In an time where the mash up has ventured into mainstream territory, one man who was a pioneer of sorts is still relevant to this day. Steve Stein aka Steinski and his then partner in crime Doug DiFranco aka Double Dee are probably best known for their infamous releases amalgamating of some of hip hop’s finest tracks from the golden era known as Lessons. Being one of the best examples of sampling, it won a remix competition in 1983 and is still well regarded in hip hop circles to this day. But due to the illegalities stemming from copyright law, it’s likely most people would have never had the chance to own it on CD. Now, after 25 years, the masses are being given a chance to hear his legendary mix and witness Steinski’s incredible talent on What Does It All Mean? 1983-2006 Retrospective.

Not only is Steinski and Double Dee’s original competition mix Lessons 1, aka The Payoff Mix included, but also subsequent Lessons; the funky Lesson 2 (James Brown Mix) and Lesson 3 (History of Hip Hop). The thing about Steinski and Double Dee is that they were so talented and forward thinking that their mixes sounded seamless, and even though you recognise most of the tracks individually, it was almost like they were meant to be melded together in that order. It was almost like they’d created a whole new song out of existing songs, something so fresh and original. Each Lesson is around five minutes long, but contains so much of hip hop’s history within it. Also part of the Steinski and Double Dee collection are Jazz, a funky mix of music and spoken word snippets from popular culture, and Voice Mail (Sugar Hill Suite), an excursion through the back catalogue of the aforementioned hip hop pioneers.

Not only is Steinski’s work with Double Dee part of the collection, but a number of his solo works too. The most controversial and talked about of these works were The Motorcade Sped On and Number Three On Flight Eleven. The former featured snippets from newscasts of the Kennedy assassination, with Steinski himself admitting it probably offended a number of people, while the latter was his sample-laden commentary in a post 9/11 era. Other notable tracks include the funky Ain’t No Thing which was one side of a 12” with J.-Rocc, and the orgiastic I’m Wild About That Thing, which was included on Coldcut’s Let Us Play album.

Also part of the package is a second disc entitled Nothing To Fear, a “rough mix” created in 2003 for Solid Steel and BBC London. It wouldn’t be out of place next to mash up albums by 2 many dj’s, The Avalanches, Girl Talk, Tittsworth or DJ Yoda. In fact, most of these artists should even credit Steinski as a pioneer who led the way for mash up to be classified as almost a genre in itself. Do yourself a favour, listen to this album, and learn some of the greatest lessons in hip hop.