Hailing from an era still ripe with optimism, Nate Tinsleys sole EP on Music Station, under the moniker Nathaniel X Project, is one of the dopest 12 inches of the 1990s. Embodying the now fading dreams of a whole generation of club children, the veritable political program was everything deep house strove to be: aspirational, socially-involved, visceral dance music with raw sincerity and unashamed soul.
“Gotta Get Over,” “Free Yourself” and “Get Up” are special, benchmarks eluding to a temporality and circumstance as much as enviable equipment and technique. Deep organ pads, sagely arrangement and supremely swinging rhythm patterns form the backbone of Tinsley’s now legendary explications on the eternal truth of the underground club gospel—these songs work, and continue to resonate with us; behind the cliches lies the shining light of a naked, nearly extinct sincerity. Whole folk cultures have been built on these words. Deep house music was one of them. So much more than the “love and happiness” dribble, Nathaniel X Project’s EP sounded and spoke confidently for a whole society getting off outside the stale and jaded mainstream, when “underground” meant something more than another pre-ordained lifestyle choice sanctioned under the ever present gods of exchange. Forever under its sway and adherents since its original release, Slow to Speak have licensed and reissued this masterpiece in its full splendor, a pinnacle of the NY/NJ house sound and beyond. “Oh my people, We’ve gotta get over, Before we go under.” If ever we’ve needed Mr. Tinsley’s words and this music, it is now.
| A1 | Gotta Get Over |
| A2 | Gotta Go Dub |
| B1 | Free Yourself |
| B2 | Get Up |
