Puffy: The Track That Marked a Turning Point in Mason Maynard’s Career
“Uh uh girl, this is not my thing. This music is ti-ired. I’m sorry, you’re gonna have to play something else. Let me go talk to the DJ or I’m out of here. Excuse me Mr. DJ, would you play something with a beat? You know, something I can dance to? You know, something like Puffy?”
The above sequence of words is enough to give any DJ flashbacks to their days of playing unenviable bar gigs. For Mason Maynard, it surely reminds him of the opposite: the track that kicked his career into high gear.
Sampled from 95 North’s 1999 funky house single “The Request,” this spoken word sample kicks off Maynard’s 2017 tech house hit “Puffy.” Its tongue-in-cheek appeal resonates just as much with casual dance music fans as it does with the specialists behind the decks. In tandem with a chunky bass line and groovy percussion, it gave the young DJ and producer his first taste of success. Danny Howard signed it to his Nothing Else Matters imprint.
“The tune with Danny I had for ages,” Mason Maynard told Magnetic Magazine the year after “Puffy” came out. “No one could clear the sample and then Danny got his team behind it and it luckily got cleared. It’s managed to be my breakout song so to speak. It performed really well on Spotify, getting over two million streams. Surreal for an underground club track that was made in my nana’s room on the floor.”
It’s all been uphill from there. Mason has graced the stages of The Warehouse Project, Parklife Festival, and Amnesia in Ibiza while releasing on such labels as Sola Records, Repopulate Mars, and Defected Records. Green Velvet, Pete Tong, and Monki are among the artists who have supported his career.
It just goes to show you should never question the power of a fun, cheeky party track. At the very least, just make sure it’s something they can dance to.
