life to fully list all my influences in each category SO...I'LL LEAVE IT THERE FOR NOW!!!.
Sounds Like: ...you decide!
Record Label: Uprock recordings
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

What is TopRockArts Creative Network all about? How can one get involved?

What is TCN all about?TopRockArts Creative Network (TCN) is a creative agency/workshop coordinating service, set up to provide organisations and individuals with tutors and project workers for worksho...
Posted by on Thu, 15 Jun 2006 03:07:00 GMT

What is Futurism all about?

Uprock Recordings presents FUTURISM - a weekly night of progressive, cutting edge, positive new black music and visuals. Uprock Djs spin an eclectic mix - from brokenbeat to nu soul, hip hop to latin ...
Posted by on Thu, 20 Apr 2006 04:45:00 GMT

What is Uprock Recordings all about?

UPROCK Recordings is a label born out of the love of music and hip-hop culture in its purest forms; EMCEEING, DEEJAYING, B-BOYING & GRAFFITI ART.The four principal elements of hip-hop, that in todays ...
Posted by on Thu, 20 Apr 2006 04:40:00 GMT

What is Jazz Re:freshed all about?

Although jazz music has been a constant force in music since its conception, more recently it has experienced resurgence amongst the younger generations. A weekly night of jazz covering the whole spe...
Posted by on Thu, 20 Apr 2006 01:28:00 GMT

What is art?

Hey people,For the last year I've been researching for a series of books on the role and importance of creativity in our lives. So, as part of my reasearch I'm throwing out a two pronged question to t...
Posted by on Sun, 16 Apr 2006 03:45:00 GMT