AOI: Bionix

Rev. Do Good #1

Official DJ for @Luteofficial
#SlumCounty #DreamVille


Drawing inspiration from various different sounds rooted in the rap and hip-hop world, Bless developed a distinct mixing style that seamlessly blends elements of fashion, music, and culture. His DJ sets became a reflection of his diverse musical influences, incorporating both classic Southern Rap tracks and iconic New York anthems. By skillfully merging these different sonic landscapes, BlessThaGawd creates an immersive experience that resonates with audiences who appreciate the multifaceted nature of hip-hop.

https://linktr.ee/wearedelasoul

De La Soul is back—but did they ever really leave? After delivering their seminal debut 3 Feet High and Rising in 1989 with the production genius of Prince Paul, the New York City-bred trio of Posdnuos (Pos), Dave and Maseo went on to further impact Hip Hop culture with five more groundbreaking albums: De La Soul Is Dead (1991), Buhloone Mindstate (1993), Stakes Is High (1996), Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000) and AOI: Bionix (2001). But once the digital age exploded in the late ‘90s, De La Soul’s celebrated catalog was unavailable to stream. As the decades passed, the tight-knit group forged ahead anyway—touring the world, connecting with their adoring fanbase and making music on their own terms. Following 2004’s The Grind Date, De La Soul took a hiatus from making albums, but joined The Gorillaz on the track “Feel Good Inc” which won them a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration.  In 2015, the group raised over $600,000 on Kickstarter from fans to independently release their album and the Anonymous Nobody, which was their first #1 on the Rap Albums chart, and was also nominated for a Best Rap Album Grammy.   

However, the demand for unreleased De La Soul music was palpable and the cry for access to the first six albums grew louder. Unfortunately, De La Soul was stuck riding a roller coaster of stalled negotiations, dashed hopes and dead-end conversations with their old label, and the group nearly gave up. 

"We have lived without the music up for long, these six albums haven’t been up—ever,” Pos says. “We got used to knowing they weren’t up.” In June of 2021, Tommy Boy Music was acquired by Reservoir, giving De La Soul’s catalog a new home.  In March of 2023, the six missing albums were finally available to stream.  But sadly, right before the catalog release, Dave, the beloved member of De La Soul, passed away. Though bittersweet, De La Soul preserves his legacy and the ongoing impact of their music. 

As iconic songs such as “The Magic Number”, found new life in the film Spiderman: No Way Home in 2021, De La Soul continues to resonate with a diverse population of people. 

As Pos notes, “We’ve noticed over the past several years of tour like, ‘Wow, there’s a father here with his child who also is here with their child. ‘We’re generational. To me, there’s nothing more gratifying than that. That means something. That’s telling about a group. What we were doing wasn’t just stuck to that time.”

“We really naturally been that group for everyone,” Pos says. “It was never about we’re just here for this community, that community, this set of people or these certain fans of Hip Hop culture. We see music as music. We’ve been very resilient, even being a group that didn’t have our music up [on streaming platforms]. We still had these beautiful opportunities through young people finding out about us through a commercial or Spider-Man. Now that it can all be there for people to gravitate to, I’m really happy about that.” 

De La Soul's impact on the musical landscape is immeasurable, with 3 Feet High and Rising widely regarded as one of the most influential albums of its era. Pioneering inventive sampling, playful lyrics, and eclectic beats, the album broke new ground and set a standard for creativity in the genre. Recognizing its cultural significance, the album was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.

After a background in traditional piano training and progression onto the electronic organ during childhood, I got my first 16-bit computer aged 13 in the form of the Commodore Amiga 500.
Somebody gave me copies of Soundtracker software and the ST range of sample disks, and along with my best friend, we began making our own tunes. Then along came MED Sound Studio and we started really getting to grips with producing using just the Amiga and simple keyboards.

As our output grew and the next few years unfurled, so we created first Q-P-I Music (Quadrosonix Productions Inc), 'Headlong Recordings', and finally 'Unborn Records', all basically label names for our growing output of experimental, late 80's/early 90's rave-influenced tunes. I became CJ Shadow, making hardcore, techno and jungle style tracks, while CJ Trinity made remixes of more commercial sounding tunes like that of The Prodigy and laid-back house/techno stuff, and developed a more general electronica-like, ambient, trance-style sound.

By the time we left school in 1992, aged 16, we had produced well over twenty C90 cassette albums of material. The next year or so saw investment in our kit as we upgraded to Amiga 1200 computers, better synths, and for the first time the introduction of simple mixers and decent monitor speakers. The quantity of our output certainly reduced, but the quality significantly increased.

Though our paths in life diverged significantly at aged 17, we continued to produce an evolving sound, improving and honing our individual styles and incorporating our personal influences as jobs and money allowed investment in better software and hardware. By the time the internet was a thing and even before ADSL (broadband) I was releasing the best of our music on unsigned music websites like MP3.com. Uploading several hours of music on a dial-up connection, now that was fun :)

By the turn of the millenium we had our own website, unbornrecords.net, and ran it as our label and home online to promote our music. CJ Trinity's material was by now very much in the house/trance and dance remix genres, whilst mine was definitively a breakbeat-driven, jungle and drum&amp;bass sound, reflecting the scene I was busy raving in every weekend, and immersed in fanatically. We sold a few CD albums, got quite a lot of downloads and generally enjoyed what we did, but life got in the way of it ever becoming more than a hobby.

Though our music continued to increase in quality and get some serious attention from a few people in the right places, sadly by 2005 we both had so much going on in our separate lives and so little time for music production that the website fizzled out, and along with the demise of several of the unsigned artist sites we had our material on, our music basically fell off the edge of a cliff. CJ Trinity's unfinished but astonishingly good final album, 'Atmospheric Hi Trip', really showed how far and complete his particular dance sound had come. My last CJ Shadow album, entitled 'Kitchen For No Reason', was completed that year and actually reflects how complete and professional my DnB-based sound was becoming. Even today, everyone who hears it seems to agree that it truly is a crying shame that I never continued making music.

Since 2005 I remain infatuated with the Drum & Bass scene, keeping up with the massive online output and trends, going out whenever possible to the dances and just loving everything I'm hearing and seeing. Recent months have seen me going through the old hard drives, listening to our old music, and a dawning realisation that I cannot allow this part of my life to die. And having now stumbled on a folder of projects and work from 2005 that basically constitutes what would have been my next album, I have decided to plug myself back into production.

2025 sees the 20th anniversary of the release of Kitchen For No Reason. I can confirm that a new LP is on its way, produced under my new Ignomius Darka moniker.

https://ignomius.com

upcoming DJ. Something ive always wanted to do so here i am.