One thing I love about the juke and footwork scenes out of Chicago is the camaraderie. It seems like when someone fucks with you, they REALLY fuck with you, and they help nurture your craft. It's one of the most important things that DJ Rashad did—sure, he helped usher in the footwork sound to more mainstream outlets, but it's that he made sure that the TEKLIFE crew was right behind him, running into the venue as he held his foot on the door to keep it open. DJ Clent, who you might remember from his two "History of Footwork" mixes that we put out, is getting his Beatdown House imprint in order, and the next release is this 160 BPM explosion from DJ T-Rell, Take Off.
T-Rell's been at it for a while; he's been DJing since the age of 14, has been working on his juke and footwork sounds for the last seven or so years, and has made sure he's studied under guys like Clent and DJ Spinn, and it shows. Take Off is four tracks that might lean towards more of where guys like Clent and Traxman are coming from, building these monsters around slick sampled material. While the whole of the EP is not as complex and intricate as some of the footwork soundscapes (although EP opener "Bitch Nigga U Ain't On My Level" definitely dwells in that sound), T-Rell's material has a rolling bounce that not only hooks the dusty finger crate diggers out there, but will get the dancers ready to go ham in the circle when his jams drop.
No word on the release date for this EP as of yet, but Word from Clent is the EP is due out on October 1st, but you can stream all four tracks down below right now.
