Black Mixtape

From Black Music to Black Mixtape

I was offered my very first record in 1982 as I was 5 year old. It was the groovy 12″ maxi-single “Pass The Dutchie” by Musical Youth. Even if I’ve already been listening to a lot of records from my beloved parents’ collection, including black music. This one was my very first crush and the first stone to set up Black Mixtape was built.

Meeting french Dj John Thomas in Assinie, Ivory Coast, 1988, was another precious moment. Cratedigger from a very early age, John loves to share his love for music and besides being my long-time friend, he has always been a priceless mentor to me.

As we became friends he taught me about African-American music from the 60’s and 70’s, especially funk music. I knew some of the most famous artists from this period, but he specifically got me into something much bigger… I heard the name Norman Whitfield for the first time with John and immediately fell in love with the psychedelic music of The Undisputed Truth.

From then on, this golden door John opened would lead me to an infinite number of other discoveries, diggin’ into thousands of directions. Obsessed by African-American culture in general and by its music in particular, I obviously wanted to deepen my knowledge, spending my time looking for all the informations about the artists I was listening to. Who are the musicians, the composer of the song, the vocalists, who did the production, the arrangements, the mixing,…

Black Mixtape reflect more than twenty years of searching, diggin’ and listening, thereby compiling among other things the greatest in Soul, Funk, Jazz and Blues.

Ain’t no other purpose here than sharing and spreading the love of Black Music through its best music, photos and videos.

Enjoy fellows’!!