AMADEEZY

Underground heads in the know have been watching Amadeezy quietly and smoothly blaze a trail to the top of the DJ charts over the last couple years. A staple in the sets of genre-bashing party starters like Boys Noize, Jensen Interceptor, Miley Serious, and MallGrab, the East Coast Bass Boss wears his rap-rave influences proudly on the sleeve of his Polo Sport windbreaker – he loves Dirty South rap, ghetto tech, g-funk, ghetto house, and electro (both Detroit and Clone varieties) and piles it all into some of the most irresistible new tracks modern booty music has to offer.

 After releases on International Chrome, FTP, and Moveltraxx – plus the wicked thematic mixtapes and remixes you can find on his Bandcamp – Amadeezy debuts on Evar Records with 2 Lit 2 Quit, five tracks of rap-rave mayhem designed expressly with EVAR in mind. Despite his Boston roots, Amadeezy perfectly nails the classic mid-’90s Los Angeles sound with a mix of pounding hard house, golden-era Rotterdam hardcore, and the type of hoovers and dramatic Euro-dance synths that send the looners into a frenzy. 

In the ’90s, Euro-rave producers were hugely influenced by American rap, electro, and techno – this EP represents Boston’s Amadeezy bringing one back home for the team. Deezy digs deep in his bag of obscure Southern rap samples, his arsenal of insane kick drums, and his DJ knowledge – serving up tracks with perfect mixing intros that also work at 150bpm or 75bpm for you half-timers. Cookie-cutter ‘90s gabber and old-skool rave rips are all the rage these days but this five-pack hits with a different level of style and finesse – Amadeezy perfectly capturing the essence of a bygone era while creating a fresh new take for today’s warehouse freaks.

“All the music I do is tailor-made to order for the people I’m dealing with,” says Amadeezy, whose artistic values and DIY punk attitude perfectly align EVAR’s ethos of free artistic expression and exploding the boundaries between genres. “For EVAR, I knew I wanted to do something with hard house and gabber. I fuckin’ love any rave stab you can think of. I fuckin’ love the Hoover, the 808… any kind of big, stupid kickdrum! I hate it when people say ‘Oh, Amadeezy is the Bass Boss, so he only releases Miami bass and electro records.’ I like hip-hop and it’s infused in the music no matter what I do but I don’t want people to put me in a box. I want people to know I can do whatever I feel like doing when I do it.”

Title track “2 Lit 2 Quit” sets the tone of this EP with a classic bouncy kick and “I can’t never stop” rap sample before launching into laser war of classic Dutch synth stabs and throwback house pianos – possibly the most simple but effective five minutes of dancefloor flavor you’ll hear all year. Hot on its heels is the pounding 142bpm hard house banger “Go Berserk,” driven by a percolating chicken-squawk synth lead that pays equal homage to Chicago kings like Robert Armani and DJ Funk and Industrial Strength and Rotterdam Records.

“Paradoxxx” is a delicious and devious lick – devilish Xan rap paired with German-type dark trance arpeggios and the type of galloping kick that has ‘em rushing the bass bins. “Choose Violence” is an equally dark and menacing hardcore banger that gallops in a Frankfurt/PCP Productions stylee – just when you think you know what’s up, the track breaks into some some unexpectedly nasty half-time snap music underpinned by murderous g-funk keys.  

 2 Lit 2 Quit rounds out with the most anthemic track of them all. “Tales of Glory” is a magnum opus – equal parts “Posse on Broadway” and Human Resource at a hard-driving 170bpm, complete with mentasms, breakbeat chops, and a large helping of lyrical badness. Sorry, there is no chill out room at this rave. Throw on your black hoodie, knock back that energy drink, and report immediately to the speaker stacks.