There can be few more influential producers in the history of house music than Todd Terry. From his earliest productions in the 80s through to the present day his work has helped to shape the sound of the genre and provided many of its iconic tracks.
From “I’ll House You” with the Jungle Brothers to “Can You Feel It” as CLS his back catalogue is packed with classics and everyone has a Todd Terry tune in their all time favourites list.
His latest project sees him team up with Southern Fried Records to release another classic slab of timeless house in the shape of “Feel The Sun” and it sees him in fine form, the EP also comes with remixes from Mineo, Howsons Groove and YoungTEE but it’s the original that does the damage.
While most producers would count Todd as an influence we were keen to find out about the tunes that have influenced him over the years, read on to find out about the tunes that helped to shape his own sound. Over to Todd the God…
(you can also listen to the tunes uninterrupted over at this youtube playlist)
Under The Influence with Todd Terry
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo – Road To The Riches
That’s the real shit right there. Kool G Rap, Spoonie G, Big Daddy Kane, those were the records. That was when rap was the best. Rap right now is just closed up.
Nas – The World is Yours
That’s a Pete Rock production there. Pete Rock made like 10 hits with this snare drum beat. It was on this old school record “Long Red” and we used to cut it up back in the day. It was crazy.
Wu Tang Clan – CREAM
RZA was taking the beats and fucking them up on purpose. They would be off and then on and I loved it. That was another element I love about hip hop. It’s not about a clear precise sound, it’s about a feel. Vocals don’t need to be clear and EQ-d.
This would influence me on how I would try to make my record a little dirtier, not so clear and perfect and polished – so that in a club they come thru and the compressors make it sound so real.
James Brown – Sex Machine
Title just says enough.
Quincy Jones – Razzamatazz
Just a classic.
Slick Rick – Children’s Story
To this day I love these type of records you can put them on and pay no attention to the world, no matter the day or occasion.
Eric B & Rakim – Microphone Fiend
Love the bells and the beat on this one.
Eric B & Rakim – Follow The Leader
Eric B & Rakim are probably the greatest of all time.
Jay Z – So Ghetto
This is more about Premier beat on this one. Not knocking Jay or nothing. This record comes on and you just want dance and push people around. The swing and the beat it is like the next level of swing.
Mobb Deep – Shook Ones Part 2
I remember the first time I heard this I was at Kenny Dope’s and he played it and I was “ahhh they did it man this is crazy” I was all amped up. This track gets me all amped up.
Todd Terry dropped by the Boiler Room for an afternoon session a while back, it’s worth getting your ears around that below in case you missed it:
