Tommy "TNT" Brenneck has been trotting the globe with the likes of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Amy Winehouse and the Budos Band, and as if that weren't enough, Brenneck and some fellow soul purists took their lo-fi aesthetics to another level with a new venture: the Mehanan Street Band. Brenneck's production deep soul debut is merely a 7" -- titled 'Make the Road By Walking' -- recorded modestly in his bedroom on Mehanan Street in Bushwick -- which is what the band is all about. And then Jay-Z came knocking."It was a fluke," Brenneck explains to Spinner Jigga's use of 'Making' for the rapper's 2007 smash, 'Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)' from the 'American Gangster' album. "Diddy's production team the Hitmen picked up the 45 at Big City Records and Diddy and pitched it to Jay-Z."
Brenneck quickly found himself in Hova's studio, listening to fresh verses of his instrumental jam. "I had to approve lyrics about drugs and alcohol over the track," Brenneck says. "I asked him if he would shout out the Mehanan Street Band and he laughed at me. Meanwhile, he does the song as an encore with some corny band that plays the bass line all wrong. If the next 10 years of hip-hop is going to be sampling white kids is in Brooklyn, lets collaborate."
While collaborating with Grammy-winning rap mogul wasn't too shabby, the most rewarding part of the project was getting a call from the principal at P.S. 20 in Bushwick, who was looking for the origin of the sample for the music department. Little did he know that it originated only five blocks away.
The Mehanan Street Band is primarily a studio project on Dunham Records. Brenneck, however, plans to grow the effort into a full band comprised of members within the Daptone family.
Menahan Street Band, 'Make the Road By Walking'
Jay-Z, 'Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)'
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1. dope track
Kyle at 6:02PM on Jan 16th 2008