I did a lot of writing in 2011, the most fun of it being interviews of artists. All well researched, over the phone or in person and transcribed and edited by me. It was a busy year.

My only non-Pulse interview was in March 2011 when I talked to a timid Ellie Goulding just before SXSW and her blowing up in the states. Pretty sure after those first gigs she stayed in America touring for a few months. That interview can be read here.

Out of about a dozen Pulse writers, I produced four of the top ten posts of the year, including the highest – my Tommy Lee interview. All posts including all interviews can be found on pulse.sfstation.com.

Check them all out below.

Thievery Corporation’s Rob Garza |
Big Freedia |
DJs Pleasuremaker & Senor Oz of Afrolicious |
Jubilee |
Kool Karlo |
Nacho Lovers |
Prince Aries |
DJ D-Sharp |
Mario Muse |
Fringe’s subOctave & Blondie K |
San Diego’s Sweet Cheeks DJs |
K.flay |
The Limousines’ Giovanni Gusti |
Araabmuzik |
The Californian’s John Graney |
Tommy Lee & DJ Aero |
Dallas K |
Fort Knox Five’s Jon H |
See-I’s Zeebo |
Nappy Riddem |
Rich Medina |
DJ Sabo |
Kreayshawn |
Anna Lunoe |

Gotta love Fridays. I wake up at 7am after DJing last night till 2am, grind hard in the morning, hit the park, then it’s afternoon nap time, dinner and back to the club at 9pm. For some reason I get more work done every Friday and I’d like to think it has something to do with DJing the night before, getting some creative thoughts out and going back to play more records tonight.

Every Thursday night 11pm-2am I’m at Comet Club (3111 Fillmore St., SF), every 1st and 3rd Friday I’m at Milk Bar (1840 Haight St., SF) 9-11pm and other events sprinkled throughout the month just seem to pop up. Weds, Jan 18 at Eve Lounge (575 Howard St., SF) I’ll be spinning a crazy house & hip hop set – just expect lots of BASS.

2012 is the year of music branding for me. Your brand, my music. I linked up with NY lifestyle writer and television host Wael Davis for a high spirited, dancey mix with a little bit of mainstream, some hip hop, lots of pop and even more pop house – 130bpm top 40s songs coming out strong!

We started with an idea, he added his current favorite songs, I added a few I enjoy playing when I DJ certain spots and a few drafts later we had our finished mix. It’s a great mix for pregaming before the club, partying with friends, driving around town or even, going on a run.

DJ Lil’ Elle & Wael Davis present
The Follywang Mixtape Series
Chapter 1: Attack of the She Wolf

Download the mpfree here.

Stream the mix here.

Beyonce – Countdown
Drake – Juice
Sean Kingston ft. Nicki Minaj – Letting Go (Dutty Love)
Britney Spears – Up n’ Down
Black Eyed Peas – Ring A Ling
Dev – In the Dark
Diddy Dirty Money ft. Lil’ Wayne – Strobe Lights
Rihanna & Calvin Harris – We Found Love (Intro Edit)
Kid Sister – Right Hand Hi
Maroon 5 – Moves Like Jagger ft. Christina Aguilera
Pitbull ft. Trina – Okay
LMFAO – La La La
DJ Class – I’m the Ish
Duck Sauce – Big Bad Wolf
Gemini Club – Ghost (Hey Champ Remix)
Bag Raiders – Sunlight (Armand Van Helden Remix)
Calvin Harris – Flashback
Cut Copy – Lights and Music
Lykke Li – Breaking It Up (Pocketknife’s Loosefoot Remix Extended Version)
Escort – Cocaine Blues (Hoff Remix) ft. Pase Rock
Glasser – Treasury of We (Delorean Remix)
Private – My Secret Lover

On the Morning of Friday, December 2 a brand new 2012 Chevy Sonic was delivered to my house on Haight St and I could do anything I wanted within reason until Monday morning. Best part – they called me the night before to ask if I had a preference between automatic and manual. Despite the hills in this city, of course I went for manual. No strings attached, really.

I captured the weekend on video and used the EarthMoonEarth remix of Phoenix’s “Fences” as a soundtrack. Between driving friends to work and later a DJ gig on Friday, it was time to be the DD for a wine adventure on Saturday morning. We left town by the Bay Bridge into Oakland and Berkeley, over the bridge and toll to San Rafael, then Napa, Sonoma and back to SF over the Golden Gate Bridge that night. Sunday evening we watched the sun set over the city from Twin Peaks, a great end to the weekend of exploring. There’s also a little bit of me DJing and a flyer in our hood with my name for a moombahton show at Public Works last month.

I’m adding more video to my portfolio. Let’s link up if your company, brand or website needs footage and writing content, especially for musicians at upcoming music festivals – SXSW, WMC, Coachella and more.

Enjoy the ride & follow on Twitter @djlilelle.

My song selection for the contest was choice and really built the feel for a Wale show – it was a no brainer. That energy led me to finally finishing a hip hop mix I’ve been reworking since September to post up and release to all of you! Check that below and read a lil’ about it here:

I moved to SF about a year ago after living in Wale’s hometown of Washington, DC for 5 years. I watched his career grow from mixtape master with Fools Gold’s Nick Catchdubs to the Maybach Music giant he is now. I don’t get to DJ new hip hop that I love as much as I’d like so I’m really excited to open for Wale at Mezzanine. These are some of my favorite hip hop tracks from the last couple months to bang out while cruising around or pregaming for the club.

I’m really going to be posting more since I’m pretty much DJing and writing fulltime at this point and I’ve obviously been watching the stats and seeing more hits to the site every day. I’ll give you content, I promise! No more uploading mixes two months after I finish them! Also, my schedule for December is getting filled up so if your holiday party needs a DJ, better book her soon!

Gigs this week:

Tuesday, November 22 – Opening for Wale at Mezzanine, SF @ 9PM; F*ck Yeah! ft. NVO, MC Radioactive, and my ‘DJ band’ Hella Flow with partner Phillyberg at Boom Boom Room, SF @ 10PM
Wednesday, November 23 – DJing with local acts  K.flay & A1 at The Independent, SF @ 8PM
Thursday, November 24 – It’s A Family Affair at Comet Club @ 9PM
Peep the mix after the jump. And stream from my Mixcloud here.
DJ Lil’ Elle
‘Get Crunk Stay Crunk’
November 2011 Hip Hop Mix
[56:34]

Download here.

Wiz Khalifa – Proceed ft. Curren$y & Big Sean
Cassie – Radio ft. Fabolous
Juvenile – Power ft. Rick Ross
Travis Porter – Bring it Back
Wale – Slight Work ft. Big Sean
Gucci Mane – Millions ft. Rick Ross, Rocko, & Yo Gotti
Juicy J – A Zip and a Double Cup
Jay-Z & Kanye West – Ni**as in Paris Remix ft. TI
Killa Kyleon – Bodies Hit the Floor ft. Bun B
Waka Flocka Flame – Grove St. Party
Monty $$ – Da Gingerbread Man
Meek Mill – House Party ft. Young Chris
Big Sean – Dance (A$$)
Ray J – Bananaz ft. Rick Ross
Lil’ Wayne – She Will ft. Drake
Jay-Z & Kanye West – Gotta Have It
Big K.R.I.T. – Money on the Floor ft. 2 Chainz & 8Ball & MJG
J. Cole – Can’t Get Enough ft. Trey Songz
ASAP Rocky – Peso ft. ASAP Ty Beats
Gucci Mane – Ferrari Boyz ft. Waka Flocka Flame
J. Cole – Work Out
Drake – Practice

Back in May and June while I was reading Tweets and texts from all the fam back on the East Coast discussing rooftop, poolside parties and trips to the Eastern or (South only!) Jersey Shore, it was really difficult maintaining sanity in SF. I knew when I moved here I was giving up seasons – specifically winter – but didn’t realize that summer would cease to exist as well. Our hemisphere is facing the sun, why wouldn’t it warm up? Well, in SF we continued to get the fog, wind, and cooler temps, making it one of the more painful June’s of my life. We took many trips inland to the various valleys in order to soak up as much sun as we could.

Fast forward a couple months and August hits SF along with the wonder that is our Indian Summer. The end of August, September, and October were all filled with beautiful, sunny days – mostly in the 70s but sometimes even the 80s – ensuring me that SF actually does have a summer, it just waits an extra two months to appear. So while friends on the East were closing up their pools and packing on the layers, out here we were laying in bikinis on Baker Beach,

camping on the beach in Mendocino County,

and enjoying poolside parties like the Do-Over at the Phoenix Hotel.

All the finally outdoor relaxing wearing minimal clothes was starting to have an effect on me and all I wanted to listen to was chill, enjoyable vibes. I put this mix together with a poolside attitude in effect. It’s got a touch of moombahsoul, some sweet house tunes, everyone’s favorite R&B, and a little BASS thrown in for fun and always supporting homies like Poolside, Vin Sol, 5kinandbone5, Derek ‘DJA’ Allen, and Proper Villains. Buy and support their tunes because without them, I couldn’t play awesome sets all the time.

Stream at the link below and catch the download link and tracklist after the jump.

DJ Lil’ Elle ‘Splash’ Mix on Mixcloud

For bookings and inquiries hit me up on the email.

DJ Lil’ Elle
‘Splash’ Mix
August 2011

When someone else posts one of my mixes before I post it on here I know two things – it’s a great mix and I really need to get on posting them on here and not just my Mixcloud. I usually throw them up there first, let friends have some listens, get some feedback, and then tell more people. Follow me on there to be notified when I upload! Bottom line – mad props to the homie CK aka @leninstomb over at Postcultural for repping my July mix in a recent weekend party post.

For the 4th of July weekend we loaded up five deep plus the dog in the car with way too much crammed in the trunk and on our laps for a 5+ hour drive north on I5 to Mt. Shasta, where longtime superfriend @LizSF is originally from.

We had an amazing time including a crazy rafting trip, camping in the mountains next to a stream, a huge grill feast with Liz’s family, and finally – running my first 5 mile race on the morning of the 4th. It was tough with the altitude and temperature difference since I’m used to running in SF but I finished only slightly off pace and we booked it back to SF in time to catch the fireworks at Alamo Square Park.

These aren’t songs inspired by that trip, while I would make a great folky Americana mix, but songs that kept us going – whether driving that huge distance, sleeping 3 deep in a tiny tent, and most of all, dominating in running that race. Expect a lil moombahton, hip hop, dubstep, BASS, and of course my genre of choice – crunk haus.

Stream at the link below and check the tracklist and download link after the jump.

DJ Lil’ Elle
Miles From Nowhere
July 2011 Mix

TV On the Radio – Will Do (XXXChange Dancehall Mix)
Sabo – Spock’s DeeeLite
Brenmar – Let Me Know
Calvin Harris & Kelis – Bounce (Short Edit)
Yeah! Woho! – Pushing (Canblaster Remix)
Willow Smith – Whip My Hair (Swick Remix)
Big Sean – Bullshittin (Mahesa Utara & Gianni Marino Remix)
Kanye West – All of the Lights (Cousin Cole Club Remix)
DJ Ayres ft. GLC – Got Me Gone (Nick Catchdubs x Proper Villains Remix)
SBTRKT, Little Dragon, & Drake – Wildfire Remix
Kelly Rowland & Lil’ Wayne – Motivation (Diplo Remix)
Tyler the Creator – Yonkers (Barbaric Merits Remix)
Chiddy Bang – I Can’t Stop Freestyle
Omarion & Method Man – Luke Skywalker (produced by Bird Peterson)

Download from Mediafire.

Since I cover electronic and hip hop music for local scene blog SF Station Pulse, I’ve been following this Kreayshawn phenomenon. Don’t know her story? Check out my post on her first video release, my review of her first ever live performance at SOM in May, or my recent review of her homecoming show at Slim’s this past week. Hell, my government name is even on her Wikipedia page. No clue who added it but thanks…sorta?

With everyone and their brother doing a freestyle of her popular “Gucci Gucci” I thought about throwing my hat in the ring. Never having recorded or produced a song before, I was a bit apprehensive but while spending countless hours on Turntable.fm, Tsaritsa mentioned she might be interested in joining in. We wrote verses and a hook, got together, recorded and produced, and have a fun song as a result. Yes, it’s two white girls rapping but you gotta admit, it’s not bad. Tsaritsa is on verse 1 and I’m on verse 2 under my rapper alter ego Elle da 5’2”.

What do you think? Leave feedback, I can take it and would really appreciate an honest opinion. Thinking about putting some mini songs together and an EP on my own. Have some beats I really wanna flow over so we’ll see what my trip to San Diego next weekend brings with the songwriting.

I need to stop starting all my sporadic posts with apologies for not keeping it up more often. Also, gonna drop the “Sunday” bit because we all know my Sundays are spent in the outdoors and/or cooking feasts for friends and fam.

Really though, I’ve been doing a ton of writing. Keep up with my stuff over on SF Station, including my recent interview with K.Flay on the eve of her Outside Lands performance this weekend. I’ll also be covering Outside Lands for a variety of sites so I’ll have some fun content when that’s all said and done. More news later, for now on to the videos…

HEARTSREVOLUTION‘s new track “HEART VS THE MACHINE” is a pretty little package of mindnumbing bass, creative street art, and an intro from the late, great Divine.

Watch the Throne? Pssshhhh. I was hyped up for Waka and Gucci’s Ferrari Boyz! Grimey post-2010 dirty south at it’s best.

I’ll round it out with some sultry Mayer Hawthorne; the video for his song “A Long Time” is a throwback video taken from “The New Dance Show,” his favorite as a kid. I’m not sure what’s better – the outfits or dance moves.

“I been gone for a minute now I’m back at the Jump Off” – Lil’ Kim

Sorry for a bit of an absence, I’ve been out adventuring and whatnot. Planning moves. Doing big tings. Will be more attentive in the future, promise.

Wanted to give a reminder that I’ll be DJing happy hour at Showdown (10 6th St., at 6th & Market in SF) on Thursday night from 6-10pm with $3 drinks and solid summer vibes pumping from the speakers. There will be friendly crew in attendance so come out, mingle, meet each other, listen to good tunes, and be merry. Also – i think Showdown just started some alcoholic slushie drinks for “summer” so they’re gonna be tasty too!

This is the summer jam and will definitely get played, among many other styles of music.

Requests?

I’d say the two biggest factors inspiring me to make mixes or, eventually, remixes are friends and traveling. My friends themselves make amazing music and I’m always eager to hear the new tunes they’ve delivered to my inbox or hear their opinion on the new stuff creeping into my ipod on the daily.  Traveling gives me a new outlook on things, allows me to think outside of whatever little box I’m living in at that moment, and stretch my musical interests to new levels.

That said, this mix is the product of two things. One, a visit to the Bay Area in early May by DJ extraordinaire, record label honcho, bringer of great vibes, and someone who is always encouraging as a female DJ herself, my girl Jubilee (check out my interview with her for SF Station). She actually insisted I put more work in on the house and electronic music tip and totally planted the seed for this mix.

The second is a trip we took back in April to San Diego to welcome friends home from a 6-month adventure in South and Central America. The combo of laying on the beach, the California sunshine, and actual warm temperatures compared to SF’s frigidness really helped me get in the right mood to listen to this music.

So the mix is called ’101 South’ because I listened to it a lot cruising that stretch of highway south of SF and that’s what we originally hit on our trip south to SD. It also contains songs from a lot of DC friends including Nadastrom, Tittsworth, and Starks and Nacey.

Great mix for a pick-me-up or to get your productive juices flowing and get some work done, or of course for cruising the CA highways in this beautiful sunshine. Got a lil’ bit of moombahton, some funky house, some hip house, some vintage sounding house remixes, some hip hop, some dubstep, some pop…a little of everything for every one.

Download the mp3 from Mediafire here.
Stream the track or download from my MixCloud here.

Tracklist after the jump.

DJ Lil’ Elle
May 2011
’101 South’ Mix

1 Alex Clare – Too Close (Nadastrom Moombahton Remix)
2 Adam Kesher – Hundred Years Later (Monsieur Monsieur Remix)
3 Pixie Lott – Mama Lo (Linus Loves Remix)
4 Tittsworth – Almond Joy (Bit Thief Remix)
5 Them Jeans – Balloons (Adam Tensta Remix)
6 Afrojack & the Partysquad – Amsterdam (Original Mix)
7 Starks & Nacey & Get High – The Flip
8 Rico Bernasconi vs Vava Con Dios – Nah Neh Nah
9 Over the Top – Indian Burn
10 Mia y Matias – Abracadabra (Corvin Baez 2010 Remix)
11 Gramophonedzie – Why Don’t You (Original Mix)
12 Homework – I Got One (You’re It)
13 Rampage & Nader – I Gave You Love
14 Groove Armada – Superstylin’ (Ant Brooks Re-edit)
15 Brenmar – Taking It Down
16 Trina & Mr. Collipark – Red Bottoms
17 Chris Brown – Look at Me Now (Bass Remix) ft. Busta Rhymes
18 The Cararacs – Bass Down Low ft. Dev (Proper Villains Remix)
19 MIA – Steppin’ Up (Nacey Remix)
20 Robyn – Dancehall Queen ft. Name Brand (Dillan Francis Remix)
21 Gucci Mane – Remember When ft. Ray J (Terror Danjah Remix)
22 Lil’ Troy – Wanna Be a Baller (Doc Adams Intro Edit)