When Manny Napuri, aka Prince Quick Mix, started out he only had one turntable but that wasn’t going to stop him honing his DJ skills. Today PQM is a world-class house DJ and producer, among his works are productions with Luke Chable, Stephane K and John Creamer. But he’s been mixing since he was 13. “For the first few years I didn’t actually have two turntables… I learned how to mix using a belt drive Technics and a cassette deck”.

It’s no wonder his devotion and creativity has made him one of the most inspiring DJs and producers in the world. As time went on, his creative flair became apparent, forced to the surface by his limited means “It turned out to be a good thing though, having only one deck forced me to be creative with the vinyl”.

And creative is what he is.  PQM has a distinct style, creativity is his trademark. There was an era of hip-hop artists before most of today’s contemporary DJs came about, and they transformed the following era of dance music. Prince Quick Mix is one of these DJs, and his transition from hip-hop to house was naturally smooth.  But he has never forgotten his roots.

Starting out mixing hip-hop at house parties in Queens was the perfect scene for his style, as PQM has been, is, and always will be a firm lover of hip-hop. “I really love playing Hip Hop cause when it goes off, it goes off like no other party.” 

Operating under the pseudonym “Nubian Crackers”, Notorious B.I.G. featured some of their works as underlying rhythms on the album “Ready To Die”. PQM admits he loves to play hip-hop because he can play his underground tracks to a fresh audience “I get to introduce some of my favourite unknown East Coast tracks to this side of the world, which I find very gratifying”.

It’s this love of music that has got him so far, and all the hard work has paid off, as PQM frequently  produces music with some of the worlds greatest.  This indeed benefits his fans.  “I think working with other producers tends to bring out a positive competition amongst everyone involved. Aside from that, it gives us an excuse to show off our new ice skating tricks.”

And show off they do.  The transcendent vocals, hard-driving instrumentation and appealing arrangements that make their killer original tracks make for vivacious listening. PQMs’ current release on Spin Out records “My Parts Fall Out” is a Breaks tracks, hailed as the next “You Are Sleeping”.

In true PQM style, it has that quirky lyric to get you smiling as you wiggle your butt on the dance floor. “I’ve had that vocal for a number of years, while “You Are Sleeping” had a darker tone, this new vocal is just plain twisted and good for a laugh… not only that but it doubles as the perfect pickup line… “I bend over to pick up the paper… and My Parts Fall Out!”, The ladies love it!”

Adding to his list of favourites are his works under the alias “PQM Project”. “Mainly cause it’s the name I used for some of my favourite projects, those being “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You”, “Mellow” as well as “Aenema”.  PQM advises that this is the name he will be using for all of his future projects. “I feel some of my strongest stuff is yet to be released”. Where exactly did that name come from? Prince Quick Mix is a metaphor for his dynamic control of the turntable through breakneck speed.

So what can we expect for the future? “In September I’ve got the release of “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” coming out on Abducted Recordings, which features a new mix of mine and one from Marcus Schulz”.

The next release from PQM on Spin Out U.K is a track titled “Over The Edge”, it is an original song that features the vocals of Matt Peri, who “is an amazing musician & vocalist that I’ve met in Melbourne, we’ve started a band called Chronik so you can definitely expect more work from us”. We can also expect two upcoming releases on Institution Records. One is a remix of a song titled “Walking Away” and the other is “They Just Won’t Let Me Be”, “which is a song I’ve done with the Grand Wizard of all that spins…Mr. Phil K”.

Added to this the release of a website in the upcoming months, and a single on Yoshitoshi, we can be sure we are going to be hearing a lot more from Prince Quick Mix. Which is the way it should be.

If you’re in Sydney you can see PQM playing a hip-hop set at Hijack on Friday July 8th, and then a tribal progressive set at Laundry on Saturday July 9th.