Lex Records is 20 years old. To help us process all those memories we’ve commissioned remixes of key tracks from artists we love. Stream JJ DOOM - “Guv’nor” (Chad Hugo Remix) now.

Jneiro Jarel and MF DOOM turned in the JJ DOOM album after two years of recording. D attended all-day mastering sessions half a dozen times at vast expense. That summer, we shot a video for “Guv’nor” on the roof of the Truman Brewery with Ninian Doff directing. D’s old homie Steve “ESPO” Powers illustrated his lyrics for the sleeve art. Klaus Thymann shot the portraits against a London skyline.

There was an actual key for some actual cuffs. It appeared in D’s London flat after an unexplained incident. “Key to the Kuffs” might mean finding creative emancipation through his forced isolation, unlocking those shackles. The album is his most directly personal. The bars are top tier with a Byzantine matrix of internal rhymes and cross-references.

It’s the last album D released, where every aspect had his attention. He chose to flow outside the box. JJ’s beats are intense, sometimes very weird, and some are edits that D pieced together from JJ’s demos. The skits were handcrafted by metal fingers. The tight guestlist includes Beth Gibbons, Damon Albarn and Khujo Goodie.

We reached out to the Neptunes when we were putting together the remixes for Bookhead. Tumbleweed. But when we asked Chad Hugo to remix “Guv’nor” for its tenth anniversary, he was excited about the possibilities. Days later he played us four completely different demo remixes: showing off how many ways he could flip the same track. hearing “Guv’nor” over a beat that slapped like a Lord Willin’ a-side was magic. Here it is.

Daniel Dumile (RIP) was one of the most prolific artists on Lex, releasing three studio albums as lead vocalist and one as a beatmaker. We spent a huge amount of time with him in the 2010s. He’ll be missed always.