Recording the record

DJ Kwite Sane mixes it up for Montreal

by MANCHILDE

"I used to run in front of buses when I was young. My friends used to say that I was crazy, but I told them that I was quite sane!" Years later, Stephan Shaw would come to be known as Kwite Sane, the young man who took his carefree childhood energy and transformed it into turntable technique. And as sober as the man claims to be, Mount Real's response to his club-rocking skill over the last three years has been anything but sane.

In addition to being an on-top hip hop DJ, Sane has gotten his sound out through the pervasive tool of the DJ mixed tape. While the lag-time in receiving new releases from the States keeps him two steps behind the Funk Master Flex and Kid Capri, Sane's similar touch has made his tapes a staple diet for many among Montreal's hip hop nation. While Sane is careful not to reveal the number of tapes he's sold over the last year, it is known that over 1,000 have been snatched off the shelves of Street Sound Records in Little Burgundy and that he has received orders for TDKs from as far as South America.

He says his skill has something to do with his hood. "NDG is like the Bronx of Mount Real's hip hop nation," he explains. "It's the place where hip hop started in this city." It was at NDG block parties that Sane grew up studying the mixes of legendary locals DJ LDG and DJ Tuff and he has inherited their meticulousness. "Sometimes I'll spend a whole week just listening to new records and figuring out my mixes." Rather than just spinning the latest cuts, Sane says that creating theme and rhythm with his selections is quintessential, an effect obvious in his most recent mixed gem You're in Trouble Now, which almost seems scientifically designed to pump the listener's adrenaline.

And the same happens when this DJ mixes live. For Sane there's only one way to know how dope you are in a club setting: "When there's hands in the air and people start shakin' that ass! You can't bullshit, you gotta have the gift of gab," he explains about the art of hyping the crowd. "You gotta control the mic. You can't let the mic control you."

Rap heavies the Boot Camp Click have enlisted Sane to open for them May 30. Until then you can enjoy Sane's mixes on CHAI 101.9 on Monday nights (midnight-2 a.m.). And make sure your finger's on "record" when his needle hits the record.