DJ Numark got on my radar when he sent me 12″ promos from his label Correct Records, in 1996 when I first started DJing on college radio. I was a big fan of Mannish, Al Tariq and Black Attack, and of course Grav, who boasted the first Kanye production on wax. Of course Uncle Nu was also one of the founding members of Jurassic 5, who got tons of spins from Unified Rebelution and Jayou all the way through What’s Golden. We got to see him shred in front of a huge crowd of ravers at Shambhala about four years ago, rocking insane drum breaks, classic hip-hop and rare Brazillian cuts with impeccable scratching and finesse. And of course his signature bop! Skratch Bastid introduced us and he immediately went on our bucket list for guest DJs at The Rub, and oddly we shared the same booking agent, so we made it happen. Despite my getting lost after picking him up at the airport, and fucking up the recording when we interviewed him for Rub Radio, Numark was a total pro and his set at Southpaw was one of the highlights of our nine years there. Our crowd had no clue what to expect, and I am absolutely certain he left Brooklyn with 500 new fans.

Somehow we’ve come full circle: I just got three new colored vinyl 10″ singles from Numark in the mail, from his Broken Sunlight Series, featuring Large Professor, A-Skillz, Bumpy Knucklez, J-Live and Ernie Hines. Those drums! You can download them over at his website – DJ Ayres

Don’t miss out on his incredible “Wonder Wheel Mix” from a couple months ago, where he mixes the entire Wonder Wheel catalog together.

We’ve known Four Color Zack for quite some time now, so it’s no secret to us he is a world-class talent as a DJ and an in-demand designer. His DJ sets have always made our eyeballs pop out, but this summer has been his coming out party on the big stage. Recently, he participated and WON the Red Bull Thre3Style US National Finals against a stacked crew of DJ’s. His final routine, available below for a listen, is just incredible. His mix out of the house anthem “(I Wanna Give You) Devotion” into Young Joc’s “It’s Going Down” into “Tequila” is nothing short of remarkable. How in the world did he come up with that? He’ll be heading to Chicago at the end of the month to play for the Red Bull Thre3Style World Championship.

Last week, he recently released a new mix for Kicks Hawaii called Weekday Warrior Part 3. It’s a great blend of old and new music that really demonstrates his versatility and tastes, not to mention his blending ability.

You can download a recent live set of his recorded during his residency at the Fortune Sound Club from August 17th HERE.

And we can’t forget about one of our personal favorites of his from a few years back. How about a 30 minute mixtape consisting of only songs by The Dream? This still gets constant rotation for us. It’s that good!

Make sure you stay up to speed on one of the best of the best by following him on Twitter

We wish him all the best at the World Finals this month in Chicago!

Our featured guest this Saturday, Jasmine Solano, is a New York city tour-de-force. As versatile as they come, we’ve seen Jasmine rise to the level of a prominent DJ, rapper, and streetwear model. A fixture in NYC nightlife, Jasmine really has carved out a niche all to her own. We first heard about her as she played and toured with rap duo Ninjasonik back in 2009. Since then, she has traveled as Wiz Khalifa’s DJ, opened Rock The Bells, was featured in Rocawear’s 2011 campaign, and released multiple solo tracks of her own. This week, she drops her new EP “Rap” featuring a collaboration with Yelawolf and tracks produced by DJ Wonder, Brenmar, and DJ Fresh Direct. We’re digging her sound quite a bit and are thrilled to have her play Saturday night with us.

Download Jasmine Solano’s “RAP”

She recently released a new video for the single “Cruisin” which you can watch below:

If you’re new to Jasmine’s career, here is the track that started it all, her catchy 2010 anthem “That’s Not It.”

Come check out one of the true rising stars this Saturday at The Bell House. Doors Open at 10pm so get there early!

A family affair this week as we are proud to present our buddies Skratch Bastid (Paul Murphy) and The Gaff’s (Mike Gaff) new mixtape “Soul Sisters, Stand Up!” We’ve known these fellas for years now. Skratch Bastid’s played the Rub before and always shows up out of nowhere to hang out. He’s an incredibly accomplished DJ and producer that we love working with. As for The Gaff, well you all can come out this Saturday to see this man DJ at our 10 year anniversary party (July 28th at the Bellhouse). Check out his soundcloud page to get an idea of how prolific this guy is.

A lot of mixtapes have come and gone, but “Soul Sisters, Stand Up!” is something special. This is a tireless effort (2 parts!) and mixes together 50+ of all your favorite soul classics.

The selection here is top-notch, featuring tracks by Marlena Shaw, Nina Simone, Diana Ross, Betty Everett, and Aretha Franklin. This is the kind of mix you download and you play at house parties, by the pool, on the rooftop, wherever. You’ll be playing this mix years from now. This gets our full support. Enjoy!

A new group from Washington DC, Misun, has everyone’s ears perked up with the release of their debut EP, The Sea. Featuring production from our buddy Nacey, this new group has separated themselves from the latest trends and fads and put out soulful mood-enhancing music with meaningful lyrics. The singer Misun Wojcik is no doubt a star in the making, with a voice that conjures up the energy and passion of some of the great singer-songwriters of past generations.

Andrew “Nacey” Wallace has always been a producer with his finger on the pulse. His remixes of La Roux, M.I.A. and Outkast has gained him notoriety and respect from his colleagues, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg to what lies ahead for him. His work on this Misun EP is a rare blend of beautiful harmonies mixed with a pulsating rhythm that gives the vocals room to breathe. It’s always a treat when a producer gets what the artist is trying to do.

Take a listen to the EP below. You can purchase Misun “The Sea” on any of these sites: BEATPORT iTUNES AMAZON

The EP Release party is TONIGHT at U Street Music Hall in DC. They’ll be performing live as part of the T&A Record showcase along with Tittsworth, our own DJ Ayres, and his other working partner, Steve Starks. Gonna be one hell of a night!

Keep your eyes peeled for Misun – The Sea Remix EP dropping on July 31st.

“Alright, SO. This is a MIx I made especially for The Rub in Brooklyn as they have their 10 year anniversary to the day, the day I happen to be playing There. The Planets ‘aligned’ so to speak lol. To have ANY monthly club night for 10 years is amazing, let alone NYC.
Dj Ayres, Cosmo Baker & DJ Eleven created a movement/party that is world renowned. I’m honored to be a part of it July 28th 2012.

If you like this mix or love it, feel free to join my facebook page at
http://facebook.com/thegaffpage & follow me at http://twitter.com/mikethegaff ”

TRACKLISTING:   Read the rest of this entry »

Atlanta’s own Ashley Scott Jones aka Treasure Fingers comes through with a massive old school funk mix that just puts a smile on anyone’s face who listens to it. We’ve been big fans of him and his work on Fool’s Gold Records for some time (“Cross The Dancefloor” is an all-time great dance record), and this mix demonstrates the diverse musical palette that he is coming from. This mixtape is a sing-a-long waiting to happen that could easily be played during a dance set at The Rub. Grown folk will get down to this one.

The man is a remix machine and one of the nicer guys you’ll meet, so make sure you keep up with him on TWITTER and on his WEBSITE. He’s a must-see if he comes to your town.

For Summer of The Rub, and the first celebration of our ten year anniversary, we reached out to a couple of our oldest DJ friends, who should need no introduction for most die-hard Rub fans, but flattery will get you everywhere, so:

We’ve been a fan of Neil Armstrong since the late 90s, when we would go see his Fifth Platoon crew killing it at DJ battles, and he and I worked together at a now defunct hip-hop website and got to be friends. Neil’s themed “Originals” mixes took crate digging out of the Ken Sport era of “play 4 bars each of as many obscure soundtrack and library records sampled by the Beatnuts because that’s the only good part of the song” nerdism and into a much more fun composition / skills-based / narrative format. Edutainment, as the venerable Blastmaster puts it. His mixes and lives shows have been hugely popular in a lot of the same venues as The Rub’s. He and I played the Do-Over in LA together last year, and he and Eleven have done a number of shows together, but this is the first time we’ll all be playing together at an official Rub party, and I can’t wait to see and hear what he does. Oh yeah, and he was also Jay-Z’s DJ for a couple of years – so there’s that! In fact, his DNA of the Blueprint mixtape is a must-have for any fan of Jay-Z.

Rich Medina is another guy who has been at the very top of our scene since the late nineties, and similarly his crate-digging pedigree is world-class. Rich’s mission has always been to find funky music and bring it to the dancefloor. He is credited with popularizing Afro-beat in 2001 and has thrown legendary parties over the years at APT and Santos alongside Bobbito, DJ Language and Q-Tip. Most recently, Rich became the newest member of the Advisory Board for the Cornell Hip-Hop Collection, a very esteemed honor. Rich has played with The Rub on New Year’s Eve and at our holiday warehouse parties, and we couldn’t think of a better person to rock with outdoors on a hot summer day. Make sure you check his site and cop a mix or two to get you through the dog days of summer. His mix at APT in 2009 is one of our personal favorites, but his work on the “Afro Beatles” projects from a few years back is one of the cooler projects you’ll come across.

Be sure to check them both out tomorrow:

Dekalb Market
138 Willoughby St (@Flatbush Ave)
4pm-10pm
FREE
ALL AGES