During a tour in December 2012 with the folks at Blisswave, I got to see my old friend and mentor DJ House Shoes in different environments. Equally comfortable in old spots, like San Francisco and Seattle, or new settings like Sacramento, Shoes let his encyclopedic knowledge of hip-hop, beats and all things Dilla lead to amazing solo sets as well as support for Guilty Simpson, the tour's only MC.
Whether spinning his own beats or getting Guilty to spit familiar verses over unreleased Dilla tracks, Shoes proved to be the backbone of the tour.
Towards the end of the run I got the chance to sit with Shoes and pick his brain on his top five hip-hop records of 2012. Of course, he couldn't follow directions, and insisted on giving me six. Check them out below; they span from heavy personal cuts off his own debut LP to overlooked gems from the hometeam in Detroit.
Also, check out this video shot and edited by the Blisswave team sharing a bit of what life was like on the road with the crew.