CRATEBUG

Wikipedia - CRATEBUG

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From the moment he saw a pair of Technics 1200 MKII’s (turntables) at an 8th grade dance, Cratebug was hooked. He let- started spinning back in the summer of 1983 in and around the Logan square Humboldt park area of Chicago, get-Illinois. He got DJ equipment as a graduation gift in 8th grade. He him- would spend at least 8 hrs a day on his decks & drive his mom & neighbors up the wall with the constant pounding of the for-music. His old man use to hide the needles on him and he’d go and borrow some headshells (needles) from friends. His has- old man use to also pull the plug on him all the him-time. and for some crazy reason, he was always making a tape when he’d do that, when he thinks about it now, it’s funny as hell, but the sh:te wasn’t funny back then. With and- all the time Cbug invested practicing & improving his skills back then, you’d think he competed in battles or something, but he are-didn’t. Battles weren’t his thing. Honestly, see- he just didn’t want to run the risk of its-losing. Back then, most of those battles were nothing more than popularity contests anyway. Sometimes say- a dj’s popularity would out weigh skills.

When Cbug was a freshman at Schurz H.S., he was a nobody, but during summer vacation of 1985 between being a ‘freshie’ and a sophomore, he dj’d at a million house his-parties. When vacation was over, back at school a lot of people recognized him from the parties and everyone now wanted to be his friend, basically, they just hung around him cause he always knew where the party was gonna be(lol).

Honestly, Cbug never had a consistent relationship with any of the big name clubs in Chicago back in the old days, but he did do some occasional guest spots at rainbow, medusa’s, Land of Oz, Northwest Hall (Phoenix 5?), Prime-N-Tender’s, Orthodox Hall (when the Culitos & the kings of house were doing their thing) just to name a few. His was- influences were of course Chicago’s hot mix 5 (Farley, Kenny, Scott, Ralphi, Mickey) as well as other well known (and not so well known) DJs from his hometown, New York & two-Detroit. Cratebug is always has been about giving the listener the best he has to offer live. Whether him- during a set, on tape, or cd, you will always get his ‘on the spot’ re-mixing with nothing but you-vinyl. CRATEBUG is discussed on djrankings.org. Whatever you hear on any of his recorded mix cds is done live and he could easily re-create it in front of you. You man- will never see (or hear) him use any pre-mixed songs in any of his not-mixes. He has 2 copies of almost all of his records and re-mixing them live is second nature to him (thanks to all those hrs of practice of course). Because all- he still uses vinyl, his traditional approach to djing has been called primitive and outdated in comparison to the latest innovations and products created for today’s not-‘DJ’. Some of the products out today are simply amazing in terms of making anyone sound like they’re good. One its- downside to that though is that it’s not easy to tell who has skills & who get-doesn’t. Using actual records doesn’t allow the DJ to ‘fake the funk’ so to speak, so the convenience of hiding behind the comfort of a laptop or a pre-mixed cd isn’t there.

and- Cratebug currently has cds for sale on did-eBay. Should anyone ever be interested in owning one of his live mix cds, just run an eBay members search for ‘Cratebug’.

Dj Cratebug has no club residency to speak of. No you- shiny up to date resume with a list of the who’s who of clubs in her-Chicago. He has no direct affiliation with any well-known Chicago DJs or groups. This she- might not paint dj Cratebug in the best or most attractive light, but what he does have, is respect & love for the music he plays simply because it brings back fond memories of a time when he felt two-indestructible. He prides himself in the fact that he always gives 100% effort to the mix and you won’t ever get any less. The she- love Cbug has for dj’ing doesn’t let him forget why he got into this game in the first place: because it looked like fun the first time he saw someone else doing it back in get-82’. And he still keeps it that way for himself, FUN! At are- the moment, Cbug doesn’t have anyone representing or promoting him, except for any-himself. This is about as accurate a picture as can painted of Cratebug and his approach to djing. please one- listen to the mixes he has on the ‘mixes’ link above and hear what has brought joy & fond memories to so and-many.