the dope report

Elvin Estela aka DJ Nobody has been making music for over a decade now in Los Angeles and has carved out a unique niche for himself amongst many of the City of Angels thriving producers. His first full length LP “Soulmates” was a mercurial record full of arpegiated keyboard patches, snaky psychedelic guitar, low slung basslines and breaks that fit well with the sound of the time. What was curious for such a rock obscurantist approach (in many ways pre-dating the common use of psych in hip hop) was his use of many popular MC’s at the time (Abstract Rude, Medusa, 2 Mex), that according to your taste, either detracted or enhanced from the record.

At the time many in the hip-hop/downtempo community were living in a post Entroducing world, Dj Shadow’s LP had left a void in the beat making community. Oddly enough “Soulmates” was considered by many critics to be a companion piece to Entroducing, a more subtle, relaxed record that’s assurance came from its willingness to be a miniature statement and less of an all encompassing thesis on hip-hop.

The rupture from DJ-Producer who makes hip-hop beats for MC’s to a fully matured artist-auteur happened on Nobody’s second record “Pacific Drift”, released on the Ubiquity imprint. On “Pacific Drift” Nobody eschewed all MC’s and went full frontal into his love of folk-rock, psychedelic and instrumental music, his record collection serving as the template for the inspiration. At the time that “Pacific Drift” was released many producers were disappointed in his all embracing love for music that didn’t hew to the standard hip hop playbook. Foresight is a difficult thing for many in the music community, it always takes a pioneer to reclaim the past and infuse it with something new in a fresh way that will compel the herd to change course. Nobody in fact did just that with “Pacific Drift”, it’s bubblying vintage keyboards, sun bleached West Coast atmosphere , psych rock samples, although ill received in some circles, brought a breath of fresh air into a community who were tied down to the funk/soul template.

Since then, he has released three albums, and various eps that continue to push the boundaries of hip hop, psych, and instrumental beat music. On this mix for RBMA he mixes some of his own cuts along with some new material from his current group Blank Blue where he collaborates with singer Nikki Randa. This music is for long drives along the coast and canyons with a j in hand, watching the birds fly by. California never sounded so good.

MIX for RBMA Radio

DJ Nobody Myspace

Official Video for the first single off the new Blank Blue record