THE PAST: AK1200, America's original jungle/drum n bass don has been pushing the sound since the music's initial incarnation as hardcore breakbeat. As one of the U.S.'s original proponents of breakbeat music, AK started DJing in 1989, playing electro and other beat friendly music of that time. In 1990, he opened a record store in his hometown of Orlando, FL called The Hottie Shoppe, where he began developing relationships with burgeoning breakbeat labels such as Suburban Base and Moving Shadow. Via these early relationships, he quickly became known in the UK as someone who could spread the message in America, and by 1991, he was writing articles and reviews in the classic US Rave. Around this same time, Dave Minner also gained his moniker as AK1200 when fellow Floridian DJ Icey noticed the hyped-up BPM's of the tunes Dave would play in The Hottie Shop, and said "You're playing so fast that you are like an AK on the 1200's!" Icey started throwing raves at The Edge and he would put "Dave AK1200 Minner" on the flyer. The name stuck ever since. For the next few years, AK headlined the second room of countless parties throughout the US, continuing to make a name for himself. As Jungle music evolved and became more popular, so did AK1200. Also in 93, he was invited to the UK again, this time to DJ, and played alongside such greats as Hype, Mickey Finn, Swift and Zinc, Danny Breaks, SL2, and several others for a Christmas party for Suburban Base Recordings. AK was also the first American to play on the UK's pirate radio, playing alongside Swift and Zinc on Format FM. Back home in the US, Jungle was beginning to finally get its due, though still hated-on by many of the nations party promoters, it was too big to be ignored. At this point there were literally tons of US jungle DJ's coming up, and AK searching for something different, found a great appreciation for the lighter side of jungle championed by labels such as Timeless & Good Looking, which
1 | Fire and Theft - Game 9 | Mixed Live |
2 | Dawn Raid | Shoot To Kill |
3 | Track 1 | Shoot To Kill |
4 | Track 9 | Shoot To Kill |
5 | Contact | Shoot To Kill |
6 | CEIEC - Crucifixion | Mixed Live |
7 | Shimon and Moving Fusion - Han | Mixed Live |
8 | Track 3 | Shoot To Kill |
9 | Track 8 | Shoot To Kill |
10 | Cleveland Lounge - Drowning | Mixed Live |
11 | DJ Dara - Kilos | Mixed Live |
12 | Special K - Krossfire | Mixed Live |
13 | Splash - Babylon | Mixed Live |
14 | Wots My Code - Dubplate | Mixed Live |
15 | Carousel | Shoot To Kill |
16 | DJ Kontrol - Forcefield | Mixed Live |
17 | Deja Nu | Shoot To Kill |
18 | A Sides - Crazy VIP | Mixed Live |
19 | Track 12 | Shoot To Kill |
20 | DJ SS - Lighter remix | Mixed Live |