Mehdi Favéris-Essadi (20 January 1977 – 13 September 2011), better known by his stage name DJ Mehdi, was a French hip hop and house music producer and DJ. He was signed to the label Ed Banger Records, founded by his friend Pedro Winter, in which he released in 2006 his album Lucky Boy, also the label's debut album.
Biography
Mehdi was born of Tunisian background in Hauts-de-Seine, the northwestern suburbs of Paris.[1] He was a former disc jockey of the groups Different Teep (ex-group of Manu Key [fr] and Lil Jahson), Idéal J and former member of the collective the Mafia K'1 Fry. He was also a long time the quasi-appointed producer of the group 113 and carried out nearly all the production of the albums for Different Teep and Karlito. Amid his work, Mehdi had remixed various electronic acts and composition soundtracks for many French and international films.
After having been recognized for his efforts and budding into one of the French underground hip hop music scene's premier producers, DJ Mehdi henceforth pushed boundaries by mixing hip hop and electronic music. He collaborated with such notable artists as Daft Punk, Cassius, MC Solaar, Futura 2000, Asian Dub Foundation and Chromeo among others.[2] "Coming from a rap music background, it's always nice to collaborate within other music genres…Paris is very inspiring because a lot of people are making great stuff, music and in other arts related fields also. My music and philosophies revolve around beats and blues, that's how I would try to describe it."
Signing to cross-genre label Ed Banger Records, Mehdi and Pedro Winter (aka Busy P) were working on various disco-hop sounds as far back as 1997. Together they hosted a very successful monthly night at former Paris nightspot Pulp. "I like to be the DJ, I love it so much. I love to try new things. You would never get into this business to be bored, or you would hope not."
Mehdi released his first full-length LP in 2002 The Story of Espion, followed by his second album, Lucky Boy, in August 2006. The popularity of cross genre hip hop into such areas as indie and electronic music, popularization by Timbaland and other labels from the United States in more recent years helped to bridge the gap between dance genres.
Mehdi's single "I Am Somebody" was used in a 2007 American commercial for XM Radio. More recently, DJ Mehdi was part of a group of friends and DJ's collectively known as "Club 75" which includes Cassius, Busy P and Xavier de Rosnay (Justice). In 2010, he launched a project in collaboration with Riton, a close friend, titled "Carte Blanche [fr]".
Mehdi, being a fan of the late J Dilla, created a mixtape tribute entitled "Loukoums", which was released in 2006. The mixtape is based on the concept of J Dilla's instrumental album Donuts, released the same year. In regards to the mixtape's direction, theme, and concept, Mehdi stated:
"Based on the DONUTS album concept, these are demos, out-takes and unreleased gems from various records I worked on before and during the making of LUCKY BOY, my next album. Stuff comes from MEGALOPOLIS, 113 DEGRES and SHEITAN soundtrack mainly, but some is older too. Hope you enjoy these rough mixes and un-polished sounds, as I pay hommage to 'one of the greatest minds to ever make beats': Mr. James Yancey, better known as JAY DEE, also known as DILLA."[3]
Since the death of DJ Mehdi in 2011, this mixtape (initially pressed in 200 copies for promotional and family framework) is now available for free on the Ed Banger Records' Soundcloud page.[4]
Death
Mehdi died on 13 September 2011, when the skylight of his Paris home collapsed while he was celebrating Riton's birthday with a group of friends on the roof. Mehdi was the only fatality, while three others were injured.[5][6]
