Masters at Work’s Kenny ‘Dope’ Gonzalez on KCRW

Written by

KennyDopeGonzalez From DJ Raul Campos:

People who know anything about my music tastes, understand my love and appreciation for dance music.

Born and raised in LA, I’ve been exposed to all kinds of different styles.  My roots as a DJ were definitely in what now would be called hip hop and rap, from the mid 80’s.  But very quickly I gravitated to house music, in particular, the fantastic energy coming out of New York.

And it’s without surprise, the names that were starting to make noise back then are now considered the pioneers of the house sound.  Producers like Danny Tenaglia, Todd Terry, Frankie Knuckles and, of course, Masters at Work are still hard at it today.  DJing all over the world and producing chart topping, grammy nominated, floor filling anthems, it’s fantastic to see these guys are still thriving and bigger than ever around the world.

So, when the opportunity came up for me to have Kenny ‘Dope’ Gonzalez in the studio, I jumped at the chance!  Tonight, he’ll be making a very rare LA appearance at El Cid for an event called Niteshift.  Kenny is, without a doubt, one of the most respected and top DJs on the planet…not to mention one of my idols and inspirations!

As one half of the production duo ‘Masters At Work‘, he too had his roots in the urban world from the mid 80’s, but very quickly made the jump to include house music into his productions.  Eventually this led him to meet his partner for more than 20 years, Louie Vega.

It’s super exciting to welcome the iconic Kenny Dope to the studios tonight for a guest DJ set and a lil conversation.  I’m curious to know what’s the latest with MAW?  Will there be a follow up to the critically-acclaimed Nuyorican Soul album?  What’s the latest and greatest with his own productions?

Tune in tonight at 11pm PST for what will be a fantastic set of music and conversation about this genre that many of us are so passionate about!

Raul Campos

Editor’s Notes: The Guest DJ set will be up in the archives here after it airs live!