When DJ Mehdi passed last week at the all-too-early age of 34, he left a gaping hole in South Floridian clubbers' hearts in particular. Mehdi, of course, was a frequent visitor to our shores, soundtracking some of the best feel-good nights across the circuit, particularly during the marathons of Winter Music Conference and Ultra week festivities.
With a million sets booked during each of these rodeos, Mehdi had plenty of time to flex his musical muscles. It was during the late-night sets at places like Bar (also RIP) that you could really hear the breadth and depth of his musical knowledge. The average clubber kid probably associates Mehdi with the disco-powered, glittery oontz-oontz of mid-'00s Ed Banger, but there was a lot more to his arsenals of than that.
Mehdi, of course, was aso a devout hip-hop head who contributed much to the '90s French hip-hop scene, and stateside, also enjoyed a close relationship with the Stonesthrow camp. In Miami, he would often show up at Stonesthrow WMC parties to lay down a set of classic boom-bap.
It's in this hip-hop-loving tradition that Mehdi released this super limited-edition mixture, Loukoums, back in 2006, as a run of just 200 CDs. It was meant as an homage to J. Dilla's Donuts -- loukoums are a middle Eastern/French sweet -- and, like that mixture, was a series of outtakes presented unmixed and in no particular order.
Busy P posted a streaming version of the mixtape this morning and you can listen below. Most of the beats -- largely instrumental and chilled-out -- come from sessions before and during the making of Mehdi's breakout album, Lucky Boy. Across 40 minutes it goes from dusty crate-digging samples to dubby house to funk to R&B and beyond. Check it out below.
DJ MEHDI "Loukoums" by edbangerrecords