Mixtape Mondays: Chinese Assassin, Eccentrix Sound, Safari Sound, Pedrolito

Words by DJ Theory

Brush the dust off those fresh new Clarks and get ready to touch di road with a brand new edition of Mixtape Mondays. Let’s go…

Chinese Assassin, (Diet) Yardy Cup: Florida’s Chinese Assassin DJs are back with another scorcher, a sugar-free introduction to their forthcoming Yardy Cup mix. Don’t be fooled by the title though, there is definitely nothing light about this “diet” mix. Chinese Assassin do what they do best, shelling down a megamix of current bashment and dancehall.* To be precise, there’s a total of 100g of “Shellings,” as well as 100mg of “AWOHs” and 100g of “Total Forwards” (as described on the back cover’s “Nutrition Tracks.”) So after, or perhaps during, your workday today, turn your speakers up and open up an icey (diet) Yardy Cup with Chinese Assassin; but be forewarned, there’s a good chance you’ll be sippin’ on it all summer long. Get the tracklist here download here. You can purchase all of Chinese Assassin’s mixtapes as CD or MP3’s from their web store as well, so support di ting deh.

Eccentrix Sound, Aura 4 – No Sleep: This week we have even more lava bubbling up from South Beach courtesy of Eccentrix Sound. Aura 4 – No Sleep could be the new Miami summer soundtrack with dancehall, R&B, rap, club hits, remixes, dubs and blends all gracing the 78 tracks mixed up by DJ’s Zone and Addy. And to keep things extra official they’ve enlisted Bobby & Willy Chin from the mighty Black Chiney on hosting duties, as well as Swedish sweethearts Serengeti. There’s even a Youtube trailer for the mix to get things extra hype. Download here.

Safari Sound, Safari Dancehall Show – Phat Till Yuh Baff Edition: Sweden’s Safari Sound definitely has their game tight right now. I was recently joking around with DJ Shirkhan on Twitter that European mixtape machines like Safari and Kalibandulu could practically hold down Mixtape Mondays every week… I should also add that at the moment Shirkhan is actually on his first visit to NYC, making moves and touching base with LargeUp don dada DJ Gravy. The Safari Dancehall Show is a consistent podcast-esque mix show, bursting at the seams with brand new tunes, big riddims and Safari exclusives. Phat Till Yuh Baff Edition is no different, drawing to mind Timberlee and Ward 21’s ’07 hot gyal anthem “Bubble Like Soup“. Which also reminded us of this amusing parody good for a laugh or two. Tracklist, stream and download here

Pedrolito, Tropicalisation #1: Something a little different to round things out this week. We’re headed to Radio Global and France’s Pedrolito to delve into some more tropical territory, still getting our gears ready for summer. Get fired up with some dancehall, UK funky, bhangra, reggaeton, various flavors of cumbia including cumbia-drum n’ bass (?) and two choice cuts from our prime UK correspondent Gabriel Heatwave. Tracklist and stream here download here

* Side note: Diet Yardy Cup pops off with Kartel’s big new singles “Clap It Up” and “Real Badman,” boastful badman war tunes that make us scratch our head a little after his recent declaration to refrain from releasing songs in that vein. Can’t say we’re too surprised by anything Kartel will or won’t do at this point–we’re just along for the ride–however, we are a little curious if there was any truth in that statement. Considering how many dancehall tunes are released each month, it won’t take too long to find out…