Quantic Soul Orchestra and Spanky Wilson gifted the Bboy world with the now-classic “Don’t Joke With a Hungry Man” a few years back and it’s still as fresh as ever:
Quantic (@quanticmusic) aka Will Holland is the musical mastermind behind not only his namesake tunes but also varied groups such as the Limp Twins and of course, the mighty Quantic Soul Orchestra.
Originally hailing from the UK, Quantic has made Colombia his home and with each new release, the influence of his surroundings is more and more evident.
Some background on Quantic from his official website:
Worcestershire born, Will Holland began his musical career at the age of 16, encouraged by his father, a Welsh born folk musician who worked in mechanical engineering & computer programming and his English born mother, a talented singer and folk enthusiast. By his early teens Holland had been introduced to home recording by his father and started to experiment with sequencing and programming. This, combined with a developing habit for record collecting, a household full of instruments and two older, musical sisters, it was only natural for Holland to setup a makeshift studio in the bedroom of their timber framed home beside the river Severn. After much experimentation, Holland developed a strong repertoire, eventually attracting the attention of ‘Breakin Bread Records’, a London based record label through which Holland released his first 45 ‘We Got Soul’. It was at this point his work as a DJ began to flourish and through a visit to Brighton he was introduced to label ‘Tru Thoughts’. In 2001 TT released his debut album ‘The 5th Exotic’ a collection of sample based songs mined from various lunchbreak trips to record shops and the diverse selection of instruments found in the Holland household, his two sisters also featured as guests.
What follows is another version of the single from the awesome collection compiled by Keb Darge and RZA, which is where I first heard the jammy after finding the vinyl buried in the meager racks at Downtown Disney’s Virgin Megastore (R.i.P.).
The album features a number of rare and essential grooves including MFSB’s “Family Affair”, Harlem Underground’s haunting version of “Ain’t No Sunshine”, and Hank Ballard’s “From the Love Side”, among many others.
Both versions have remained in my crates over the years, probably surfacing at each and every Bboy event I’ve ever played.
And if you don’t know about the homie Quantic, the man is a musical genius, and you should definitely peep more of his work, and make it a priority.
