The San Francisco, Bay Area’s own, Dj Xtra-Large, is definitely no stranger to the music industry. The veteran turntablist/producer has already logged in countless hours, crafting smash hits for a who’s who of West Coast Hip-Hop heavyweights; including, Snoop Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound, Too $hort, Spice1, E-40, B-Legit, C-Bo, Coo Coo Cal, Bad Azz, Ray Luv, Mac Mall and even the late greats Mac Dre, Pimp C and Tupac Shakur, among others.
Having first gotten his start way back in junior high, where he was a major fixture working his magic on the local party scene, Dj Xtra-Large‘s professional foray into the art form actually came courtesy of a best friend and, now multi-platinum, rapper out of Hayward, California, named Robert “Spice 1” Green, Jr.
At the, still tender, age of nineteen, Dj Xtra-Large, a founding member of Spice’s 187 Fac collective, put out his first major record label release, the gold selling Spice 1. Dj Xtra-Large, and has since Produced three additional projects that have garnered sales of over 500,000 units, as well as two albums that have achieved one-plus million units sold to date.
In addition, Dj Xtra-Large has spent the last twelve years mixing and scratching his way all across the United States and abroad, even releasing his very own popular mix-tape outing Bricks & Money, in Germany and the U.S. in 2002.
Now, out pops “Bricks & Money” -the album, and it is an excellent piece of work. There is not one weak song on it. The songs include ones of various moods, from party bangers to reflective and lady-loving tracks. My favorite songs on the album are “Club Rockin ft. Young Bay”, “Real Thang ft. Spice 1”, “Pretty Ladies ft. G-Maly,D Temple, Amp E DA Singer”, “Chef’N ft. Nuse”, and “Bricks & Money ft. XL Eazy”.
“Bricks & Money” has a great blend of what hip-hop should be. Awesome production combined with good lyricism. Dj Xtra-Large tends to not be overly vulgar, which is positive. It’s a little awkward for me to be blasting curse-word filled music, when I’m sitting next to people at red lights. I really feel comfortable listening to this album and will even argue that it has a couple tracks that everybody can enjoy, even hip-hop naysayers.
While the mainstream industry still tries to find a sense of purpose and direction, Dj Xtra-Large managed to produce a good album that hopefully will not be slept on by too many fans. The beats on these songs are insane, and the features are without a doubt star-studded. Dj Xtra-Large proves that he has honed his own creative and production style down to a fine art.
Dj Xtra-Large has a lot of great collaborations on this 8-track album, blending extreme wit and intellect with hard hitting flows and beats. He did an all-round amazing job and I can appreciate this because I hate buying albums and having to skip through so many songs. Dj Xtra-Large has come a long way and he just continues to get better!
OFFICIAL LINKS:
You’ve sold me on DJ xtra large’s Bricks and Money. You made it sound so cool, I think I’d get me a copy and hear for myself.