The story behind Great Weekend’s dazzling debut for Wurst is one of those serendipitous moments that have characterized the label’s exciting history to date. Late last Fall, Wurst label boss received an email from longtime friend and one half of the Brooklyn-based, renegade-party- throwing Mister Saturday Night DJ duo, Justin Carter. He had reached out to Roy regarding a song called “Khandoit” by his friend Tone aka Master Khan. Roy immediately fell in love with it, and promptly met with the man to discuss doing a Wurst release.
Fast forward a few months, and Roy stumbled upon the MySpace page for Master Khan’s Great Weekend project. Roy discovered “That’s Where It’s @”, a party-rockin’, futuristic house cut with a nod to Frankie Smith’s “Double Dutch Bus”, and again, promptly connected with Tone to discuss signing it. Tone mentioned that he had another song based on the same groove, and sent Roy the demo of “It’s Now”. Now Roy is typically given to hyperbole and excitement, but this song just blew him away, what with its infectious bounce, shimmering synths, and above all, sultry, male R&B vocals. Who was this mystery man? Tone kept the identity of the singer a secret for as long as possible as he knew Roy would freak out, and freak out he did! As it turned out, it was none other than Justin Carter singing on “It’s Now”! He had kept his vocal talents more or less hidden since over half a decade ago, when he put a pause on writing and performing to focus on DJ’ing and broadening his knowledge of music. Was it worth the wait? You bet your arse it was!
Great Weekend is the brainchild of Anthony Khan aka Master Khan. The Chicago native - and Chaka Khan’s nephew (!) – spent his formative years dancing at Ron Hardy’s Music Box and Powerhouse, Frankie Knuckles’ Warehouse and Lil Louis seminal, as well as producing his first tracks with Armando and Mike Dunn. Tone then went on to become Common’s first producer and DJ and to this day still works with the hip hop great. In 2000, he creates Great Weekend to transcend the confines of genre and to depict the feeling and attitude implied in phrases such as, “Thank God it’s Friday” and “Living for the weekend”. Everyday is Saturday when ou are living your purpose. This is when life is the ultimate vacation... Great Weekend in practical terms is a collective of musicians, performers, artists, disc jockeys, style aficionados and other interesting characters whose passions span music, art and fashion. Master Khan is the grand conductor of this movement. Welcome to his sound and his vision.