Baltimore club

Baltimore club, also called "Bmore Club" or "Club Music" is a breakbeat genre. As blend with hip hop and chopped, staccato house music, it was created in Baltimore, Maryland, United States in the late 1980s by 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell, Frank Ski, Big Tony (or Miss Tony), Scottie B. and DJ Spen.^[2]

Baltimore club is based on an 8/4 beat structure, and includes tempos around 130 beats per minute.^[3][4] It combines repetitive, looped vocal snippets similar to ghetto house and ghettotech. These samples are often culled from television shows such as Sanford and Son and SpongeBob SquarePants,^[4] though can also be simple repeated calls and chants. The instrumental tracks include heavy breakbeats and call and response stanzas similar to those found in the go-go music of Washington, D.C.. The breakbeats have been notably pulled from records such as: "Sing Sing" by disco band Gaz, and "Think (About It)" by Lyn Collins.^[1] Much like the rave-era sub-genre of techno music known as breakbeat hardcore, Baltimore club sounds as if the music was intentionally hurried, as each song is made with a limited palette of sounds and is based on similar frameworks.

Development

Baltimore club was born in the record stores of Baltimore first by Scottie B, Shawn Caesar and DJ Equalizer.They were then joined by DJ Patrick, Kenny B, DJ Class, Diamond K and others. They took some inspiration for their sets and production from British breakbeat hardcore records.The Blapps! Records (UK) label released several records between 1989 and 1992 that are considered classics in the Baltimore genre, as well as in the British rave scene. "Don't Hold Back", "Too Much Energy" and "Let the Freak" were sampled and played heavily by DJs and producers, and would define the Baltimore club sound.

In the early 1990s, Baltimore club music developed a cult following in the North Jersey club scene, particularly in the Brick City club genre of Newark, New Jersey developed by DJ Tameil. This spread stems from the distribution of mix tapes from traveling Baltimore Dj's. There were also a number of Boston-area radio shows in the mid-nineties that played Baltimore club music. It has also spread south to Virginia club scene and even farther south in Alabama with DJ Seven formally known as DJ Taj developed Bamabounce.

Recently the genre has gained popularity in Baltimore's rock underground, due to Baltimore club nights at the Talking Head Club and others. Baltimore club was featured in Spin Magazine in January 2006.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Shipley, Al (2006-01-19). "The Best Of Both Worlds". Baltimore City Paper. http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=12048. Retrieved 2008-01-19. 
2. ^ Deveraux, Andrew (December 2007). "What You Know About Down the Hill?": Baltimore Club Music, Subgenre Crossover, and the New Subcultural Capital of Race and Space". Journal of Popular Music Studies 19 (4): 311–341. doi:10.1111/j.1533-1598.2007.00131.x. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1533-1598.2007.00131.x. Retrieved 2008-01-19. 
3. ^ Reid, Shaheem; Paco, Matt (2007). "Young Leek & the Baltimore Scene". MTV Networks. http://www.mtv.com/news/yhif/young_leek_baltimore/. Retrieved 2008-01-19. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Bernard, Patrick (2006-07-03). "Scottie B and Baltimore Club". The Wire. Archived from the original on 2008-01-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20080112060411/http://www.wirenh.com/Music/Music_-_general/Scottie_B_and_Baltimore_Club_200605031242.html. Retrieved 2008-01-19. 

Further reading

• Inoue, Todd. "Rod Lee, Putting B-More On The Map." The Washington Post. 07/31/2005. N02.
• Janis, Stephen; Lee, Rod; & Young, Omar Akbar. "Labtekwon & Rod Lee Interview" (PDF). Link 9: 56–64. http://advanced.jhu.edu/media/files/labtekwon-and-rod-lee-interview_janis.pdf. 

External links

• The Urban Dictionary definition of Baltimore club
• Baltimore club blog