5 Magazine has been blessed to have strong industry support and friendship, but one of the folks that we're really fortunate to have added to our circle of friends in the past year is DJ Lil' John Coleman. We asked the man who made so many memories for so many of us during his residency at Red Dog and other Chicago late night spots to send us a mix for the August 2007 edition of the 5 Magazine DJ Series, available in limited quantities on CD on the streets of Chicago, and, as always, free on our website at 5chicago.com/djseries.

If you were paying attention during the House Music renaissance in Chicago during the 1990s, Lil' John needs no introduction. As the buyer for Loop Records, he supplied many of the tracks to Chicago's top DJs, including Jeff Craven of Large Music, who released several of Lil' John's recordings, including The Pina Colada EP, "Red Dog Grooves" and "I'm Leaving You" by Ulysses. His most popular remixes include "Supernatural" by Chicago diva Kim English and Steve Poindexter's "Work That Mutha".

Beyond DJs and producers, however, Lil' John brought it straight to the people during his long residency at the infamous Red Dog. This was back in the day when there were few guest performers ­ just the residents banging out songs and moving the dancefloor in a way that's rarely been done before, and rarer still since then.

"This mix in particular covers the 'full spectrum' of my House style, from soulful vocals to jazzy rhythms to Latin soul," he told us. "It retains the essence of what House Music is all about: a feeling that you get deep inside your soul..."

You can check out Lil' John's hip-hop alter ego on the radio, weekdays at 5pm on "The 5 O'Clock Mixtape" show on WGCI 107.5 FM (wgci.com), or check out his House Music side at myspace.com/liljohncoleman, djliljohn.net or djliljohn@gmail.com.