As contemporary hip-hop fans bob their heads to today’s unprecedented influx of fresh female femcee’s, they are easy to forget the soul, funk, and disco sirens who paved the way for black female musicians. Fortunately, to rescue comes acclaimed Canadian producer, DJ Skratch Bastid, here to remind us of hip-hop’s roots and bless us with sounds from the past’s most talented, trail blazing, songresses. His new project, “Soul Sisters Stand Up,”  pays homage to wonderful women of the mid 60s and 70s who brought the jams, long before the likes of Lauryn Hill or Missy Elliot. In a collaboration with fellow producer The Gaff, the duo concocts a masterfully mixed, choped-and-screwed compilation of classic hits by an array of powerfully empowered female vocalists from the golden era of soul.

Dj Skratch Bastid describes his project as “a snapshot of love, pain, happiness, oppression, strength, struggle, and more from an era when records were the primary outlet for these voices.These messages are driven home by the beats and grooves from what is undeniably the funkiest decade in music history.” Of course, Bastid and Gaff enhance the funk by adding carefully executed scratches, routine turntablelism, and conjoining Hip Hop tracks. In effect, they are able to highlight the the already- outstanding performances of Aretha, Diana, Davis, Levette, and Drew  to create a mixtape that is, dare I say, flawless.

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