Your Mix Fix: Freaky Philip

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The word mixtape has plenty of different interpretations. It used to be that mixtapes were actually DJ sets recorded on cassette tapes, but with the coming of the digital music age, the name remained the same, but the definition expanded. Nowadays, people call mixtapes many different things, some of which are not necessarily mixed and most of which were never taped. Here we try to cover them all. In this column, Juan Data gives you a worthy one every week.

DJ: Freaky Phillip

MIXTAPE: NaviCaribeño, The Mixtape, Vol 1

I don’t celebrate Christmas and I hate Christmas music more than any other kind of music in the world, so when I was first confronted with the task of reviewing a Christmas-themed mixtape… let’s just say I wasn’t very excited about it. But, well, there was something different about this mixtape, it wasn’t just about Christmas, but about Christmas in the Caribbean, or that’s what I gathered from the title “NaviCaribeño.”

Now let me tell you, I’ve never been anywhere near the Caribbean, but after listening to this 22-minutes set, one thing is clear to me: if I was ever to celebrate Christmas, I’d much rather do it in some tropical island dancing frenetically to this music than at a crowded mall in the US with “Santa Baby” blasting out on the speakers while waiting in line to spend money that I don’t have in buying stupid gifts.

Freaky Philip is a radio DJ in Santo Domingo who also produces his own moombahton tracks and remixes. He comes from a hip-hop/reggaetón background but currently incorporates a wide range of music styles to his sets since, well, what he likes the most about DJing is seeing the crowd dancing. On this exclusive set he put together for Remezcla, he mainly mixes and remixes merengue. Some of the tracks have some Christmas references on the lyrics, but others are just meant to make you dance and keep the party going.

So whatever you celebrate on this date, if it’s just American consumerism, the birth of God’s alleged son, or the pagan’s harvest of the psychedelic mushrooms, it doesn’t really matter; but I can guarantee it’ll be a lot more fun with this mixtape playing in the background. ¡Feliz Navidad!


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