DJ Tara knows buildings. A deejay by night and urban planner by day, she’s spent a lifetime examining entryways, stairwells, bars, and booths. As a bonus to our main interview, Tara listed out a series of personal New York City landmarks and paired each with a song. The resulting playlist [Spotify] is a mini self-portrait that reflects on family, Saturday night radio, and rediscovering Brooklyn. All screenshots from Google Maps, grabbed on 4/25/20.01. 854 Ocean Ave: Juicy Lucy by Tabou Combo
“I spent the first 11 years of life in Flatbush, which has a very large Haitian community. My family started coming here in the late ‘60s and some— the black sheep I secretly admired —managed to pursue their creative passions. Thursdays my dad would bring fresh Haitian bread home from the bakery nearby. We’d always spoil our dinner eating that bread, it was so warm and good. I’ll forever love my parents for many things, including their never censoring our music and books. But whenever my parents would call our music “garbage”, my brother and I would immediately start singing Juicy Lucy as a reminder that the music they loved tried to emulate what we listened to. That said, Tabou Combo is the best kompas band, ever. We used to sing this as a joke, but they were jamming.”
02. 10 Grand Army Plaza: I Got It Made by Special Ed
“This was the first music video I ever saw that was shot in places I could recognize. That’s powerful as a kid. Special Ed shot this at Erasmus High School, which had a beautiful courtyard. My uncle went there when he immigrated here. It also featured Grand Army Plaza, where the main Brooklyn Public Library Branch is, was a huge treat for my brother and I. If we got to go to the big library, it was a good day. This is an iconic video: landmarks in Brooklyn in all their glory, with a dope track.”
03. 406 6th Ave: Universal Magnetic by Mos Def
406 is the three-story white building with the Dunkin Donuts down on the first floor.
“Just before my first year at Cooper Union, I took a summer course. This was my first time heading back into NYC on my own. That first day, I was heading directly to Fat Beats to see the store that held all the tunes I’d heard but couldn’t get my hands on in the ‘burbs. This was my first purchase. On tape. I would go to Fat Beats weekly for years, and was really sad when it closed up.”
04. 52 W8th St: Africa by D’Angelo
This location’s the doctor’s office on the right; I believe the main door was the one with an oval window to the very right. Hard to find a head-on shot via Maps.
“So many of my favorite albums in the late 90s and early ‘00s were recorded here at Electric Lady Studios. J Dilla, ?uestlove, D’Angelo, Common, Erykah Badu...all the Soulquarians. I can only imagine what it must have been like to spend hours and days here creating all that music. Voodoo, Mamas Gun...so many classics! I was blessed with the privilege to watch the late Roy Hargrove lay down horns for Like Water for Chocolate in those studios. I could have died right then and been happy.”
05. 229 W28th St: Just In Case by Jaheim
“I was not old enough to be in The Shadow. My friends and I were trying to go to another party but the line was down the block and there was no way we were getting in. Someone suggested The Shadow since we always listened to their live broadcast on WBLS every Saturday night. It was an “adult” club which meant women had to be 23 and men 25 and none of us were that. We got in anyway and all I remember is one friend went right into the reggae room and didn’t reappear until it was time to go. I just stayed by the bar, taking it all in. This song came on and I have never seen a club erupt in a spontaneous singalong with such feeling before or since. They were grown and they lived the lyrics. It wasn’t the club night I was hoping for, but turned out to be a memorable night.”
06. 64 E1st St: Poison by Bell Biv DeVoe
“Star Foods was the first location of the Freedom Parties, its original form. Before this,I’d never gone out to the same spot on a Friday night so consistently. Poison was one of the jams that would go off. The DJs were so dope and Rare Form [Tara’s events crew] ended up helping promote the party, earning commission off the people who came in using our name. We didn’t earn much but that money funded events we did, particularly Donuts are Forever. When they asked us to partner with them to do some Freedom/Makossa events a few years ago, I was floored. We were so honored, and had the best time.”
07. 46 Washington Ave: Hot Music by Soho
“I spent way too much time in my youth partying in Manhattan and not rediscovering Brooklyn. My best friend lived in Fort Greene and when we met and started hanging out, she knew all the great spots, Caviar Studios being one. It was way the hell north and by the BQE underpass but the music was so good and the owners displayed my friend’s art on the walls. We had many a drunken night at Caviar, and this song reminds me of dancing to house music there, feeling young and beautiful.”
08. 70 N6th St: As Serious as Your Life (Jay Dee Remix) by Four Tet feat. Guilty Simpson
“Galapagos Art Space, which later changed hands and became Public Assembly, was the location of the first and 3rd Donuts are Forever events. This was also the location of the tribute event that inspired us to do the party to begin with. That party was the first time I heard this song and realized as much as I loved Dilla, there was so much more music of his I had yet to discover.”
09. 419 W13th St: Ghana Emotion by Omar
“Best spot ever. Real heads know. The rotation of DJs every night [at APT]...even if you didn’t know them, even if you weren’t familiar with the music, it was good. The people were beautiful and were there for the music. If you didn’t want to pay a cover downstairs you can kick it upstairs and still have fun, but downstairs was the place to be. This was when I really started to pay attention to music outside of the US, really deep cuts. I never got to DJ here and I’ll forever regret that. Every time I DJ, it’s to honor the spirit of being open to music in a way that hasn’t existed in NYC since APT closed.”
Map view and playlist samples: