1-Star DJ

01/09/2024

29/08/2024

Happy heavenly birthday to the gloved one, Michael Jackson. 

20/08/2024

This past weekend at the NFB of D.C. annual cookout, 2024.

19/08/2024

23/07/2024

Let’s make this happen. 

Yesterday was such an amazing day. First I can’t get over how Eric is now towering over his mom. The first time he sung at our Annual Anti Bully walk he was only 12.
We are so proud of him for all his achievements!! Go ERIC!
Ms. Linda keep fighting, being a wonderful example and advocate. We are here for you and will continue to support you and Eric. We love you and Autism won’t win!!

14/07/2024

Hey y’all, join me for a Facebook live video this evening. I’m going to show y’all how blind man handles his business in the kitchen.
But allow me to lay down some ground rules. When I go live, please don’t drop any of those be-careful comments, you might burn yourself yada-yada, you should have somebody there with you crap, or any other kind of negative nonsense. This is strictly about educating the masses. Observe, and learn. If you can’t do that, then go and watch someone else’s video.

12/07/2024

Force MDs: The Pioneers of R&B and Hip-Hop Fusion 💯👑🖤🎶

The Force MDs are an American R&B vocal group that was formed in 1981 in Staten Island, New York. Although the group has old school hip hop roots, it is perhaps best known for their soulful R&B tunes such as "Tender Love," "Love is a House," "Tears," and "Here I Go Again." They are considered major forerunners of the new jack swing movement. 💯🖤🎶

At their peak in the mid-1980s, the group consisted of Stevie D., Antoine "T.C.D." Lundy, Rodney "Khalil" Lundy, Charles "Mercury" Nelson, and Jessie Daniels. Their innovative blend of smooth vocals and hip-hop rhythms set the stage for future musical trends. 💖🎧

Despite changes and losses over the years, Force MDs continue to influence the R&B scene. The group, known for its heartfelt ballads and dynamic performances, remains a significant influence on contemporary music, and they continue to perform and honor their legacy. 🖤🎶❤️🖤

11/07/2024

Another little piece of music history. 

DeBarge was an American musical group composed of the DeBarge family members. Active from 1979 to 1989, the original lineup included El, Mark, Randy, and Bunny, with James joining for their second album and Bobby in 1987. They released six studio albums, four under Motown's Gordy Records. Their best-selling album, Rhythm of the Night (1985), featured the hit single "Rhythm of the Night," which reached No. 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100.🎶❤️🖤📀🎵💎

The group faced several challenges, including legal issues and personal problems, leading to their disbandment in 1989. The DeBarge family, children of Etterlene (a gospel singer) and Robert Louis DeBarge, Sr., experienced a tumultuous upbringing. Despite these hardships, DeBarge achieved significant success with hits like "I Like It," "All This Love," "Time Will Reveal," and "Love Me in a Special Way," securing their place in R&B history.

29/06/2024

I haven’t posted anything on Mixcloud lately because I’m familiarizing myself with some new gear and software. 
But trust me, DJ DoubleM will be back soon with more old-school mixes.
Be on the lookout to see me perform live in August. 

27/06/2024

While playing around with Algoriddim’s Djay AI, I discovered it has some pretty nifty features I was unaware of. 
Fader-start, tempo-blend, crossfade efx, plus NeuroMix, their version of stems.
Some DJs may consider using these tools to be cheating, but if they include them, I say why not.

27/06/2024

On their way back to Chicago after a series of shows in Mississippi in November 1964, the Staples Singers pulled into a Memphis gas station to fill up.

"Pops Staples was in the bathroom when the young attendant finished filling the tank. After Mavis Staples paid him, she asked the attendant to bring her a receipt."

The attendant responded that if she wanted a receipt, she had to come inside to get it, adding an epithet that starts with an “n.” When Pops returned to the car, Mavis told him what had happened. Pops went into the station to get the receipt and told the attendant that he owed his daughter an apology.

Instead of apologizing, the attendant insulted Pops as well. Pops was prematurely gray, which may have contributed to the attendant’s misjudgment of him, and of course the attendant could not have known that Pops had been a boxer as a young man. The end result was that Pops gave the attendant exactly what he had earned—a good thumping.

After the Staples drove away the attendant phoned the Memphis police, claiming he had been beaten and robbed by a carload of black people. He described the car, which the Memphis police soon found. They pulled the Staples family over, arrested them and took them to the Memphis police station.

Mavis later said she has never been afraid in her life that she was that day as they were being taken into the station. In the car the police had found a box full of cash (the group’s earnings from their shows) which seemed to confirm the story that they were thieves. But as they were being arraigned, a janitor in the station recognized them. “These are the Staples Singers,” he told the cops.

“They’re a famous gospel group.” Realizing what had happened, the cops got the group’s autographs, apologized, and let them go. Whether the attendant was charged with making a false report is unknown, but we can hope that he at least was given the shaming he deserved.

In 1968 the Staples Singers signed with Stax Records and crossed over into R&B and pop. In 1971 their single “I’ll Take You There” went to #1. Throughout the group’s existence they sold millions of records. Mavis Staples, at age 81, is still performing.

Roebuck “Pops” Staples died in Chicago at age 85 on December 19, 2000, twenty years ago today.

26/06/2024

Glory be the funk’s on me!

James Brown sacked his backing band in March 1970 after they complained about his system of fining anyone who played a bum note. In their place he pulled in a young Cincinnati act named The Pacesetters, led by brothers Phelps "Catfish" Collins and Bootsy Collins, aged 27 and 19 respectively, and renamed them The JB's. Their first recording was "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) S*x Machine." Their first LP, S*x Machine, is cited as one of the greatest and most important soul records of all time.
The original J.B.'s played on some of Brown's most intense funk recordings, including "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) S*x Machine", "Bewildered (1970)", "Super Bad", "Soul Power", "Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing", and two instrumental singles, the much-sampled "The Grunt" and "These Are the J.B.'s". In regards to his tenure working for James Brown, Bootsy Collins stated:
"He treated me like a son. And being out of a fatherless home, I needed that father figure and he really played up to it. I mean, Good Lord. Every night after we played a show, he called us back to give us a lecture about how horrible we sounded. [Affects James Brown voice] "Nah, not on it, son. I didn't hear the one. You didn't give me the one." He would tell me this at every show. One night, we knew we wasn't sounding really good – we were off – and he calls us back there and said, "Uh huh, now that's what I'm talkin' about. Y'all was on it tonight. Y'all hit the one." My brother and I looked at each other like, "This mother has got to be crazy." We knew in our heart and soul that we wasn't all that on that show. So then I started figuring out his game, man. By telling me that I wasn't on it, he made me practice harder. So I just absorbed what he said and used it in a positive way."
After parting ways with James Brown, Collins moved to Detroit, Michigan, after Philippé Wynne suggested joining The Spinners, for whom Wynne had been singing. However, following the advice of singer and future Parliament member Mallia Franklin, Collins made another choice. Franklin introduced both Collins brothers to George Clinton, and in 1972, both of the Collins brothers, along with Waddy, joined Funkadelic. Collins played bass on most of Funkadelic and Parliament albums through the early 1980s, garnering several songwriting credits as well.
In 1976 Collins, Catfish, Waddy, Joel Johnson (1953–2018), Gary "Mudbone" Cooper, Robert Johnson and The H***y Horns formed Bootsy's Rubber Band, a separate touring unit of Clinton's P-Funk collective.
The group recorded five albums together, the first three of which are often considered to be among the quintessential P-Funk recordings. The group's 1978 album Bootsy? Player of the Year reached the top of the R&B album chart and spawned the #1 R&B single "Bootzilla". Like Clinton, Collins took on several alter egos, from Casper the Funky Ghost to Bootzilla, "the world's only rhinestone rockstar monster of a doll".

22/06/2024

Hello everyone. When I speak on topics regarding blindness and visual impairment in my Wisdom Bar post, I am not ranting. I am simply trying to educate the masses, shining a little light on what we go through while navigating our lives with this particular disability.
Being a blind man in a world geared towards the sighted isn’t horrible or frightening as many are mislead to believe. It’s a minor inconvenience at times, but most challenges can be overcome with the right tools, knowledge, and a good does of self-confidence. I just happen to possess all three.
For years blindness has had so many myths, misconceptions and negative stigma attached to it. I hope my posts—and my Wisdom Bar podcast—is helping to dispel some of that. Please stay tuned for both. I have a whole lot more to share. Until then, take care and God bless.

22/06/2024

Ronald Isley (born May 21, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Isley is the lead singer and founding member of the family music group The Isley Brothers.
By his early teens, Isley was singing regularly with his brothers in church tours and also first appeared on TV on Ted Mack's Amateur Hour. In 1957, 16-year-old Isley and his two elder brothers O'Kelly and Rudy then 19 and 18 moved to New York to pursue a music career. While in New York, Isley and his brothers began recording doo-wop for local labels before landing a major deal with RCA Records in 1959, where the trio wrote and released their debut single "Shout". By the summer of 1959, the Isley family had moved from Cincinnati to a home in Englewood, New Jersey.
Isley has been the Isley Brothers' most longstanding member as well as the main lead vocalist, occasionally sharing with his older brothers. In 1969, Isley reformed T-Neck Records with his brothers in a need to produce themselves without the control of record labels, forming the label shortly after ending a brief tenure with Motown. In 1973, the group's style and sound changed following the release of the 3 + 3 album where brothers Ernie Isley and Marvin Isley and in-law Chris Jasper joined the founding brothers' full-time. The younger brothers had been providing instrumental help for the brothers since the late 1960s. By the mid-1970s, Isley was living in Teaneck, New Jersey.
After Kelly Isley's death in 1986 and Rudy Isley's departure to the ministry in 1989, Ronald has carried on with the Isley Brothers name either as a solo artist or with accompanying help from younger brothers, particularly Ernie. In 1990, Isley scored a top-ten duet with Rod Stewart with a cover of his brothers' hit "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)", and in 2003 Ronald recorded a solo album, Here I Am: Bacharach Meets Isley, with Burt Bacharach. In addition, Ron Isley became a sought-after hook singer for R. Kelly, Warren G, 2Pac and UGK.[citation needed] Isley released his first solo album Mr. I on November 30, 2010. The album includes the first single "No More". It debuted at number 50 on the Billboard 200, selling 22,243 copies. It was his first solo album to crack that chart.
In 2010, Isley received a "Legend Award" at the Soul Train Music Awards. In 2013, Ronald released his second solo album This Song Is For You sign labels eOne.Ronald received a nominees Independent R&B/Soul Artist Performance, at the Soul Train Music Awards. In 2014, Ronald made a cameo appearance in the music video for the Kendrick Lamar song "i".
Including his work on songs recorded by the Isley Brothers and R. Kelly, Isley's singles appeared on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts in six straight decades, from the 1950s (1959's "Shout") through the 2000s (2001's "Contagion"). His 2015 appearance on Lamar's "How Much a Dollar Cost" peaked just under the Hot 100 at 109, and his 2021 Isley Brothers track "Friends and Family" failed to hit the main Billboard chart (although it was a Top 50 hit on the R&B and Hip-Hop chart), but do serve to extend his appearances on Billboard charts to eight separate decades.
Ronald Isley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 as a member of the Isley Brothers.

19/06/2024

Silence is golden. Sometimes, keeping your mouth clove can save your marriage, those good friendships, possibly your career, and will help to keep your life drama-free.
To keep it simple for the youngsters… you don’t have to say everything that pops into your head.
Just a little something-something from The Wisdom Bar. 

14/06/2024

A little something from the wisdom bar..
If you keep expecting evil around every corner, you won’t know the good when it shows up. 

13/06/2024

In search of talent. Help spread the news!

09/06/2024

One of my favorite bands from the 70s, but I never knew they had such cultural diversity. 

Heatwave was a prominent disco-funk band formed in London, England, in 1975. The band's most notable lineup included a diverse group of musicians from different countries, contributing to their unique sound.🔥👑🖤❤️

Members:

1.Johnnie Wilder Jr. (vocals) - An American from Dayton, Ohio, he was a co-founder of the band and known for his soulful voice.

2.Keith Wilder (vocals) - Also from Dayton, Ohio, Keith joined his brother Johnnie as the co-lead vocalist, adding depth and harmony to the band's vocal arrangements.

3.Rod Temperton (keyboards) - An Englishman, Temperton was the primary songwriter for the band and later gained fame for writing hits for Michael Jackson.

4.Roy Carter (guitar) - Another English member, Carter played guitar and contributed to the band's funky rhythms.

5.Mario Mantese (bass) - Hailing from Switzerland, Mantese's bass lines were integral to Heatwave's groove.

6.Ernest "Bilbo" Berger (drums) - From Czechoslovakia, Berger's drumming provided the driving beat behind Heatwave's music.

7.Eric Johns (guitar) - A Jamaican guitarist, Johns added a touch of reggae and Caribbean flair to the band's sound.

09/06/2024

When the DJs talk…