Confessions on the Dance Floor: Saying Goodbye to Jeff Hinson (DJ Bite-Size Buddha)

Jeff Hinson AKA Bite-Size Buddha has played countless parties in Beijing to hundreds of thousands of fans of dance music throughout his nine years in Beijing. Though it is sadly time to say goodbye to this powerhouse DJ, who has been a key figure in spreading the gospel of funk, house, disco, techno, and just about every genre inbetween, he has left a positive impact on the soul of this city. We wanted to touch base with Hinson before his departure and find out a little more about the humble beginnings of Funk Fever, which just recently celebrated its 7th anniversary, along with his role in helping to make The Bar at Migas the hotbed of Sanlitun nighttime fun that it is today. Dear Mr. Buddha, We salute your service and will most certainly miss your record collection!

When did you first arrive in Beijing and how has the DJ and party scene changed since you first arrived?
It’s been a while. I moved here in late 2007. There wasn’t a crazy amount going on at that time. Just a lot of gnarly backstreet parties. Nanjie was really popping, across from Workers’ Stadium, along with the old Yugong Yishan. It was pretty grimy, with lots of fake alcohol and graffiti all around, and people spitting and puking all over the place. At that point in time, it was my kind of place. I had visited Beijing a few times before, and this dude I knew took me to South Sanlitun Street, and we went to the original Pure Girl where you could get a mixed drink for something like 8 kuai. There was a bunch of high schoolers there. That was one of my first going out experiences here back in the day, and I was like what is this. It was so random. Later on, I started playing at Q Bar, which was a pretty happening place at that time. Things were definitely brewing.

You're from NYC originally did you also DJ when you lived there? What from this did you bring to the Beijing scene when you started playing out here?
I grew up in NYC. For sure that influenced what kind of music I was playing in Beijing. I never actually played in New York. I learned a bit though DJing where I went to college in Pennsylvania, then a little more on the job when I was living in Qingdao. I lived there almost for two years when I first came to China.

The influence of New York is that you grow up listening to a little of everything from Latin, to hip-hop, house, trance, reggae, everything. So that eclecticism definitely plays out even now with the music I'm into. Your musical education is born through experience. I came up a lot with hip-hop in the late 80s and early 90s and that led to me getting into early funk and soul where I found a lot of the roots of hip-hop, and I got into break dancing, you listen to a lot of funky breaks from classic tracks and that bleeds out into house and other forms of dance music. I would definitely say that eclecticism was one thing I brought early on. There weren’t a lot of people playing funk, soul, disco, reggae, hip-hop, and a lot of other forms of dance music at that time. That definitely aided me with getting work as well.

Soon will be the last Funk Fever party after seven years. How did this fantastically sweaty soirée begin?
So basically there were three of us, DJs Perman, Martin Star, myself, and Suiki joined around 2011. I was playing at Q Bar. I knew Martin through there. He had heard me play, and we liked a bunch of the same stuff, like funk and soul breaks. So we immediately hit it off. I remember Perman heard me playing this song "Different Strokes" by Syl Johnson, and I saw him there with a fro, bobbing his head really into it. I’m more on the introverted side but I knew I had to say something to this guy. So I just started talking music with him. At this time there wasn’t much like the parties we were into back home. We decided to play feel good jams, those songs you’ve never heard before but wish you had. There wasn’t anything like that. So we decided to try, because what’s the worse that could happen.

We started off at Club Obiwan. We did some parties there, and the first few were great, with people dancing on the bar and doing shots. Filled with feel good mayhem. That’s what we were into at the time. Obiwan eventually went downhill. It was a tricky place at a tricky time, so we tried some new spots like Dos Kolegas. We also did a fundraiser for the Haiti earthquake. This is one of the things I’m most proud of. We turned it around in about two weeks after the earthquake hit, and mobilized a bunch of different groups and packed Yugong Yishan out on a Wednesday night, which wasn’t easy at that time. It was all local people giving of themselves to help out people in Haiti, a very distant country. Just human beings helping human beings. We raised RMB 35,000, and none of the DJs or bands took anything from that. A bit after that we moved to Migas when that first kicked off and we continued doing events there ever since.

What are a couple songs that you've played throughout your entire stay here in Beijing that you can count on getting the party started right?
That’s a tough question. For sure I have a remix of Stevie Wonder’s “Sign Sealed Delivered,” that’s usually a good one or the Jackson Sisters “I Believe in Miracles,” is a great classic B-boy track that usually gets things going. Of course, there’s some Jackson 5 or MJ tracks that usually set things off. I would say things that aren’t as oblique or in your face as playing “Billie Jean,” but a lot of tracks from Off the Wall, which is, in my opinion, his best album. There’s a lot of great music out there especially when you cross boundaries.

Being the music director at Migas and a resident DJ, what advice could you give to upcoming DJs wishing to get involved and start throwing parties?
Just love what you do. If you’re going to play music, be into it and enjoy it because it comes across not only in your selection but also in your actual performance. Migas is not a place where people raise the roof or do the air piano; we try to maintain a certain standard for the people that play here. From a basic technical standpoint, you need to be able to mix two records together. Or if there is two records that aren’t really compatible you need to know other techniques to blend stuff and make it sound good. At the end of the day DJs have the different weaponry to set the mood and ambiance, and the more you look into things the better you can convey your voice as an artist.

Practicing helps a lot and organization is something that a lot of people miss. If you don’t know your music backwards and front, or if you get a lot of music all the time, it’s unlikely that you know every name to every song and every artist who you want to look for. Semi preparing and knowing different situations and reading the crowd is also important. Make sure to observe what gets people going and what doesn’t, or what works at what situation because that is the core of DJing.

I really enjoy playing warmup sets. It’s one of the most under-acknowledged slots in the night but also one of the most important because if you don’t create that atmosphere in a proper way or whatever, your cooking won’t hit that climactic point that you would like it to. I’ve seen a lot of people botch it, and I’ve done it myself. It’s better to take your time and build things up.

What are your plans after Beijing, and what are some things you'll miss when you leave?
There were a few things that stood out for me over this time. I was at Punk in its heyday, Q Bar, the first resident DJ at D Lounge, played INTRO a few times, Modern Sky Festival, and Strawberry Festival. It has been an amazing time here. I love Beijing. I met the woman who would later become my wife here, and we've gone on to have two kids here. There’s so many things about Beijing that are amazing and things that are difficult. It’s so easy to sit around and complain. I will miss the amazing food scene and of course the chaotic party scene. Though it isn’t as developed as other places, as it lacks in the development of the underground scene, it makes up for things in the drunken voracity of the actual party scene. A lot of different people from around the world coagulate here.

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I’ll be heading to Berlin. I definitely want to continue DJing and I’ve started producing a bit. I think Berlin is a great place to be inspired in that regard. For now, nothing is super concrete, just continuing what I’ve been doing, and taking care of my two kids who are pretty young at this point. Our daughter Tamira is 21 months, and son Ridley is 6 months. I love exposing them to all kinds of music and DJing for them.

If that in the mood to dance to Jeff's collection then don't worry, you can catch him before his final farewell at these Migas nights:

May 1: Housing feat. Chopstick & Johnjon
May 6: Funk Fever
May 13: Housing feat. Marshall Jefferson
May 21: DiscoTech Vol. 2

More stories by this author here.

Email: danielkippwhittaker@thebeijinger.com

Photos courtesy of Jeff Hinson