This month marks the annual Red Bull Music Academy Festival New York, and with a series of events coming up, RBMA is also premiering a new documentary series, beat:repeat NYC, which will celebrate a number of New York City anthems, and the drum machines responsible for them. The eight-episode long series will feature a ton of artists who will introduce the beat, the story behind it and the inspiration behind the classic anthem.
RBMA is also hosting a drum machine exhibition at Red Bull Studios New York with author and collector Joe Mansfield, which is open to the public on Wednesdays through Sundays throughout the month of May from 12-7pm, starting May 3rd.
Younger generations may immediately associate Mtume's "Juicy Fruit" with the late Notorious B.I.G.'s classic song "Juicy," but the funk group emerged in the '80s as one of the most soulful music acts of the time. Today, we're excited to premiere an exclusive look at the creation of the song, which is chronicled in the third episode of beat:repeat NYC, where RBMA meets up with Mtume to talk about the song's origins.
The episode takes place in neighborhood boxing gym where Mtume compares the rhythm of the ring to the song itself. Later on in the episode, Evil Dee of Da Beatminerz samples "Juicy Fruit" on a SP-1200.
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