Boston’s DJ Kon rejects the crown, plus Millions and Bruno
By DAVID DAY | July 27, 2006
MULTI-TASKING: Dorchester’s newly crowned “King of Diggin’ ” talks records and manages the dance floor. |
“Hi, sorry to interrupt, are you going to play any ’80s?” a patron asks DJ Kon behind the decks at Middlesex Lounge. “Maybe,” he says. “Are you going to play ’80s?” she repeats. “ ’Cause that girl, she’s going to Africa.” “Well, I’ll be playing some African music,” he says with a smile. “What about just the song ‘Africa?’,” she asks. “I have that, we’ll see, I have a great cover of that, it’s a dub.” “That’s fine, can we get Toto tonight, though? . . . ‘We come from the land Down Under!!!’,” she yells. “Maybe,” Kon says calmly, “but that’s Men at Work.”Dorchester’s own DJ Kon (a/k/a Christopher Taylor) plays clubs all around town, but occasionally he drops by the low-key Cambridge venue to spin “his favorites,” as it says on the bill. It’s a privilege, because he’s known around the world as a crate digger — an obsessive, irrepressible record fan who will don rubber gloves to find a lost gem. Such fanatics generally go unheralded, but this summer, the BBE label released a compilation of some of his favorites and called it Kings of Diggin’, putting the Boston native on the map as one of the pre-eminent music archeologists. “I hate that title, because I’m not a king of anything. An acronym for my name is King of Nothing. The CD series is ‘Kings of . . . ,’ whether it’s house or disco, and that’s respectable. But as for me: no. I’m a student of music, I like to learn new music every day, and that’s really what it’s about for me.”
An old Green Line graff artist and disco head, Kon has been compiling and trading rare vinyl for decades, hardly ever getting compensation when someone samples his finds. For a time, he sold some rarities directly to producers for hip-hop loops, but he got turned off pretty quickly. “I’ve consulted for some big people, but it’s not really worth it. You’re dealing with multi-million-dollar people who want to nickel-and-dime you. From the corporate executive standpoint, it’s like, ‘Well, what exactly are we paying him for?’ So it’s this whole chain of command. It’s kind of like playing yourself. It doesn’t work out in my favor. The money is really easy, but you’re providing a blueprint that could lead to millions of dollars on their end. I don’t really see that.”
Related:
Juan and Kon, Wild weekend, Wicked games, More 
- Juan and Kon
When you’re immersed in the chaos of Miami’s Winter Music Conference, it’s impossible to stick to a set schedule.
- Wild weekend
Scheduled for this Friday, May 19, on Lansdowne Street, the OUTLAND party hooks up multiple DJs, tents, and restaurants to jam the block.
- Wicked games
There was a time, not that long ago, when the two-or-three-day rock-festival experience was reserved for the Brits.
- Berklee beatz
Berklee College of Music has more than 3800 students, and their collaborations and talents populate Boston clubs citywide. Big Willie Green, "Oooh" (mp3 via Myspace) Danielle Scott, "Ghetto Wonderland" (mp3 via MySpace)
- Combat pop
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- New York Doll
When Morrissey persuaded the New York Dolls to reunite, director Greg Whiteley found himself in a unique position to chronicle the event.
- The Big Hurt: Tragic kingdom
The whole Hard Rock enterprise — which started as a café and has since branched out into hotels, casinos, and a vast nationwide network of lame T-shirts — has built great success on the idea of “rock.”
- Walking the line
Duke Robillard comes out Swingin’.
- Moe Pope + Headnodic
Megaphone is my favorite murder-free rap album since Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek’s Train of Thought.
- Doin’ it live
The winter concert scene’s got something for everybody, from Averi to Zakir Hussain. Okay, I couldn’t resist that bit of alphabetical hackery, but it’s true.
- Flashbacks: November 24, 2006
These selections, culled from our back files, were compiled by Dan Peleschuk, Ian Sands, and Eva Wolchover.
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Topics:
Music Features
, Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, Music, More
, Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, Music, OutKast, Snoop Dogg, Christopher Taylor, Notorious B.I.G., Old School Hip-Hop, Dj Bruno, Dj Kon, Less
