With this mixtape I just want to get across the message that slime is not a bad thing. Slime is what gets us here in the first place. There’s no life without slime. We all came out of a bodily flippin' and slippin’ around in the slime. It’s the closest you can get to mud wrestling without being in the mud. Slime is just the apparatus of all that is right. When I was little, slime was in a jug, it was a green bit of slime, and it didn’t get your clothes dirty or anything. Making this mixtape has been very cathartic for me, very cleansing. It’s a real good look at one’s dastardly self. It is the embodiment of why we are even here today – without slime there wouldn’t be life. It’s way too deep for this time of morning. We must all get our slime on. No slime, no life.

 

Slime & Reason is out now on Big Dada. Rootsmanuva.co.uk

 

Ray Paker Jr – “Ghostbusters” – 1984

 

I must have been about 8 or 9 when this came out. I remember that all the ghosts were kind of friendly - they weren’t really bad, all they did was slime you. They introduced my mind to other dimensions. I pretended to catch ghosts with the Hoover. Mummy slapped me up a few times for mucking about with that. I had the Hoover tied to my back. I was blowing things and sucking up balloons, yeah man. Bill Murray was my favourite Ghsotbuster.

 

Rick James “Super Freak” Motown, 1981

 

He’s the slime god. He’s got the hair, with jerri curl juice on the hair. He’s just slipping around, his skin is oiled. On this he sings about the kind of girl that you don’t take home to mother. I’ve sampled this before, but it’s very expensive to clear so I’ve never managed to release anything with it in. I love Rick James, just the over sized sliminess of his codpiece, the spangley-twinkley, barefaced bare-facedness of it all. I’ve met a lot of slimey super freaks, especially in bloody Hoxton. But I’m not a super freak – I’m a minor freak. I haven’t gone as far as straightening my hair or getting my S-curls done. I’m a minor freak, until I can get some extensions and wear them.

 

Shaggy “Mr. Boombastic”

 

The grease is a way of life and those that dare to go beyond that, and speak from behind the taboo are the ones that always seem to end getting the most coochie. I’m sure there’s so many men that sing that sing this song when they trying to swoon their ladies. Everybody’s Mr Boombastic! Shaggy’s unashamed portrayal of a medallion man definitely had an indirect influence on me and my swagger. I’m more of an understated freak than him.

 

Rod Stewart “D’ya Think I’m Sexy?” 1978

 

No, I don’t think he’s sexy, but I like the effect this song has on ladies. If you play that in any wine bar, the loins start to wiggle and the thrill seekers come out and their waist just wine up and down. I think old Rodney was singing from a real slimy place. When this came out I didn’t know who he was but it was great that there was another person called Rodney who was famous. I would wear some of his leopard skin pants, but it would have to be a very special moment. I’ve bought roses for audience before, but that’s because I was a bit jet lagged. I get swept away by moments.

 

Outkast “So Fresh, So Clean”

 

They’re the kings of beautiful weird. Plus soap is a weird slippery substance – it’s slimy but it gets you clean in the slimy slippery motion. Andre 3000 out slimes me. I am a mere speck of sweat on his chin, you know. He’s pretty much a slime style god. I like the sound of the southern slang and blurredness of it. I like the whole twisted drug cough sizzurp culture of it. Weird beats. They defy modern interpretation of tempo. The slow is fast and the fast is slow. Bonkers.

 

Art of Noise “Moments in Love” 1983

 

This is not actual slime on a sonic sludge kind of level, but it’s the perfect sound to get deeply squirtful to. It’s a lubricant joy starter. It’s a beautiful piece of music. Art of Noise were a massive influence. I can remember them talking on the telly about samplers and MIDI music, and saying how it doesn’t matter, you can enjoy your mistakes. It really stuck in my head.

 

Barry White “Standing in the Shadow of Love”

 

Pure midnight slime. It’s got to be the cheesiest, slimiest intro of all time. If you play this in a club as soon as the piano kicks in, everyone gets into a deep wine. The loins start wining, and the juice just starts slipping everywhere. It’s like the personification of pure sweaty love. Barry’s got a very distinctive voice, it’s proper baby making jiggery pokery. It’s a weird voodoo thing he does with arrangements, and the quality of his production. He may be dead, but when the clock gets to midnight he comes back to life.

 

Marvin Gaye “Sexual Healing”

 

This shouldn’t need any explanation. It’s the honest slimy truth but I wouldn’t say Marvin was slimy. I’d say that this tune is good for slimy moments, the vocals are quite cheesy and brash in a sense. I think many men would be very scared if they were being seduced and ‘Sexual Healing’ started to play. When I’m ina slimy mood I usually play dancehall.

 

Chaka Demus “Give me Poonanny’

 

I must have heard this in ’85 or ’86. It’s one of them dirty tunes. All he basically says is ‘Give me poonanny’, I want poonanny’, any poonanny’, china poonanny’, big poonanny’.’ Jesus Christ man. It’s over the top. He might have just said, ‘I want to fuck, I want to fuck, I want to fuck!’ But he didn’t, he said ‘Give me poonanny’. Poonanny has been a word that’s been in my vocabulary forever. Pum-pum is more life giving. Poonanny is more about fucking.

 

Roots Manuva “Buff Nuff”, Big Dada, 2008

 

I’m in the King of Corn mode, and this is a real corny chat up tune. It is very specific to the slime scene. There’s a desperation in the lyrical character that I’m trying to play. Anyone that can say, ‘I’ll bust a wheelie for you’ when they’re trying to chat someone up has got to be pretty corny. And I’m not even that good at wheelies!

© TIM NOAKES 2008