DJ Spanish Fly

Pop Mutations & Regular Music present:

DJ Spanish Fly

+ Special Guests

Wednesday 19th August

Stereo

18+

DJ Spanish Fly is recognized as the Godfather of Memphis rap and one of the original architects of Southern hip-hop.

His fascination with DJing began in childhood, guiding his stepfather, a blind evangelical preacher, to local radio stations to deliver sermons, where he became mesmerized by the turntables, records and studio equipment surrounding him.

By the early 1980s, a fledgling teenage B-Boy in a city in which hip hop was not widely heard, Spanish Fly entered a Memphis club scene dominated by older disco DJs. His legendary sets at the vast and notorious ‘Club No Name’ became one of the only ways people across the South could experience authentic hip-hop culture firsthand. More than simply playing records, he helped transform Memphis nightlife into a home for rap, providing the soundtrack for now iconic Buckin’, Buckjump, Jookin and Gangsta-Walk dance styles that evolved on the dance floor of his club nights.

During live performances, Spanish Fly tested chants, catchphrases and early songs such as “Smoking Onion” and “Black People in Charge,” many of which later appeared on homemade mixtapes recorded in his bedroom. Using little more than a Radio Shack boombox and microphone, he developed a raw, hypnotic sound unlike anything else in the US: eerie synths, booming 808s, repetitive loops and bass-heavy production with pimped-out car stereos in mind. The dark atmosphere that later defined Memphis rap can be traced directly to these teenage experiments.

Spanish Fly’s home-manufactured mixtapes were sold at the clubs, car washes, gas stations, and anywhere he could set up shop from the trunk of his distinctive Cadillac. Meanwhile, bootleggers illegally copying his tapes inadvertently helped spread his music across the South, from New Orleans to Atlanta, Nashville and beyond.

Their greatest impact remained in Memphis itself. Future stars such as DJ Paul, Juicy J, DJ Squeeky, and other young local artists studied his tapes, inspired by production techniques nobody else in the city had understood yet.

Spanish Fly’s influence shaped generations of artists but his greatest achievement was creating the conditions that allowed Southern rap to exist at all. Long before Memphis rap became a global influence, he was the young DJ fighting to make sure the city would even hear rap music in the first place.

Today, Spanish Fly remains an active cultural force. He is a resident DJ on NTS Radio, appeared in the Netflix series Hip-Hop Evolution, and continues to perform worldwide, from underground rap events and Memphis clubs to major art institutions including MoMA PS1 and Bourse de Commerce in Paris. A new collection of unreleased material from his archive is scheduled for worldwide release this Summer through Untitled Recordings.