Masters at Work is the American garage house production and remix team of "Little" Louie Vega and Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez. The duo has produced music together under the names MAW, KenLou, Sole Fusion, Hardrive, and Nuyorican Soul. They have been referred to as one of the most influential artists in the history of house music.

Biography

thumb|left|The moniker was loaned to [[Todd Terry (pictured) for his 1987 singles, edited by Mike Delgado, and Franklin Martinez.|150px]]

In the late 1980s, Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez organized a series of block parties with his friend Mike Delgado under the name Masters at Work. Gonzalez loaned the name to Todd Terry for his 1987 singles "Alright Alright" and "Dum Dum Cry", with editing by Mike Delgado and Franklin Martinez. Terry had attended Gonzalez's parties and became influential to him. When Vega was hired to mix one of Terry's freestyles, this eventually led him to meeting Gonzalez.

In 1993, the duo also created the Nuyorican Soul moniker, blending their residence in New York City, Puerto Rican heritage, and affinity for soul music. Their Nuyorican Soul project had the duo working extensively with real (as opposed to sampled or synthesized) musicians, in a variety of styles including Latin, disco, jazz, and more. Musicians who took part in this project included Vincent Montana Jr., Roy Ayers, George Benson, Jocelyn Brown, Tito Puente, and members of the Salsoul Orchestra.

They have been nominated three times for the Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical. Resident Advisor referred to the duo as potentially "the most influential pairing in the history of house". The song's "Ha" on the four-beat "intertwines with ballroom's ‘dip’ element of basically falling to the ground in a dramatic or soft way."

Discography

DJ Magazine top 100 DJs list

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

! Year

! Position

! Notes

!

|-

! scope="row"| 1997

| 15

| New entry

| rowspan="7"|

|-

! scope="row"| 1998

| 14

| Up 1

|-

! scope="row"| 1999

| 12

| Up 2

|-

! scope="row"| 2000

| 23

| Down 11

|-

! scope="row"| 2001

| 34

| Down 11

|-

! scope="row"| 2002

| 34

| No change

|-

! scope="row"| 2003

| 38

| Down 4

|}

References

  • MAW Records – official website