Neil Martin · Beats, Business & Life

Old school

Sleeve of Street Sounds Electro 6 on a dark blue background

Roxanne Shanté, a borrowed tape and the first rap beef I ever heard

In 1985 a ten-year-old me heard a tape at a birthday party and fell for a 14-year-old MC from Queensbridge. The story of Electro 6, Roxanne’s Revenge, and what answering back can do.

Sleeve of The Police single Can't Stand Losing You, a man standing on a block of ice

Can’t Stand Losing You, and the DJ who gave me the record

Beats, Track by Track

The first record I ever owned, I didn’t buy. A DJ at a family party gave it to me. Why that white 7-inch is still on my shelf, and what it taught a four-year-old about asking.

Illustration of a teenager's bedroom at night with twin turntables, a mixer, headphones and a crate of records under a warm desk lamp

Bedroom decks, 1987: where it all started

Where the DJing started. Years of learning to mix behind a shut bedroom door, then MCing at parties as a teenager. And yes, two records locking together still gives me a buzz.

Flat record sleeve illustration of a microphone on a stand in front of tall speaker stacks, golden and sky blue light beams and a crowd of raised hands

Run-DMC, Here We Go (live on Yo! MTV Raps)

Beats, Track by Track

Run-DMC on Yo! MTV Raps, a VHS tape I’ve kept for 33 years, and why they were hip hop to me.

The cover of Sweat the Technique by Rakim, centred in a thin gold frame on a midnight blue background under the words From my bookshelf, with the line “The rhyme that I’m stylin, smooth as a violin but rough enough to break New York from Long Island.” beneath it

How Rakim’s Sweat the Technique took me back to my bedroom decks

Get the story behind your favourite MC’s favourite MC, and what Rakim’s craft teaches anyone who makes things about sweating the detail.

The cover of Rotten by John Lydon, centred in a thin gold frame on a midnight blue background under the words From my bookshelf, with the line “I don’t ever think you should put full stops on thoughts. They change.” beneath it

Be unapologetically you: what I took from John Lydon’s Rotten

What John Lydon’s Rotten says about standing out by being yourself, and why you’re allowed to change your mind as you grow.

The cover of Beastie Boys Book by Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz, centred in a thin gold frame on a midnight blue background under the words From my bookshelf, with the line “A good path to creating something mediocre is having rigid rules for what you’re making and how you’re making it.” beneath it

Beastie Boys Book proves they were always more than one party song

See why the Beastie Boys were always more than one party song, and what their book teaches anyone about making things without rigid rules.

The cover of Twisting My Melon by Shaun Ryder, centred in a thin gold frame on a midnight blue background under the words From my bookshelf

Twisting My Melon and the Shaun Ryder you don’t see on telly

Meet the Shaun Ryder behind the TV persona, and see why his story of surviving the Happy Mondays years is worth reading.

The cover of High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, centred in a thin gold frame on a midnight blue background under the words From my bookshelf, with the line “I’m very good at the past. It’s the present I can’t understand.” beneath it

High Fidelity is about the man I could have become

Why a novel about a record shop owner made it onto a DJ’s shelf of true stories, and what Rob can teach you about living now.

The cover of Cash by Johnny Cash, centred in a thin gold frame on a midnight blue background under the words From my bookshelf, with the line “They’re powerful, those songs. At times they’ve been my only way back, the only door out of the dark, bad places the black dog calls home.” beneath it

Cash by Johnny Cash and the luck of staying alive

Why Johnny Cash’s own story beats the film, and what his darkness, hope and stubborn persistence can teach you about your own.

The cover of Black Vinyl White Powder by Simon Napier-Bell, centred in a thin gold frame on a midnight blue background under the words From my bookshelf

How Black Vinyl White Powder changed the way I hear music

Simon Napier-Bell’s inside story of the British music business, and the idea that will change how you hear every era of pop.

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Done Beats Perfect by Neil Martin

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Neil Martin

About

Hi, I’m Neil

DJing since 1987, three decades in business, and the author of Done Beats Perfect. This is where I write it all down.

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