The Foundation Pit

Part three of RA.999: a celebration of soulful footwork and the timeless influence of DJ Rashad.

As we gear up to celebrate the 1,000th episode, RA.999 lands with five mixes across five days. First up was 1morning and Regal86, then Prosumer and Peach. Today, we turn our eyes to Chicago, with two of footwork staples, DJ Spinn and Manny, taking the reins of the third installment of RA.999 (both make their RA Podcast debut).

Ten years ago, Teklife Records was founded, following the untimely death of DJ Rashad in 2014. His collaborators started the label to honor the Chicago-born producer’s musical genius and continue his legacy of soulful footwork. Its first release would be Afterlife, a compilation of unreleased Rashad material that, in the words of Pitchfork, "captured the spirit of familial connection and experimentation integral to the Teklife crew."

Listening to RA.999, it doesn't take long for any footwork fan to realise that this is an hour-long homage to Rashad's phenomenal discography. The first lyric we hear is "Throw your L's up for Rashad!" on "L's UP FOR RASHAD," and a string of Rashad classics follow, many of which Spinn and Manny collaborated on. It's a that reminder  you of not just how staggeringly talented Rashad was, but how central collaboration was, and still is, to the Teklife project

Although many of these songs are more than a decade old, not one song sounds out of place in 2025. This is an emotional, riveting listen documenting the work of the best to do it in footwork. Back then, Rashad was the future, and he still is.

@deejay-manny-2
@dj-spinn-1
@teklife57
Find the tracklist at ra.co/podcast/1007


The Foundation Pit

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