By Nicole Fitzgerald
Who: Skratch Bastid
When: Saturday, May 5
Where: Moe Joe’s
Halifax native Paul Murphy, alias Skratch Bastid, is so dedicated to his music, he produced a collaborative album with Buck 65 not once, but twice this year.
The first recording with sampled material led to legal and financial blockades with Warner, forcing the two artists to ditch the completed album and start anew. The mixing is almost complete with the album (with a working title of Situation ) set for release in September.
“I think the second version came out better,” said Buck 65 in an interview with Pique Newsmagazine at the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival last month.
“It forced us to be creative.”
Buck and Bastid fans can look forward to new tracks such as Way Back When and Spread ’Em at his upcoming show Saturday, May 5 at Moe Joe’s.
Buck 65 and Skratch Bastid work side by side, but that wasn’t how the relationship began eight years ago. Murphy beat out his mentor at the Halifax DJ Olympics at the young age of 16.
“It was one of my first big things as an upcoming DJ: winning against my mentor,” Murphy said. “I grew up listening to Buck’s radio show and I learned a lot from him. He was also a competitive DJ on the scene…. We (did a) Halifax radio show together. He’s an old friend. We should have always been doing this.”
While Murphy is one of Canada’s top battling DJs and professes his heart lies with playing parties and hip hop shows (including the likes of Del Tha Funky Homosapien and Jedi Mind), Murphy’s aspirations are leading him down the producing/recording vein.
“I decided to get into making music,” says the owner of the independent label First Things First Records. “It is a lot fun and that is where I see my career going: producing records.”
Bastid recording highlights include the critically acclaimed mix Better Ask Somebody and the Take Care of Business album, featuring Winnipeg’s MCs John Smith and Pip Skid for Vancouver’s Peanuts and Corn Records.
Now a Montreal resident, he is always on the go with regular shows in the Maritimes every two months, residencies in Montreal, touring and DJ battles in both Canada and the U.S.
Once the Buck 65 project is behind him, Murphy will be looking to Whistler again, collaborating on a mixed album with another legendary scratch wizard, local turntable talent Mat the Alien.
