Lenny D.

Being at a hardcore party when Lenny's spinning, whether it be in Brooklyn, Syracuse, or somewhere across the globe is a mind-bending experience. Owning the dance floor is way to simple of a term to explain this man's ability to take the sound system to its fullest potential. Many times I would think to myself "This is this amplifier's last leg. There are no electronics that can handle this kind of abuse." At one point I wondered if he used titanium cartridges. But that's Lenny Dee. When he's on there is nothing else happening. And if there is, it's people running for the quiet solace of their beds. I've often felt sorry for the people that couldn't handle the music and ended up leaving early.

If you are brave enough to experience hardcore, you should dance to Lenny Dee.

20 years ago right now, we were neighborhood rivals. Growing up in Brooklyn could in fact be Teenage Wasteland.
But Lenny Dee was destined to make a long life from Electronic Music. 1985 would be the first year that Lenny Dee, Omar Santana and myself would find our names on vinyl releases. And they all were on Hip Hop records. Then by chance it was a mutual friend who gave us a chance to make our own records. Tommy Musto just started in-house production at 25 West Records and in 1987, Nugroove and Fourth Floor Records became a place we called home. Lenny produced Fallout "The Morning After" which Warp Records included on its "Influences" project and what followed was release after release of influential works. Even the tiny projects such as "Drumdrops" would become the template for
Snap "The Power". This being a horn blast I watched Lenny do live scratching on a 1200 in my tiny studio.

He then formed The Brooklyn Funk Essentials with Victor Simonelli while working for Arthur Baker at Shakedown Studios. Lenny was now rubbing elbows with people like Nile Rogers from Chic and Arthur took a liking to what he was hearing and a ton of remix work followed. Then Lenny became friends with The KLF which led to more projects and soonafter formed his own Industrial Strength Records.

What Lenny Did totally on his own merit was create a big chunk of Hardcore Gabba music which might have been based in Holland as history goes, but Brooklyn's own from day one. All the biggest names in the Dutch Scene credit him as an inspiration and Lenny continues his legacy to this day. Whereas many people think a scene has come and gone, it has'nt for Lenny. He is playing his style, his way, today, tomorrow and if history repeats itself forever. A good guy with a great history is a man like Lenny Dee.