If you want to hear the main difference between juke and footwork, check out this mix:
At 2:45, you’ll hear a track called “Baby Come On,” a proto-footwork but exemplary juke track that thuds and syncopates in a manner not unlike Chicago ghetto house of the mid-to-late 90s. Compare that to the track at 15:10, “Heavy Heat” (a.k.a. “11-47-99”), which has since become known as the pioneering template for footwork tracks, a sort of monkey wrench in the history of Chicago dance music. Two strands of Chicago house, two wildly different sounds, one producer: RP Boo (a.k.a. Arpebu a.k.a. Kavain W. Space). The kicker? Both of them were made over a decade before Planet Mu released its first footwork comp and helped launch a worldwide obsession.
Now that I’ve 100% proven RP Boo’s “authenticity” and “historical relevance,” perhaps you’ll be glad to know that RP Boo is releasing his own Planet Mu full-length called Legacy. While RP Boo was featured on both Planet Mu comps — including the aforementioned “Heavy Heat” — this time he’s got 14 tracks in which to showcase/show-off/shower us with his suspenseful (“Steamidity”), minimal (“Invisibu Boogie!”), vocal sample-heavy (“The Opponent”), and geographically rooted (“Area 72”) style of footwork.
Check out Legacy when it drops May 13 via Planet Mu, and if you see RP Boo at a party, ask him when he decided to cop Young Smoke’s style. It’ll be so funny!
Legacy tracklist:
01. Steamidity
02. Invisibu Boogie!
03. Red Hot
04. There U’Go Boi
05. Battle In The Jungle
06. The Opponent
07. 187 Homicide
08. Speakers R-4 (Sounds)
09. Havoc Devastation
10. No Return
11. Robotbutizm
12. Sentimental
13. What’Cha-Gonna Du
14. Area 72
• Arpebu: https://soundcloud.com/arpebu
• Planet Mu: http://www.planet.mu
