Remembering Chicago’s Legendary DJ Amar

We received word this morning that Chicago house and techno producer Amar Herron, aka the Legendary DJ Amar, has passed away.

DJ Amar was known primarily in Chicago. He should have been better known worldwide. The first records I heard from him (and maybe the first he ever released) were two bad-ass ghetto house splits on a label called Ice Box, one of many short-lived ghetto house labels of the era that would release a title or two and then disappear. The first was called Workstation No 5 (with DJ Slick Rick “Da” Master) and, the better known, Getto Style/Konfused Konfliction with DJ Funk. The latter featured raunchy mid-’90s Dance Mania-style tracks like “In Her Mouf (Rated XXX)” and the verifiably insane quasi-pastiche of “Magic Feet”/”Video Clash” called “Playstation CD-Rom (Video Game)”:

The name “Konfused Konfliction” was later appropriated for Amar’s digital label, which released its most recent record just two weeks ago. All in all he released music on David Moran‘s David Moran Worx, Phunk Junk, Roman Zawodny’s UKR and more.

Zawodny, Jerome Baker, Robert Armani and other friends paid tribute to Amar today. Zawodny praised Amar as a “deep thinker, an extraordinarily talented soul and your music will stand the test of time.”