A special mix featuring two albums’ worth of brand new edits from the Sermon 3 boss.
The 83rd is an artist and activist based in Brooklyn, whose music takes inspiration from his background in hip-hop and the hardcore and experimental sounds of NYC’s underground. His raw, emotional tracks foreground his own experience as a Black person living in the USA, as well the rhythms of Black club music.
His music career kicked off in 2004, when he joined the Chicago studio team of Grammy-winning producer Maurice Joshua. He was commissioned to remix artists including Missy Elliott, Ginuwine and Mariah Carey, but moved to New York afterwards, where his music began to draw more explicitly on his own experiences.
“I was constantly in and out of deals that wouldn’t go thru, having to beat demons and dark energy that attempted to steal money, credit and my mind and health over the next furious season of my life,” he told Noisey in 2019. “As I faced poverty, racism, [the industry’s] false promises and lack of character, my creative voice and mindset changed.”
The 83rd’s personal experiences spurred him to launch Sermon 3, a label and media platform intended to release and promote the music of himself and likeminded artists in the underground. He has used it to release edits and originals from himself, music by Chicago legend DJ Slugo and, on 2018’s EP and archival site Solitary Souls, draw attention to the history of systematic mass Black incarceration in the US.
In 2019, following a near-fatal gang attack that happened as he was protecting members of the POC queer community at an event he was helping to organise in Bushwick, he released The Resurrection, a powerful album that owes as much to cathartic noise music as it does to the club. He followed it up with the equally essential 83 Editz, which takes on material by Megan Thee Stallion, Crime Mob, Ciara and Rosalía.
To mark the fourth anniversary of Sermon 3, The 83rd recently released a special compilation featuring artists including himself, Via App, Alice Glass, Scraaatch and Odete, capturing what the label describes as an “electronic punk scene where club culture is redefined and mosh pits are all the way opened”. On his Fact mix though, he exercises his prolific edit skills with a set predominantly made up of brand new, unheard reworks featuring UNIIQU3, Gangsta Boo, Ashanti, Young Thug and more.
“For me, making a mix isn’t just about playing and blending songs…it’s an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to create new bodies of work,” he says. “I have a hip hop and remix background, so I can’t unsee all the sample and loop possibilities that present themselves to create my own version of records.”
“That’s the genius of what artists like Pete Rock, Kanye, and Dre do, combined with the dancefloor-innercity-ability of brothas I came up in the studio around like Maurice Joshua, Mike Dunn and Gantman. I’m also a recording/mix/master engineer soooo doing it all in analog and making sure te mix is tight is a whole other discipline I love to incorporate in my mixes.”
Find Sermon 3 Recordings at Bandcamp.
Tracklist:
The 83rd – Levels Remix (Meek Mill)
The 83rd – Going Bad Edition (Drake, Ashanti, DJ Lilman, Tricks)
The 83rd – Hot Boyz Bootleg (Missy Elliott, Akito)
The 83rd – Slaughterhouse Remix (Rich The Kid, Bulma)
The 83rd – Money Bag Edition (UNIIQU3, Cardi B, T5UMUT5UMU)
Désiré, Lighght, Lila Tirando A Violeta & Lithe – Tense Inside
The 83rd – No Hands/Fuck 12 (Roddy Rich, R3LL, Evaa)
The 83rd – Grab Dat Butt
Docx – Pick A Seat
Toxe x Aaliyah (v1984 edit)
WdF Da Producer – What Yall Think Im Playin’
The 83rd – Savage Remix (Hot Girl Meg, Beyonce)
The 83rd – City Girls Devil Mix (Club Edit)
Saucy P – Bet You Can’t (D4L)
The 83rd – Special Rework (Young Thug, Torai)
The 83rd – Late Nite Rework (Gangsta Boo, Tearz)
The 83rd – Loyalty
The 83rd – 4 My People Bootleg (Missy Elloitt, Evaa)
The 83rd – Back Dat Ass Up
The 83rd – On Me Edit (Byrell, Meek Mill, Cardi)
The 83rd – Atomic
The 83rd – Im Fly (YKaY, K – Swift, Blaqstarr)
The 83rd – Trina x Raiden Remix (Bulma, Miss Jay)
The 83rd – Ladies Booty Bounce Edit
DJ Taj – THOTIANA (The 83rd Rework)
The 83rd – Rock Wit U Rework (Ashanti, Kingdom, Dav0makesbeats, pound boys, nkc)
Listen next: Fact mix 772: Kilbourne
