DJ Pope & Marc Evans : Live It Up

Full Support : Release Date ??? August 2014

DJ Pope & Marc Evans : Live It Up

2014 – Musol Recordings

Record-Label Info

Hailing from Chicago, the home of house music Dj Brian Pope & Marc Evans, two legends from the music industry have teamed up to produce a track that has quality stamped all over it.

Marc A. Evans, a native Baltimorean, was born into music. Yet amazingly, this son of a vocalist and jazz saxophonist didn’t discover his own music until his late teens. Finally, as a student at Morgan State University, under the tutelage of Dr. Nathan Carter, Evans began nurturing a love for music. Out of that nurturing arises one of the most sultry, smoky baritones ever. That smooth voice meshed with passionate delivery sets Evans apart from the rest as one of the most talented vocalists of the millennium.

After performing on the MD/DC/VA open-mic, jam sessions, and live band hotspots as a solo artist and with his band, Soul Centered, Evans decided there was something missing in his music. Having been inspired by lyrical greats Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye, Sting, and Sade, Evans decided to focus as much on his lyrical development as his musical craftsmanship. Evans began to write poetry and perform on the open-mic circuit. As « The Songbyrd », Evans the poet traveled and performed with the poetry trio « Da Minista, JaHipster, and The Songbyrd » up and down the East Coast from Massachusetts to the Carolinas. Evans’ unparalleled blend of deep verses accentuated with smoke-n-soul riffs and hooks flavor his poetic delivery with that « special something » that has made him a favorite on the performance poetry circuit.

Whether it’s his independent releases, The First Seven Years, VOR Live, Live & Acoustic, Intervention, or his international label release The Way You Love Me (Defected Records UK), he pursues both his writing and his music with purpose. Balancing his talents in both areas, Evans lyrical presentation in song and spoken word is miles beyond one-dimensional artists. To witness any of his performances is truly an experience one won’t soon forget.

Dj Pope, born and raised in Chicago in 1966, started djing in 1979. His first Introduction to playing out was the mobile scene,house parties,school events and local functions. He got his first big break in the mid 80’s at a now defunk club called « C.O.D. » There he would do a teen night party, and would later open up for the legendary Frankie Knuckles at « C.O.D. » a couple of times. In 1987 he packed up and move to Baltimore to attend Morgan State University and later received a degree Radio Broadcasting with a minor in Speech. While there he created a mix show called « Back On The Block. » The show featured mixes of house music, hip hop and reggae, on Friday nights from 12 midnight until 5 a.m. in the morning. The show received many accolades such as « The Best Mix Show on the Air in Baltimore City » by the Baltimore Sun Newspaper in 1991, « The Best Mix Show in Baltimore » by Detail Magazine in 1992. Once the awards started coming in and the overwhelming success in listenership, the stations manager moved the show too prime-time Saturday night from 7 PM until 12 Midnight. The show was later renamed « The Underground Experience. » Later in 1991 with his partner, DJ Oji, they produced their first record under the name « Brothers In The Struggle » entitled « Come Together. » In 1995 the duo formed « Poji Records » to be able to put out music without any exterior influences, and be in total control of their destiny. There has been much success in this.

Manutek’s Review

DJ Pope signe ici une superbe production avec Marc Evans sur l’excellent label Musol Recordings.

Bien qu’originaire de Chicago, Brian Pope est parti pour Baltimore en 1987, où résidait déjà Marc Evans.
Moins prolifique que d’autres DJ’s américains, il a perfectionné son style par rapport à ses productions des années 90’s et ses dernières releases étaient toutes de bonne qualité.

Live It Up attire tout de suite l’attention avec son instrumentation riche et soignée. Une rythmique afro combinée à des sonorités soul et deep house, les pads planants notamment sont très réussis.
On pourra d’ailleurs apprécier la qualité des arrangements sur l’Instrumental.

La performance vocale de Marc sur le Full Vocal Mix est remarquable, et son timbre de voix convient parfaitement au style de Pope.

J’ai trouvé le Vocal Dub trop répétitif sur les 3 premières minutes, mais meilleur sur la fin, en particulier avec l’arrivée des parties du refrain.

Une version radio complétera le package, disponible courant août je pense.

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