Funky Diabetic<\/a><\/h4>\n
\n\t\t\t\tI first discovered popular music growing up in Chile. I was 7 years old when Michael Jackson released \u201dThriller\u201d. I actually remember the day my father bought me the Thriller tape which became my first ever! I used to listen to the cassette on a red walkman I borrowed off my father. Often I\u2019d listen to it in bed right before I went to sleep. I would try to sing along\u2026but of course\u2026I didn\u2019t know English!
\nEventually my next favourite band were from Argentina and their lyrics were in Spanish. Soda Stereo released their first album in 1984 and I guessed my parents noticed I like them so much that they decided to buy me the cassette of their second album released in 1985 for my 10th birthday. \u201dNada Personal\u201d was being played daily on my walkman! It was a great album! And since these guys were releasing a new album every year, it became a habit that I would receive their latest album on cassette for every birthday I celebrated!
\nIn 1986 I saw a breakdancer for the first time ever! Ever! In our class begun a kid from Canada attending. I remember exactly as he was dancing and the wooden platforms placed on the pavement of the schoolyard for this particular event! EVENT! I had never seen anything like that\u2026not even on TV! This kid was flipping and turning on his back and on his head. It was a short and I realise now also an amazing experience!
\nIn 1987, as I had turned 12 years old, we left Chile and moved to Sweden. Stockholm became my hometown. For the next two years music, tennis and basketball disappeared off my life. It was all about going to school and learning Swedish. Nothing else!
\nBy 1989 we had lived in Sweden 2 years and my father had purchased a vinyl player. My friend lent me a compilation called \u201dStreet Rap\u201d. It was a white vinyl. The compilation had My Philosophy by Boogie Down Productions. I remember playing it over and over again! \u2028During this time I also begun going to the youth centre in Fru\u00e4ngen. On Fridays they arranged parties or \u201ddisco\u201d as we called them. It was there that I first heard \u201dDo the Right Thing\u201d by Redhead Kingpin and the F.B.I. Eventually this became the first 45\u201d I ever purchased.
\nBy 1990 De La Soul had released 3 Feet High and Rising and I had been listening to \u201dMe Myself and I\u201d a lot! That same year I also begun attending V\u00e5rberg skolan. My Swedish had improved but I was too shy to make friends, specially if they were Swedish. I had been attending a class where Swedish was our main subject. When my Swedish became good enough I begun attending other subjects with the regular \u201dSwedish class\u201d. It was there I met DJ Snuff.\u2028\u2028Snuff and I weren\u2019t hanging out in the beginning but luckily I had a friend who was the total opposite of me! He knew the whole school! He would borrow records off DJ Snuff and bring them to my house and leave them there for weeks. It was then I carefully begun listening to records and later also recording mix tapes. Ever since I\u2019ve owned a portable music player.
\nEventually I begun collecting my own records. I started collecting vinyl at first but not long after came CD\u2019s. The portability of the format made me a CD consumer for many years.
\nI would say that ever since I heard De La Soul\u2019s – 3 Feet High and Rising I\u2019ve been married to hip-hop. Visiting records stores became a habit. Yo! Mtv Raps became my favourite show. I became very influenced by hip-hop artists.
\n
\nThe love I developed for hip-hop music never developed for graffiti nor breakdancing. I was happy just consuming the music. DJ:ing was cool but to me it has never been about the DJ:ing and its probably the reason why I\u2019ve never put down too much time practising techniques or routines. To me it was all about letting other people know about artists or records I had discovered and that I felt the whole world should hear! For my friends I\u2019ve recorded tapes, purchased CD\u2019s and I\u2019ve brought them along to concerts. As I lived in London between 2001-2005 I purchased many UK CD\u2019s to give away, just because I felt it was great music that needed to be heard!
\n