Student of Life

Now Brown is about house. His recent production catalogue, including The E.A.R.S. (Electronic Afro Rhythm Suite) EP and a stellar remix for São Paulo's Nomumba, has been influenced by Yoruba's label head, maestro Osunlade. That is to say, deep house layering and spiritual melodies. But if you listen to the tracks closely, they all still keep that Brown boogie. "Osunlade had said, 'Don't lose your intuitiveness or think too hard with the house music, because it won't be funky anymore,'" Brown says. "When I got into house music, I started listening to Ron Trent, Rich Medina, Little Louie Vega, and King Britt. But I knew as a producer, I didn't have the musical chops to be playing that type of stuff. Then I realized that half those guys don't even play that shit; a lot of producers were hiring musicians, and then the learning process came again."

These days Brown is staying away from straight sampling and live instruments, instead working on computer-based programs such as Logic and Reason, while playing his own bass and horn lines that recall his hip-hop roots. He's planning on turning some of this new music into a beat album, but without MCs, more for the soulful, boom-bap faithful.

And with his Sunday-night engagement at Uva 69, he's trying to bring positive change to his surroundings. "My daughter had said to me: 'I have a feeling you're going to bring a lot of life and soul to your new neighborhood.' That's what we do at the Aché lounge party," he explains. "We promote our spiritual tradition in a fun way, and it's part of the revitalization of this neighborhood."

It's an uphill battle, but Brown has never backed down from a challenge.

"To use a martial arts analogy: You should know what it's like to lose," he says. "If you don't have the tenacity to fail and get back up, you're not going to succeed. The best lessons to learn are when you fuck up, when you clear a dance floor, or when you're boxing and you drop your glove and get knocked up. You've got to get back up again."