“DJ Mike C”
Mike Clark
Beverly’s, NastyMix Records, Music Menu, The Flavor
DJ Mike C emerged as Seattle’s hip hop scene was being built through record shops, radio, and small venues. He started at Beverly’s Records & Tapes, a key hub for hip hop, electro, and dance 12 inches in the 80s and early 90s, helping shape what the city heard next.
He later worked with Nastymix Records, Seattle’s first major hip hop label and home to Sir Mix-A-Lot, Kid Sensation, and Criminal Nation, connecting him to the city’s earliest DJ and production networks.
He helped link record shops, labels, and dance floors, keeping the scene connected.
Photo by Rachel Crick at Judkins Park, location of the Black Community Festival
Transcript
In the summer of '83, I met a couple of guys named Gary and Chris playing basketball in Bellevue. We quickly became cool and they told me that there were rappers going by the names of Gary Jam and Big Boss Cross, better known as Jam Delight.
I remember it was a Friday but not the exact date that Gary and I were talking on the phone and he told me to come to the Black Community Festival at Judkins Park the next day to see them perform.
At the time, I lived on South Beacon Hill, so I hopped the 48 Metro bus to Judkins Park. Not only did I watch my friends Gary and Chris perform on the big stage, but I also got to see the Silver Chain Gang, Emerald Street Girls, and Emerald Street Boys. For those that were there, no. There was something far more dope to see the people that you know perform than it was to go to a record store and buy a major artist album.
That day at Judkins Park changed the trajectory of what I was going to do, which was major in accounting to somehow work in the music business.