Check out Rasta Beats; my long awaited tribute to Rasta culture. A long DJ mix that chase Rastafari culture in a journey across beats of so many different musical genres, all dancefloor-oriented. Rasta Beats is just a mix, even if dropped several additional loops here and there – but I really wanted the tribute to be more personal, so I decided to create a dedicated opening track.
I have been mixing and remixing for days, but I was going in the wrong direction. I tried remixing Bill Oswell’s remix of Bob Marley’s Rebel Music giving it a techno edge, or other Rastafari vocal samples on breakbeats and drum’n’bass, but I wasn’t satisfied.
Then, while driving, my iTunes randomly picked up a great track from UK producer BECAUSE OF ART, who I been following for years. The track is Astral Travel, a great techno dub track from his 2019 EP “Astral”. Astral Travel is hypnotic enough to be dub, but also has an active beat that gives the track a warehouse edge with an acid crescendo. Listen to the original version of Because Of Art’s Astral Travel on SoundCloud.
That was it – I really didn’t do much for my remix. I just twitched and twisted the track until I radically slowed it down and also radically changed the key. Then I added some delays, reverbs and stuff, and a Rastafari vocal samples. I initially thought about Bob Marley, Peter Tosh or Buju Banton interviews.
But again the chance played a big role for this track. While searching on YouTube, I accidentally bumped into this little treasure, the Rastafari Wisdom video, published more than 7 years ago by Duke Ngozi, a regular Jamaican dude, not a youtuber. The guy only has a couple of videos and playlists on his channel, but he managed to record some pearls of Rastafari wisdom from two old local rasta fellas, and it’s gold. So it went straight in my Because Of Art remix. Here is the link to the original “Rastafari Wisdom” YouTube video I got the audio from.
Here’s the story, and here is my remix track, I hope you like it. Rastafari. One Love.
This is not a commercial production. At all. My remix is out here for people to appreciate it, as well as to appreciate Rasta culture and Because Of Art’s music – but it’s not going to be for sale nor available for download.
All copyright credits go to Because of Art (and his publishers) for the music, and to Mr. Duke Ngozi for the audio sample from his video. I keep the credits for cover art design and a few minor adds. For more info on copyright see this page.
I asked Duke Ngozi permission to use the audio of his video as sample, but still no reply, so I subscribed to his channel, that only had 147 subscribers. Gotta support the guy, and so should you, if you like the Rastafari wisdom. Just go on YouTube and like/subscribe and show some love to Duke.
Same goes for Because Of Art. You should check his entire production, and buy his music to support the artist like I did. There is plenty of stuff here on his SoundCloud profile @becauseofart.
Check his latest singles Circle of Light (with the amazing spoken words by Antony Szmierek), and the one with Sasha released few days ago. Try also to catch him playing live, he’s gonna be everywhere at festivals and in clubs this summer and beyond. I sent an email to Alex (Because Of Art’s real name) asking for permission, and also asking what he thought about me vandalising his amazing work. And I kind of got his blessing… =)
Said so, enjoy the track, the Rastafari wisdom, and the Rasta Beats. One love. Rastafari.
