Boogie Brown

About Boogie Brown

Miguel; the head chef of Flip City Entertainment who goes by the nickname Boogie Brown; now calling himself the original Dr. Soose; was raised in Brooklyn for the majority of his childhood years.
He has been a long time disciple of the Boom Bap religion of Hip Hop; he started out as a 'B-Boy'; as well as a ranked 'Toy' in the graffiti circles among his peers.
His aspirations of Hip Hop, subway trains and aerosols were hindered by the NYPD; upon seeing the threat of 'juvie hall'; or his mom and dad looking to kill him for getting into trouble with the law; he soon put the idea down. B-boying was phasing out as well....


He then got into the M.C.'s game; by that time he was back in good old T'n T. Though rhyming wasn't hard for him; Trinidad wasn't the place to be to hone his rap skill.
Time passed and he found himself drawn to the instrumental and break beat culture. This struck him when he used to hang out with his family in Gonzalez. They used to throw parties on a Friday night; right there in the street; my cousin Joey had tons of records; he remembers.
The DJ culture stuck with Miguel for a long time. Time passed again and he found himself back up in the States. He was working for a Manhattan based inner city courier company; where one of his routes was for Chunk King Studios and the offices of Bill Adler and Russel Simmons himself.


There he would come around the studio at Chung King and get familiar with the staff there. He would sit in on recording sessions for many rap acts ie; Run D.M.C. , LL Cool J, Public Enemy and 3rd Bass.
There he would watch and learn; as well as do small errands for the recording engineers there. In turn they would teach him how to splice tape and edit ( a tedious job ) and entertain his questions about the science of recording. He would also sleep there sometimes as well.
When times got rough and he had to come back down to Trinidad in 1991; he tried doing many projects; but the same scenario ensued. The wrong place; being in the wrong place; and having no money to keep a consistency as well as having no connections in the practically dead music industry in Trinidad.



One of his many projects which inked him in 'pioneer status' as being the first man in T'nT to produce the first Hip Hop collaboration tracks called "Keep Tha Vibe"; in 1992 with fellow sound smith Jus' Jase. He funded the whole affair out of his own pockets. No recognition for his work, sparse exposure and a lack of unity between the crews that were featured on the same project; left him with a bitter taste in his mouth.
In 1994 for a few months he found himself in the London’s East End where he befriended the likes of Marlon and Marvin Kramer; two alternative hip hop Djs / producers who were on the early drum ‘n Bass and Jungle scene. Going by the act name; DA ECHO CHAMBAH the three started doing guerilla raves in the London, Kent and Liverpool areas. The gigs were fun but tiresome. Miguel learned how to do Drum ‘n Bass, Jungle and early Garage while on the gigs.


Upon his having to return to Trinidad; he tried once again to create a sonic underground; but found an even less open minded set of cliques that had since separated into Dj systems. The skill level of the Dj in Trinidad had significantly dropped; plus Hip Hop had no place in T & T anymore.
The unnecessary politics in the 'so called' music industry contributed to the head chefs near giving up on music as well.. He's still here though; thanks to a few economic changes and the affordability of recording technology these days...


It cuts him up sometimes; he's now at a time where a man his age shouldn't be M.C.'ing; but now in his 30's , with a recording studio of his own; you can still hear him rant on a couple of his beats; which most do say is entertainment.


On the Beats side:


His first joints were more influenced by foundation beat tweekers to likes of Pete Rock and Dj Premiere; whom he respects and fears for some reason.


Some cases you can hear a dusty and twisted sense of humour in his productions that is reminiscent of DJ Muggs from Cypress Hill; as well as the 1930's T.V. pop culture flare comparable to Pete Nice and Daddy Rich of 3rd Bass.


Miguel loves his drums sounding dirty; with the squeaks of sirens or saxophones in the background. His bass lines are proper but yet twisted and mean sounding.
His drum patterns are very perverse in cadences; never sounding the same at any given time.
He tries not to sample much; which makes him a true producer in that sense of originality.


Though not classically trained; his keyboard work isn't too shabby either. He uses alot of nice jazzy and ambient chords; which makes his style of music easy to fall in love with. Picture Issac Hayes or Barry White being backed up by the Bomb Squad or Pete Rock.
Thats Boogie; that's who he is sometimes. On the other hand; sometimes his productions could sound like a Hip Hop styled episode of the Honeymooners. Another one of his peers says.


Though he has that flare for the golden age of Hip Hop (circa 93). He's again very weary of copy write infringement laws on sampling and sample clearance.
"When beats are too clean; it robs the music of it's soul". He says. "But at the same time; samples are a headache to clear".
The inner mechanics of his production style is simple; what makes it sound complex is his intricate construction method. The tones have to sound just right; and how they are played as well. Drum tones though dirty sounding; go through a 2 day process of tweaking before he's finally satisfied with what he puts down.


How his keyboard and bass lines answers the drum set is another factor.

"It's basically a conversation between instruments". He says.


"Alot of what he does in his production are very deliberate" Chris; his business partner says.

"Its like; yes I do want that snare there; but it has to be distorted; thats my crescendo. When I do the bass line over it you'll understand".

"It's just his madness; it's all good like that".


As an MC:


When it comes to rhyme styles; you can't match him to anyone. He just sounds like a well seasoned cat who's into breaking the scene down with a cinematic and animated flow.


"Fuck tryin to sound cool. I just like to level with people; no gimmicks, or sales pitch". He says. "If I sound like a cartoon while spittin'...So be it. Atleast I got y'all attention". "But I love the beats. I figure at theis stage of my life; I'm cool behind the boards. Unless the prices is right".


When asked about contributing to the local soca scene Miguel said;


"The Soca Train already has alot of people looking to ride. It's kinda crowded there you know... Not everybody would be into the scene like that. Some people vibe different that's what defines diversity. Folks in Trini just would have to realise that we all are different and thats a good thing".


His gear:


HIs studio is a modest 10ft x 12ft bedroom that he converted; with a single person sound booth as well as a two computer set up. There is one for recording and one for composition and sequencing.


One the sequencing side of things he has a few staple tools mandatory to any hip hop studio. An MPC and Yamaha's take on the classic SP1200. Two turn tables and a couple synths.

On the recording side he runs a bare bones rig comprised of a simple recording software suite and a big hard drive.