Session Two New York is the Freestyle capital of the world. Spanish Harlem and the Bronx gave birth to the artists that continue to hold the imaginations of fans everywhere. Little “Louie” Vega helped build a following for songs like “Show Me” and “Scars of Love” by playing the raw and unfinished demos for crowds at The Devil’s Nest in the Bronx. By the time the unknown singers of these demos hit the stage for the first time, they were the stars of this new genre, greeted with the almost dangerous roar of acceptance that could only from a hard-core Bronx audience. That was the beginning of Latin Hip Hop. Now, two decades later, the music lives on in concerts across the nation and is filling arenas in numbers, that even at it’s peak, were unheard of. The music has had its regional interpretations. Miami, Orlando, Texas, Chicago and California have their own take on the sound, and this music is still listened to in countries like Brazil, Germany, and Japan. Although I’ve been retired from music for most of the last decade, on occasion I would record a demo vocal or cut a show tape for different artists. It was on one of these occasions that George Lamond asked why I didn’t produce more records. We talked about it and somehow he convinced me to start this project. The next thing I knew, I was recording him on “What Is Love”, the first original track to come out of me since we recorded “Lately” in 2000. George Lamond then arranged for K7 to stop by and talk about what kind of track we might record. There was a track that I had released ten years ago titled, “Doin’ It After Dark”, where I sampled “The Mexican”. This track was licensed overseas twice by The Chemical Brothers and, according to Tony Touch, was the anthem for The Rock Steady Crew at performances around the world. K7 asked if he could record over that track. I really wanted to get back to the old school method of producing records. But I quickly realized that I had to make an adjustment for the lack of a million dollar SSL console. Instead, I had to use Reason and Protools on my Mac G5, which turned out well I think. I hope you agree. Carlos "After Dark" Berrios New York, 2008