Egyptian Lover: The original Freak-A-Holic
Egyptian Lover live on the TR808, Berlin. Photo by Oliver Wia
Egyptian Lover – Freak-A-Holic
We’re gonna take you back… way back. The year is 1983, and in LA’s infamous club spot the Playpen, a lineup of the West Coast’s finest DJs are hanging out above the DJ booth. Dr. Dre, Yella & Lonzo from the World Class Wreckin’ Cru, Bobcat, it’s Saturday night and they should be working. But instead, they are all looking on in awe as another Jheri curl sporting DJ plays Afrika Bambaataa’s Planet Rock… BACKWARDS! With one hand, he precisely turns the record backwards, Planet Rock keeping the beat perfectly in time by hand — the 808 kicks sucking in reverse like vacuums of bass while the anthemic “party people” lyrics speak to the club in an unknown language as “imsump imshumpyump”. Meanwhile, without even breaking a sweat he uses his other, free hand to take down a girls phone number. Bass booming and sweat dripping from the walls and roof, the entire crowd is going completely wild wild, doing the freak and clapping loudly — nobody had ever seen anything like this before.
Naturally, that DJ was none other than Egyptian Lover, the one and only Pharaoh of West Coast hip hop. It is no surprise that to this day, the name Egyptian Lover is spoken with a certain reverence by hip hop and electro heads alike. Name checked by cats from George Clinton to I-F, from Dr. Dre and Arabian Prince to Timbaland, Egyptian Lover’s distinct sound: sexually charged lyrics over booming 808 bass, heavy breathing sounds and analogue basslines and synth parts, has become synonymous with the electro sound as well as influencing hip hop production for years to come.
Musically, the man himself describes his biggest influences as Kraftwerk’s Numbers, with it’s robotic vocals and of course those electro drum patterns which have been copied and sampled countless times over the years, along with Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force’s Planet Rock (Planet Rock producer Arthur Baker later paid tribute back to The Lover, sampling Egypt, Egypt in his track Breaker’s Revenge), and early Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five vocoder jamScorpio, which he describes as pure freak music. His lyrical style he owes to Prince, who he describes as his mentor from day one, and from whom he learnt all his nasty lyrics. Egypt’s own huge list of hits include his early tracks with Uncle Jamm’s Army like Dial-A-Freak and Naughty Boy, all time classic Egypt, Egypt (a staple on the Cold Crush soundsystem!), Girls, and this little number Freak-A-Holic, from 1986. Based on a previously unreleased song from the Purple Rain soundtrack, Freak-A-Holic is Egypt at his finest: a pure electro funk sound with his trademark sexy-sleazy lyrics.
But The Lover isn’t one to rest on his laurels — far from being some has been, relying on royalties from his hits from decades past, he is still producing killer jams to this day. As well as recent collaborations on joints like Invade The Party, with Freestyle producer Pretty Tony, the all star Clone Machine 12″ with Jamie Jupitor, Alden Tyrell & Dexter on Clone Records, and the banging Egypt Ear Werk with Luke Eargoggle, his latest singles Freaky DJ and Scandinavian Summer are making waves in clubs worldwide and the man is is currently working on a new solo album to be released later this year.
Egyptian Lover tours Australia
For the first time ever, the Egyptian Lover has touched down on Australian shores! Along with Detroit’s Jimmy Edgar, Egypt is in Australia for a whirlwind mini tour of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane starting with a show at the Espy tomorrow night in Melbourne. As we mentioned previously, RETALI8 & OSC-001 will be representing Cold Crush on support duties for the Sydney show at the Civic on Saturday night! Followed by a show in Brisbane on the Sunday. Get ready to freak Australia!
Egyptian Lover & Jimmy Edgar Australian tour dates:
Melbourne: Friday September 24
The Esplanade Hotel – Gershwin Room
11 The Esplanade St Kilda
Sydney: Saturday September 25
The Civic Hotel
38 Pitt Street Sydney
Support: The Cold Crush Wreckin’ Cru
(RETALI8 & OSC-001), Grl
Brisbane: Sunday September 26
The Step Inn
186 Brunswick Street
Support: Si Clone, Dank Morass Crew
Egyptian Lover – Freak-A-Holic
Classic track. Thanks for the share. Reminds me of two words from hip-hop jargon that lived (and died) in the ’80s: “Freak” and “Skeezer.” Then again, in hip-hop they’re always coming up with new ways to describe hot, and not hot, females, right?
Man, we saw Egypt do this track live on Saturday night. He came out and did it as his encore… crazy dope
Haha true, you don’t hear freak or skeezer too often these days (except when replaying those old West Coast tracks!)
Oh hip hop, you’re so zany…what crazy ways will you come up with next!