MR. V
Sugar Groove
Welcome to the Sugar Groove Factory, the place where sugar grooves fall from tall dark chocolate speakers like gumdrops spewing from vending machines gone mad. The Sugar Groove Factory is where deep-fried house music is played, where spontaneous bubblegum remixes are concocted, and where both are sweetened to orectic the ear buds. C’mon folks, give the SGF one try and you’ll be hooked like a sugar addict. Here, the dance floor is covered with powdered sugar. Why? Not only does the granular substance help your feet glide across the floor, but its flavor makes the dancer’s dance moves sweeter. So why are some people clueless to the Sugar Groove’s sweet concoctions? Perhaps, the reason is because it’s the newest offering from the mastermind whiz of the jester hatter, DJ Swift.
On a candy-coated night in the Old Fourth Ward’s sweet-tooth district of battered in shake-n-bake bars and cooked in butter and grease restaurants, the pop-up Sugar Groove Factory plopped right next door to a delectable tiny eatery known for its killer six dollar plate specials and knock em’ dead cocktails. Although Sugar Groove wasn’t merely concerned with yielding edible small plates to hungry diners as much with providing groovy sugar-coated ear-candy music for the hungry to dance to.
Outdoors the factory’s walls rattled with “rat-a-tat -tats” from the frequent knocks of deep bass lines. Was this going to be a dubstep soiree? Yeah, right. Indoors, Atlanta’s, DJ 1derful had the bass cued on full throttle to an empty room. Where were the party people? Perhaps, applying fard to their faces. The night was still young and DJ 1derful assumed opening music gestures. The jovial DJ played sugary coated sounds that bounced off glazed covered walls and oozed with ooey-gooey melted goodness as chocolate-peanutty beats banged under frosted covered vocals. He also, played like no one was watching-partly because no one was there to watch-by singing the lyrics and pumping his fists into the air. It was during the mixologist’s final number, when he dropped a surprise golden goody from a tasty Jill Scott remix called “My Love.”
Up next, DJ BE delivered a bag full of deep-fried afro house nuggets that made mouths moan, “Uhmm, yummy” and made for some happy tummies. The Diversified Sounds creator’s golden goodie was a deep-fried crepe overstuffed with plump strawberries and topped with drizzled melted chocolate from French producer Yass with, “I Go Deep” assisted by gospel-esque vocals from LT Brown.
Like Willy Wonka standing at the gates of the Chocolate Factory, minus the cane, the candy man DJ Swift appeared onstage behind three laptops, (yes, there were more laptops onstage than CD players) two CDJs and one mixer, adorning his signature multi-colored jester headwear and black-rimmed spectacles. The zany Sugar Groove founder possessed seven golden goodies which would unlock the inner workings of the Sugar Groove Factory. (One golden goody will be used for the reader of this blog (you) to answer the trivia question found in this post.) Recall that DJ 1derful, who opened the party, played one golden goody. Then DJ BE followed with the party’s second golden goody. The third golden goodie belonged to the whimsical DJ Swift which unlocked the door to a treasure trove of sweet treats from the late Rick James, “Ghetto Life” (FTL Mix) to the sweet sounds of UK’s Nathan Adams & Zepherin Saint, “Circles.” The transition of the fourth golden goody occurred during the lollipop Lil Louis classic, “Club Lonely” with Joi Cardwell singing swirling sweet melodies. Golden goody number four sent the factory’s oven temperatures soaring to 475 degrees Celsius as the party people leaped in the air, performed triple spins and yelled at the top of their lungs. It was time to break out the sweat rags as sweat rolled down their brows. The party people were baking hot.
The night’s special headliner, party man, Mr. V from NYC who comically pulls off titles like,”Da Bump,” “Put Your Drink Down,” and “In Da Club (Shake $h*! Up)” (although, his tunes of late has had a more serious overtone than the all night party anthems) had been at the Sugar Groove Factory for some time; chilling, drinking, hanging outdoors on the smoker’s heavenly patio, and indoors adjusting, tweaking and fine-tuning the sound system for the night’s tasty delicacies. The Sole Channel co-owner, having been on the DJ stage for some time, was ready to start his own Pop-Rock explosions. What the people had yet to realize and weren’t prepared for was where they would be led. But first up, in order to partake of the festivities the party people had to swear on one piece of very important advice-to not give away the Sugar Groove’s secret formula. BEWARE of the many DJ’s in the house (nine of them at last count), compared to the actual number of party people in attendance, who were all eager and hungry to get their hands on Sugar Groove’s secret formula.
Swiftly and suddenly, Mr. V opened door number one thanks to golden goodie number four. The crowd was rushed off on a magical boat ride over red Kool-Aid waters. “PLEASE, people don’t drink the waters or you might intake too much sugar, pass out and be sucked into the waters only to disappear forever.” The water’s sugar formula had yet to be tested on humans. The dressed in all black, “I Can Sing” singer via auto-tune, DJed while the SGF’s party people danced to Rufus and Chaka Kahn’s, “Any Love” in awestruck against the backdrop of a majestic red waterfall. In plain sight, these otherworldly little people, known as the Candy Dancers, who worked in the Sugar Groove’s candy fields picked peppermint candies off tree branches and danced around in celebration. The Candy Dancers wore white loafers or platform shoes underneath brown bell-bottoms, underneath un-tucked silk-shirts with open butterfly collars while sporting giant afros singing the lyrics to GQ’s, “Disco Nights.” Mr. V the producer/songwriter/rapper/DJ had the party people acting like ADHD school children playing disco music from the likes of Carl Bean’s original gay anthem (eat your heart out Lady Gaga), “I Was Born This Way,” Diana Ross,’ “Love Hangover” (Instrumental), and MFSB’s, “Love Is The Message.” Then the boat traveled underneath a bridge that transformed into a tunnel where the vessel came to a maddening stop. Without missing a beat as the early 1970’s British funk band, Cymande’s, “Bra” instrumental midsection played, golden goodie number five opened the next door. Right before the eyes of the party people laid an immense room filled with shiny music equipment. The party people danced off the boat and danced straight onto the D Train. That’s right, Mr. V revved up D Train’s 1981 classic, “You’re The One For Me” as the party crossed into the threshold of the decadent 1980’s. The D Train toured the majestic studio where the Sugar Groove music was concocted, cooked and served. “PLEASE, people keep all arms and hands in the train. Do not reach out of the windows to touch the equipment because the equipment might spontaneously combust taking you with it.” The music gear was safe proof and had a fingerprint scanner fit to scan and accept only the impressions of DJ Swift and the otherworldly Candy Dancers. The music equipment came to life and moved and grooved to 1987’s Ralphi Rosario Presents Xaviera Gold’s, “You Used To Hold Me.” Once again, the otherworldly Candy Dancers appeared dusting off and polishing the music equipment while singing the lyrics to a drum splattering remix of, “Once In A Lifetime” from the 1980’s New Wave band Talking Heads. This time the Candy Dancers wore Jheri curls that dripped activator onto Member’s Only jackets on top of ripped acid-washed jeans accompanied by sneakers with red swoosh signs. As the train left the room, Mr. V segued into the 1988 hip-house anthem from the Jungle Brothers, “I’ll House You.” The train sped faster and its engine pumped harder four-count thumps. Off it traveled into the world of 1990’s house music. Up next, V ignited the British group Coldcut featuring the blue-eyed soul legend, Lisa Standfield on, “People Hold On” (Blaze New Jersey Jazz Vocal Mix). Lisa wasn’t singing “People Hold On” for nothing as the train came to an abrupt stop forcing the dancers to erk and jerk, back and forth. The party people were all about Boris Dlugosch Presents BOOOM and Inaya Day’s, “Keep Pushin” from 1996 that greeted them at door number three. The party people pushed off the D Train and into some kind of snazzy television/video editing room, filled with seven large flat screen monitors displaying the various on goings of the SGF. Three monitors sat side-by-side on one row while above them on the second row sat three additional monitors. One other larger monitor sat off to the right of the room all by its lonesome. “PLEASE people, don’t touch the video equipment as it might shrink you into digital sound waves and shoot you to a satellite in outer space.” In the 1990’s heyday of house music the beats banged harder and the vibe was accurately portrayed on this sugar-filled journey. Suddenly, Mr. V whipped out Masters at Work Presents People Underground’s, “My Love” the night’s sweetest serenade that sent everyone into sugar-induced comas. Those otherworldly Candy Dancers appeared and sang Michael Watford’s 1994 soulful wails that became the night’s unparalleled anthem. A dubbed vocal version of, “Work” played as those otherworldly Candy Dancers dressed in long T-shirts, brightly colored baggy denim overalls over brown boots, sported slanted high-top fades and dookie braids, danced about and cleaned the video equipment. After the coma-induced party people awoke and danced out of the video editing room, golden goody number seven opened door number four. The party people had danced straight into the arms of the twenty-first century’s current climate and into a scene straight from the jungles of Africa. Before their eyes, golden lions danced with golden giraffes that danced with golden hippopotamuses and up above their heads flew golden geese that laid golden eggs. “PLEASE, people do not touch or pet the golden animals because they will swallow you alive.” Those otherworldly Candy Dancers draped in white loin cloths danced in circles around a fire to Afefe Iku’s, “Dakountdown.” A deep house nugget of New Zealand’s pop hit band, Gotye featuring Kimbra’s, “Somebody That I Used To Know” kept the party people on their feet. Rounding out the afro experience was an a cappella rap of First Choice’s classic, “Let No Man Put Asunder” that played over an Fela tribute afro-beat filled with horns screaming over percolating percussions.
Wheww. The hip hop sounds of A Tribe Called Quest and R&B soul outfit Lucy Pearl welcomed the party people back to the Sugar Groove Factory’s main room where their lively adventured had started. All had returned safe and sound. The attendance numbers even proved positive as a few hitchhikers were picked up during the journey. This party rocked consistent moist baked anthems and not cookie cutter copycats; so it was understandable that the party people were worn out with tummy aches from all those sticky-sweet treats. Maybe too much sugar can be a bad thing. Is that possible?
Congratulations, you made it to the end of the journey without spilling Sugar Groove’s secret formula. Now answer this. Can you name the special guest rapper that appeared on the golden goodie number one Jill Scott, “My Love” remix? The first individual to correctly answer the question and respond with the correct answer on FB will win a golden goodie courtesy of AJ Dance. Good luck.
Words & Photography by AJ Dance
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Tags: Atlanta Georgia, deep house music, DJ BE, DJ Swift, house music, Mr. V