NIKE7UP: Destroying Pop Music Since 2010 (and still no one's heard of him)

Hello all,

It's time to discuss one of my favorite musicians of all time: NIKE7UP, a remix artist that focuses on chopping & screwing pop music into heavy non-traditional club bangers.

NIKE7UP is an artist shrouded in mystery, there is almost nothing known about him or his identity, he rarely posts on his social media pages and has only posted a handful of songs but each song is more tantalizing than the next. NIKE7UP's mysterious underground practices don't end there; his minuscule following can be confidently described as "cult" (at most) and he has been known to randomly show up at NYC nightclubs and perform but this is a rare occasion that is never promoted. NIKE7UP is an enigmatic artist surrounded by rumor and conjecture but there is no doubt that his music is fresh and unique.

NIKE7UP's music can be characterized by heavy driving beats set over chopped and screwed pop music. When considered separately these characteristics may seem generic and uninteresting but mixed together the result is something unique. I will refer to my personal favorite NIKE7UP song "SO REAL NIKE7UP BELONG TO MIX"; this is a song that feels as though it's at home when being blasted over the buzzing speakers of some destroyed makeshift red-lit club in the basement of a hipster drug den. The compressed Mandy Moore vocals in the intro offer a bit of misdirection, making the audience feel as though they are just getting another run of the mill remix until 5 seconds later when a deep, buzzing synthetic bass beat over powers the vocals and sends the audience spiraling into a dark dream state of dub club catatonia; listeners feel compelled to turn off the lights, close their eyes and just bounce with the beat.

Another great example of NIKE7UP's dark, unique stylistics can be found in his song "ME MYSELF & TIME NIKE7 <3 MIX" (this song is download only but the download is small and safe). The song begins with a effect driven restyling of Demi Lovato's vocals with a heavy driving beat. The vocals repeat for minutes while the effects and back beat morph and dissolve into others and then the song snaps back into a fast beat with new vocals leading the audience to think the song has hit its peak; there can't be any surprises left right? Wrong. The second wave of Lovato lyrics and beat continue for another few minutes gradually slowing down with almost unbearable tension until the song breaks into a loud explosion of digital bass that seems to pound in your chest and you can't help but dance along in an almost orgasmic release of anticipation. This song could drive a club of X poppers into an unstoppable and likely fatal dance freak out reminiscent of something you'd see in a movie about drunk college kids.

Whether or not these stylings are up your alley they are certainly an interesting and new take on club remixes. With only a few thousand followers, NIKE7UP offers a truly underground take on club remixes, taking it into the realm of dark heavy digital remix rather than the poppy upbeats that many remixes currently thrive on.

NIKE7UP is a personal favorite of mine and I hope you enjoy it as well.

Check out NIKE7UP's complete catalog on Tumblr. It's free.

Thanks for reading,
Alex