Bad Boy Bill

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More About

• Farley Jackmaster Funk
• Isaac Hayes
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media
• DJing

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Born in Chicago, Bad Boy Bill grew up on hip-hop as well as dance music. There in the hotbed of house, he listened to Farley Jackmaster Funk of WBMX's Hot Mix Five, the area's legendary DJ team. Funk had one of the first house singles to chart (a cover of Isaac Hayes' "Love Can't Turn It Around," which hit the Top 10 in the U.K. in '86), and gave Bill his big break with his first broadcast gig. Bill would become a seasoned jock as well as a redoubtable turntablist, going on to win a DJ battle in 1988. Though he moved away from hip-hop to indulge his house music passions, he still bears its imprint. In particular, his DJ style involves using two copies of the same record to remix the tracks live while combining scratching and turntable techniques within the deep house grooves. His mixes are exceedingly energetic and rich; an hourlong set may feature as many as 40 different tracks -- twice as many as your average DJ spins -- mixed seamlessly but purposefully, keeping the night moving and avoiding the repetitiveness of some mainstream house.
Fri., Aug. 28, 9 p.m., 2009