As Teklife grew tentacles in New York City one of the additions to the family was the duo of Drew Conley and Eddie Sergi, aka Tripletrain. Under the Tripletrain moniker, Conley and Sergi released three EPs, including last year’s notable Lights of the City EP.
Collaboration is at the core of Tripletrain and it is the heart of Teklife. The exchange of tracks throughout the crew, the collaborative efforts, is conversational like a fluent language. The samples absorbed into their speech are the lexicon. For example, if the modus operandi is stepping up one’s hustle, it metabolizes as Boylan’s “Understand ME” with its “get this money, understand me?” sample. Departed founder DJ Rashad had the ability to express his anguish through expertly chopped r&b, digging deeper into the emotional repertoire of ghettotech’s foul-mouthed origins. Tripletrain follow that lineage on tracks like “Nobody”, which features Aaliyah’s “let you know” from “Are You That Somebody?”. While, “Try To Believe” strikes a balance between sounds synonymous with urban commute and the vaporous voices in the ether that make a city alive and inspiring.
In typical Teklife fashion, Tripletrain stick to putting the family on with over an hour of their compatriots’ footwork forays. Drew and Eddie had the following comment on their mix:
We had a blast recording this mix live in the studio the other night—its a great blend of new stuff from the team, old tracks we love, and random tracks thrown in just to mix up the vibe. It’s so much fun to listen to this mix all the way to the end. Huge shout out to everybody holding it down Spinn, Taso, Earl, Taye, Traxman, Buuuu, Paypal, Ashes57, Tre, Boylan, Gant Man, Manny, Phil, Heavee, Feloneezy, Jackie Dagger, Chap, Sirr Tmo, Hesk, Hank, Juke Bounce Werk crew, everybody else and of course to DJ Rashad, our chief, rest in peace.
Tripletrain has plans for albums on Noumenal Loom and ARAÇÁ RECS in 2015. You can hear more from Tripletrain on their Bandcamp.
“Low-Tek NYC Mix” tracklisting:
01 Tripletrain, “Try To Believe”
02 Taso x Earl x Tripletrain, “Bombaclot”
03 DJ Earl, “I Don’t Know”
04 Hesk, “Show Me Love Remix”
05 Sophie, “Lemonade (Paypal Edit 15)”
06 DJ Earl x DJ Taye x Manny, “Slick Shoota VIP Da Real Indianshxt”
07 DJ Earl x Heavee, “Kant Stop”
08 RP Boo, “Speakers R 4”
09 Taso, “Today Was a Good Day VIP”
10 Tripletrain, “Summertime”
11 Rashad x Taso x Machinedrum, “Seasea rmx”
12 DJ Manny, “Messup Ur Mind”
13 Traxman, “Itz Crack”
14 Tripletrain, “Nobody”
15 DJ Taye, “Burnt (Ft. Rashad)”
16 DJ Paypal x DJ Taye x Boylan x Hank, “Love Jones”
17 Boylan, “Understand ME”
18 DJ Lil Rome x DJ Yung Tellem, “Kill Da Circle”
19 DJ Rashad, “Brokenhearted”
20 DJ Rashad, “Leavin”
21 DJ Earl x DJ Paypal, “Birds VIP”
22 DJ Big Hank x DJ Mel Gibson, “Lean n Mollys [919 Only]”
23 DJ Rashad x DJ Gant Man vs. Future, “Honest (Footwork Remix)”
24 Roni Size & Reprezent, “Jazz (Slick Shoota Edit)”
25 DJ DBK, “Grind On Me”
26 DJ Rashad x DJ Spinn x Taso, “C.R.E.A.M. VIP”
27 Nikes, “No Type”
28 DJ Rashad, “XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX”
29 DJ Taye, “Whatcha Smokin’ (Ft. Earl)”
30 DJ Earl, “Afrika Tek”
31 DJ Rashad x DJ Spinn, “Y Can’t We Smile”
32 DJ Rashad, “Let U No (Ft. Spinn)”
33 Heavee, “So Hot”
34 Boylan, “I Never Knew”
35 DJ Taye, “Hit That Weed (Ft. Earl)”
36 Traxman, “Killa”
37 DJ Rashad x DJ Gant Man, “Acid Life 2015”
38 Regent Street x The Heights, “I Aint Gotta Name For It”
39 Tripletrain, “Sith Lord”
40 Heavee, “S.S.S. (Secret Smoke Sessions)”
41 DJ Mel Gibson, “Ghost Town”
42 DJ Chap, “New Slaves”
43 Tripletrain x DJ Taye, “That Love”
