Wanderin.. ..round in your area, you..ll recognize this man as never shaved, always trimmed, tri-lingual (including some foul Japanese words) and with a strange love for beanies, bonnets and whatever keeps his head really warm. Also during the summer. You don..t get it? Neither do we? (maybe his homeboy Nalden does).To make things more complicated, you ..ll have to shape up your French in order to really understand what Lefto is all about. Yup, this guy isn..t goin.. to make it easy for you, so we..ll be generous for once. His name was given by his homeboys when they used to go out, armed with spraycans. Always the first to awaken the next morning, this early bird was called ..lève tôt.. which literally means ..gets up early...So there you have the offspring of what this man stands for: being alert and always looking for those fresh vibes you discover at dawn, while the rest..s still sleepin.. on it. Innovators, or people who discover them, always come to the surface somehow. So in 1996, with his father getting him his first set of decks on a bank-loan and Akro, of Starflam-fame, teaching him the basics, something was bound to happen. And it sure did.Growing up on his father..s jazz-collection, the boombap on the streets and the eagerness to know where it all came from, this music-lover got noticed more and more. In search of a way to support his living, he was offered a chance at the Music Mania record store in Brussels. The chain of three Music Mania-stores steadily made it..s name as being thé spot to discover new talent, new genres and, of course, new releases. Their success was based on well informed employees with wide rangin.. antennas and by fitting that profile, Lefto was a proud part of something legendary to many. Ten years on their payroll made his 6th sense for dopeness sharpen even more and so it can hardly be a surprise, that since nine years, Lefto is the dj and composer of De Hop on Studio Brussel, the only HipHop-radioshow nationally broadcasted. Formerly hosted by Krewcial, the show now has Gus on the mic and Lefto still on the decks. Naturally, the show fed his fame and opened new doors.He co-programs festivals like Dour (BE) and Democrazy-events (BE), that are both known for pushing boundaries and breaking genre-barriers. If that wasn..t enough he has been co-running the infamous B9000-label (BE) that released music by Count Bass D, Kazi & Ohno, dj Grazzhoppa, Maylay Sparks, Dj Revolution & Baby Blak, Five Deez, Kankick & Declaime, Mums The Word, L-Fudge, Mr. Complex, Monster Island Czars, Wordsworth and many others.Being so much in love with music, Lefto couldn..t resist starting to produce himself. Releases so far, include the Eardrums EP with Jerboa (still sought after in Japan), a contribution to the recent Nine-compilation (distributed by Rush Hour) and a remix-album for the world-famous Blue Note-label. Out Of the Blue, as it is called, saw him and his long-time companion Krewcial remixing some of their favourite tracks from the Blue Note vaults. This highly demanded record, again brought him to attention of like minded souls all over the world.After playing literally all over Belgium, Lefto has been invited throughout Europe for parties, radio shows (most recently: The Best Damn Rap Show (CZ) and Future Vintage by Kindred Spirits (NL) and festivals like the upcoming HipHopKemp (CZ). To list à ll the artists who he played alongside with, would just be way to big a burden, but Slum Village, De La, Talib, Jean Grae, Jurassic 5, Premier, The Roots, Spinna, The X-ecutioners, Kev Brown, Vadim, A-Trak and Mixmaster Mike for instance, are no strangers to him. Word is, he even has a direct line to the universe of Lord Quas(imoto) and family. A longer and more specified list of his achievements can be found on www.lefto.beAmongst his fans, we also find Gilles Peterson, who praises him for his eclecticism and ultratight mixing-skills. No wonder Lefto has been asked to play during the upcoming WorldWide-festival. That the Brownswood fam really digs this guy, is also proven by an upcoming 4 turntable live project by Lefto and Ben Westbeech and to top it off, there..s a big chance that he..ll also be responsible for a Brownswood teaser-mix for the Benelux-area. Closer to home, Lefto has just been officially welcomed by Appletree Records as a resident dj for their Appletree-nights and recently delivered Appletree Smoothies Vol. 3! Rumours also say that a beat-EP on this label might be on the way...Needless to say that one has to earn chances like those mentioned and since words can..t tell it all, make sure to witness one of his critically acclaimed sets! If you need a supersolid hiphop-party that takes you back and forth into the dopest breaks, beats and rhymes ever recorded; this man will juggle and scratch them together on high speed, giving your public barely a moment to catch a breath. But, if you..re about giving dj..s artistic freedom, Lefto will tear down the roof with his diversity and you..re crowd will be bouncing to reggae, breaks, beats, dubstep, deep-house, drum ..n.. bass, broken beats and some wild samba-fire! All of that, blended by his unique mixing-techniques, firmly rooted in those energetic hiphop-skills. May we humbly advise you to pleasure yourself with this experience? You can thank us later...
(By Midleft / www.kicksnare.be online hiphop magazine)
Enoshima Island, Japan
