Erick Nidal (نضال)

Every day my love & respect grows for the path carved that allows me to stand behind two turntables. DeepDive is a place where the path gets carved, by some of the people who carved it, in dedication to the community that gives that path a purpose.

As a younger DJ, I never take for granted the huge privilege I've had in New York and Chicago to learn directly from those who dedicated their lives to building this movement. We are experiencing a rare moment in history where we can learn directly from them.

The more I've learned from my elders, read, listened, danced, and felt the music - the more I reaffirm. Reaffirm that the music, the community we're a part of, the souls who give their precious time on earth to make this possible, and the ancestral practice of group dancing, are so much bigger than any DJ could ever be. 

I feel the responsibility to take this seriously (both good and bad). I want to try my best to channel its purpose while also keeping the music growing, progressing, and evolving as the experimental music it always was. As Chez Damier recently said, "Would you let a doctor operate on you who had no training? That's why the history is important.”

This set on DeepDive is a humble homage to this culture - the sorts of “holy scriptures” of music that have found their way into my life over the years. An attempt to draw linearity between soulful forms of music - whether that's jazz, hip hop, disco, or house music, none of which were called these names when they were made, and which share only an artificial border between them.

I was introduced to the DeepDive family by my sister @djtaranyc on a day she took the decks and reminded me of the highest aspirations music seeks to achieve. I can’t put into words how much love I have for DeepDive and the people who’ve put their soul into it - it gives me hope that there are still people in the world who care about what makes us human. 

I’m thinking to write something longer about how I’ve been feeling and what I’ve learned, but all I can say is New York is in a very special place musically right now. You can check this set out in my bio or on DeepDive’s Mixcloud channel.