Herbie the Mastermind

Who is Herbie the Mastermind?

Herbie the Mastermind is a DJ who has worked under a variety of pseudonyms, including The Rapologists and Mastermind. He is most famous for mixing the Street Sounds collections of early electro, as well as for a variety of remixes over the years.

In 1983, Herbie was mixing the seminal Street Sounds Electro 1, for label owner Morgan Khan. It was one of the first releases to bring this new style of music to British ears, and spawned a successful series - ten volumes were released by the time of the final volume Street Sounds 10 - and several similarly styled associated collections. Khan was brought a track produced by Greg Wilson, "Style of the Street" by Broken Glass, which Khan appreciated so much he decided to put out an album called Street Sounds UK Electro. In order to create the impression of a thriving UK electro scene, Khan asked Greg and his group to come up with six tracks under a variety of pseudonyms for the album, whilst Herbie also created a track for the album - "Hip Hop Beat", under the pseudonym of The Rapologists.