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Squidge mag likes to keeps it’s ear to the ground so-to-speak, with what the ‘kids’ are up to these days. So we caught up with one of the organisers of the Yo Mama; a monthly night at CATCH in shoreditch, Bambi – otherwise known as Riki Neill told us what all the ‘hype’ was…

SM: Tell us about the night that you run…

It kind of came around because we didn’t know about any club nights in London which played Baltimore Club, so we made one! Along the way it kind of became all about good times and having fun – we always say we don’t want any heads-down-serious-faces types at yo mama – its all about grinning your face off, singing along and hyping. We also are fortunate enough to get some pretty serious dancers turning up at Yo Mama, and you often see some amazing moves! These days its not just about B-More, we take in Hip Hop, RnB, Funk, Ghettotech and a few surprises (‘Power of Love’ caught a few people off-guard)

SM: How did you get into the djing game?

Pretty simple really, I’ve always wanted to make people dance and often thought I could do a better job than the DJs I was hearing!! So I put my money where my mouth was, bought a pair of really, really terrible decks and a stack of vinyl, and taught myself how to do it! That and I thought girls would probably like me more, didn’t work. Just so everyone knows, if you want girls don’t buy decks, buy some sedatives and spike-a-gyal. (squidge mag cannot support such behaviour)

SM: What are dj’s have you seen or heard that you think are going places?

Tomb Crew are very close friends of mine and they just seem to get bigger and bigger, with a few releases on the way and an absurd amount of international dates. A couple of them play in Yo Mama but they rock a totally different vibe as Tomb Crew, much more credible and bass orientated. I’m also massively into the production of Ulysses82, a funk outfit who could get a morgue moving if you gave them two decks and a PA.

SM: Most stressful night you have ever been involved in?

I don’t know about stressed but the most worried I’ve ever been is waiting beside the booth with about 800 – 1000 people in the crowd, and not being able to get hold of the DJ I’m playing with. He’s got the only set of headphones and has left with his girlfriend. Fail. He did turn up, 5 minutes late, for a while I thought I was going to have go around the crowd begging for ipod headphones.

SM: What do you play when no one is dancing?

It kind of depends, if you’re a good DJ you should always read the crowd and try to work out what it needs to get them to pop off. We’ve got a nice little remix of Beyonce ‘Single Ladies’ which our very own J@Peg produced, that tends to always get everyone going although girls tend to get a little offended when the hook is “all my single ladies shut the hell up”. If it’s a proper dead crowd though I might have to throw on Gina G ‘Ooh Ah (just a little bit)’, its become a bit of an underground anthem. For real.

SM:How street are you?

I’m not street in the slightest. I’m so white I’m Ben Affleck. But if I need to I can keep it hood with the best of ‘em.

SM:When did you start thinking you might actually be pretty good at this djing lark?

Ha ha, you only really realise you’re ok when you realise how terrible some other DJs are. Honestly, I’ve seen people in front of hundreds of people clanging records, you know that horrible ‘trainers in a washing machine’ sound when two records just don’t fit? It happens to the best of us, and I’m not the best; but if you’re up in front of a few hundred people you need to come correct!

SM:How long before you are going to have to hire a big ass body guard?

Its not about the big body guards, its all about the little loopy ones who go straight for the kidneys. And that’s me anyway so no need.

SM:Do you do weddings and bar mitzvahs?

Only if the bride is hot.

SM:Yo mama jokes are always posted up round your nights, what was the best one you ever found?

My personal favourite is “Yo Mama’s so fat her blood type is Ragu”. Its short, sweet, and Ragu is a badman pasta sauce. Not a patch on Lloyd Grossman sauces though, they are sseerriouusss.

SM:The Yo mama night features in the London Papers online going out guide, how does that make you feel?

You know, not so great, mainly because they advertised it wrong! People, if you see an ad for a Yo Mama show which says Tomb Crew are playing – they’re not! And we don’t play jungle or garage, and what the rass is concrete? I’ve never heard of a music genre called concrete have you?! To be honest we’ve had some great press about Yo Mama which got the details right, and the fact that we’re getting asked by several bars to bring the night to them says it all – we genuinely, genuinely believe that our party is the best one in London.

SM:Sell your night in one sentence…

Booty popping, show stopping, everybody back rocking, knee jerking, stomach hurting, work it till you can’t stop working business all night long

And tell your mama to buy more biscuits I got hungry when I came round last night.

The Yo Mama night has a residency at Catch every second saturday of the month, you can find out more info here