Kid Capri

New York-based DJ, producer, and rapper Kid Capri helped originate the hip-hop mixtape format and earned broad respect across the music business. As a youngster he began scratching and mixing records, soon performing at the iconic Studio 54. He built an underground following by selling cassettes of his club sets, then made his recorded debut with the 1991 Biz Markie-produced album The Tape. Capri went on to produce tracks for KRS-One and Heavy D while serving as the DJ for the HBO series Def Comedy Jam. His follow-up, the 1998 release Soundtrack to the Streets, adopted a mixtape approach and included appearances by Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, and Busta Rhymes. He maintained an active schedule touring and recording with major acts spanning several genres, and he supplied music for award shows and other prominent events. Through his own No Kid'n Records imprint he issued occasional mixtapes and singles, finally returning with the studio album The Love in 2022 after a twenty-five-year gap. That same period saw him produce Hidden Gems, the 2023 debut from upstate New York duo the Hoodies.

Born David Anthony Love, Jr. in Brooklyn and raised in the Bronx, he first experimented with scratching on his father’s stereo at age eight and quickly moved on to block-party sets. By his twenties he was working major venues such as Studio 54 and generating thousands of dollars nightly from cassette copies of his mixes. In the early 1990s he joined Cold Chillin’ and issued The Tape, where Biz Markie handled production with co-production from Cool V, highlighting Capri’s own rapping. He joined KRS-One’s H.E.A.L.: Civilization vs. Technology alongside Run-D.M.C., Queen Latifah, and L.L. Cool J, and his regular appearances on Def Comedy Jam brought wider attention to hip-hop turntablism. Demand grew throughout the industry, leading to sessions with Quincy Jones, Mary J. Blige, Nas, and many others. After touring with Puff Daddy & the Family in 1997, he signed with the Columbia-affiliated Track Masters, which released Soundtrack to the Streets in 1998; the project reached both the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts and featured Jay-Z, Slick Rick, Foxy Brown, and Brand Nubian. He hosted segments on MTV and BET, served as featured DJ and announcer at the 2000 Source Awards, and took part in VH1’s Hip Hop Honors in 2004. Additional credits include the 2005 Diana King single “Get Me@ This Party,” the 2010 mixtape Old School Mix Tape on No Kid'n Records, a 2012 remix of Madonna’s “Masterpiece,” and narration on Kendrick Lamar’s 2017 album DAMN. As a solo artist he stepped up activity in the early 2020s, issuing The Love in 2022 with guest vocals from his daughter, R&B singer Vina Love, before producing the Hoodies’ Hidden Gems the following year.