It was the break beat, reggae, funk and soul selections of Marley Marl that inspired a young Kenny "Dope' Gonzalez to start collecting wax. His crew from Brooklyn called themselves the Masters At Work, and he threw parties with friend and collaborator Mike Delgado that caught the attention of local beatmaker, Todd Terry. After borrowing the MAW alias for a couple of early releases, Terry thanked Gonzalez by lending him a drum machine. Having watched how he had cut up samples and put records together, Gonzalez recorded a series of beat tracks that were quickly picked up by the influential house label, Nu Groove.

Kenny had been working at the WNR Music Center, buying vinyl and selling the hottest tracks from across the genres to Brooklyn's powerhouse selectors. Armed with a growing library of wax to sample, he carved a name for himself as the beat smith in a prolific partnership with lifelong friend, "Little' Louie Vega.

After their exceptional and lauded NuYorican Soul album, the duo explored solo projects, and Gonzalez set up Kay-Dee Records with Scottish funk maestro, Keb Darge. This quality imprint has been responsible for reissuing some of the rarest tracks from the pair's vast collections. "There is so much great music out there that we decided to find it and bring it to the masses'. His hunger for rare wax is insatiable, and his collection today exceeds thirty-five thousand records. Known as a living encyclopedia of beats, his freestyle DJ sets are a lesson not only in impeccable cutting and scratching, but most importantly in working the dynamics of the dance floor.

"I'm not just into hip hop or beats or house, I'm into music. Everybody gets caught up in this categorising shit, but at the end of the day you've got good shit and bad shit. You've got music you can feel and music you want to throw away. I'm into going a step further than just the beat.'