I seldom make an LP plug on my site, but Brooklyn is notoriously known to be a major production hub for house music.  There are plenty of names I can mention throughout the years, and you may have heard of the Bay area clique comprised of Frankie Bones, Adam X, Lenny Dee, and Joey Beltram that began their production journey by essentially churning out sampled house loops that eventually morphed their careers as techno production superstars, but then there was the other clique on the other side of Brooklyn, so to speak, that stayed true to the game of four-on-the-floor house music production, filled with sampled segments that made disco and garage a household name.  I’m talking about Kenny Dope, Todd Terry, Tommy Musto, Victor Simonelli and of course, JOHnny D and NICKy P, better known as Johnick.

Their label, Henry Street Records, was basically comprised of sampled house tracks from a who’s who of producers at the time, lending their talents on a weekly release to release basis.  One in particular, “The Bomb”, produced by my homie Kenny Dope under the moniker The Bucketheads, turned a Paradise Garage classic tune called “Street Player” by the incredible fusion band known as Chicago into one of the biggest selling and most popular sample-style house tracks of all time.  I’m talking #1 on the pop charts in the UK!…  Let’s just say that it gave Kenny Dope an album deal on Atlantic Records, and it helped Henry Street continue its endeavor to deliver more and more sample-style house tracks with the same formulation.

Johnny D and Nicky P were the partners in crime at Henry Street Records, and they were also a pretty tight production team under the name Johnick.  Aside from DJing together, they ran the label, and produced a handful of tracks that are now all assembled together on their (tribute) compilation “Johnick: You Know Hoe We Dew” on BBE records, which also happens to be one of my favorite record labels.

So here we are, and I am gonna keep it short and sweet:   Looking back on a dynasty that represents New York City to the rest of the world in the art of making bona fide house tracks, Johnick finally get a piece of the praise they deserve.  Here’s to you, guys, and thanks for keeping it real!  You can sample and purchase all the tracks on their album HERE