Mixtape 44 Life at 97 BPM

By James G @ 9/2/24 at 4:24 AM

The first time I heard the first track hit me in the same way the first time I heard Run-DMC's "Rockbox", R.E.M.'s "Radio Free Europe", Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and other notable songs: this was the fusion of related genres seamlessly and flawlessly brought together into something incredibly fresh and accessible. It was soon followed by imitators and innovators with more commercial sensibilities, and a sound that has been around ever since. When pulling this mix together, I soon discovered there were a lot of great tunes from all sorts of genres - many fused with hip hop - that play at 97 BPM. I think 97 BPM lends itself to bobbing your head and tapping your feet in time to the music.