With nothing released since their 2005 LP The Twelfth Man, you might have been forgiven for thinking that Erik ‘Mr Eon’ Meltzer and Milo ‘DJ Mighty Mi’ Berger a.k.a. The High & Mighty had called it a day. But you’d be wrong. Unlooked for, they returned nearly two decades later in October with their Funk-O-Mart single featuring Chubb Rock and sounding as if very little has changed. Over a pulsing synth-tinged funky beat from Mighty Mi, Mr E holds forth with his distinctive vocals (perhaps sounding even more gravelly) – yep – this is the High & Mighty we know and love. So it would be rude not to have a remix, right? Who to hand they keys to though? Why not Smoove?! Here, after all is a man who knows his hip-hop. Enter Smoove’s Funk-O-Mart remix, synthetically substituting Berger’s beat for something more fluid and prominent with a sinuous bassline maintaining only the original’s vocals and a 50:50 ratio of funkiness to menace. His format is all that; his concept’s refined! What to flip on the flipside though? Maybe get Suckaside to take on the group’s most famous cut – B-Boy Document ’99 (featuring the artist formerly known as Mos Def and Mad Skillz!) and reboot this with a more dancefloor drumbreak than the original to boot. Yep, that should do it.
(Pre-order now/ Out January on Wack Records)
