|
|
Home  Archive music profiles Record Shopping With RJD2
|
Record Shopping With RJD2 |
|
|
|
Written by Rachel McCalla
|
|
Friday, 16 December 2005 |
|
They’re like “dirge” metal that’s really, really
melodic and really pretty. It’s like Jeff Buckley singing for Black
Sabbath.
On Sunday, November 9, a new underground hip-hop group called Soul
Position came to St. Louis to promote their new album, 8 Million
Stories (Rhymesayers/FatBeats). Soul Position is made up of two
longtime friends, the highly prolific, up-and-coming producer/DJ RJD2,
and the exceptional emcee, Blueprint. Luckily, before the show’s
shenanigans, I got to sit down with producer RJD2 to discuss how he got
started producing, his next solo record, and the hip-hop scene in
Columbus. He even took me record shopping.
What are your top records for 2003?
First there is Outkast, Speakerboxx/The Love Below. I liked Queens of
the Stone Age, Songs for the Deaf, but I can’t remember if they put
that out last year. I liked NAS, God’s Son and The White Stripes,
Elephant.
Who were your musical influences growing up?
My
parents introduced me to Phillip Glass, the Beatles, and Kraftwerk.
Later, I really got into DJ Jazzy Jeff, Run DMC, BPD, Public Enemy, and
Herbie Hancock.
Who are your influences now?
There’s so
much; so much. Rich Harrison is the flavor of the month for me right
now. He did a couple of singles for mostly R&B people. He’s an
R&B producer that has figured out how to take what sounds like
underground rap singles and make them into top ten hits. He did
Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love.” He uses samples and drum loops, the kind of
approaches that you would use in underground rap, but makes it work in
terms popular music. There is so much that I like right now. It’s a bit
corny, but I like Weezer. I’m a massive, massive, massive Elliot Smith
fan. I don’t hear a lot of really good singer/songwriter people. My
friend just put me up on this group called The Darkness. I kind of like
some of their shit. There’s a local band called The Dead Sea, a
Columbus band. It’s a metal band. I’m hoping that the lead singer is
going to sing on my new album.
How would you describe them?
The closest thing I could describe them to is somewhere between Captain
Beyond and Black Sabbath. And I don’t know why those references are
going make sense. They’re like “dirge” metal that’s really, really
melodic and really pretty. It’s like Jeff Buckley singing for Black
Sabbath.
What brought you to spinning records? You grew up in Columbus, right?
I got into DJing because I was a record collector. I bought vinyl, and
I just kind of fell into it. A friend of mine needed some money real
bad and he was selling his turntables and records and stuff. I just
wanted the records, so I bought [the turntables] with the records. I
thought I would just sell these [turntables] later. But they were at my
house, so I started fuckin’ around. Then I got into it.
And then people started asking you to DJ?
No, no, no. [Laughs.] Nobody ever asks anybody to DJ; it’s a matter of
pestering people. It’s like, “Can I DJ at your house party in the
basement for 10 people?"
Did hip-hop artists start to recognize you? How does that work?
Well, no. I started as a DJ and then I progressed into what is called a
battle DJ: I started competitions and shit. And I won this competition
in Columbus. That was the first time I built some notoriety, just in my
hometown. Then I started producing in that same year. A couple months
after that, I bought my first sampler. And I fell in with this group
MHz from Columbus, so that’s how I got my first exposure doing a record.
So you produced MHz?
I was the DJ and the producer. I wasn’t the exclusive producer. I did
some beats for the group, but everybody in the group knew how to
produce.
Who else was in the group?
A guy named
Copywrite. A guy named Camu. This kid named Elliot and Jakki and Tage.
Copywrite and Camu have put out records on a national level.
Did you get recognition from the label MHz was on?
Yeah, there was a label called Ardelum that we shopped a demo to and
they ended up putting out two singles. The underground market is really
flooded with 12-inch singles right now, but at that time it was a
bigger deal.
So your success started with MHz then more and more opportunities kept coming?
Yeah, yeah, but real slow. I’d say between 1998 to 2002 it was pretty
slow. Since the day my record dropped (Deadringer) I’ve had ten times
the opportunities than I had in the first four years of me being a
producer.
How long did you work on Deadringer?
About a
year and a half. And as far as getting out of Columbus? Living in
Columbus was never a hindrance. You know, it was never a problem.
How is the hip-hop scene there?
It’s great; I miss it. In Columbus, I went out and I had friends. These
are my friends from Columbus [DJ Przm and Emcee Illogic, having dinner
with us at Brandt’s]. Now we take them out on tour and stuff, and it’s
good. The hip-hop scene is great. It feels like we all came up
together. When I first started going out in ’96, ’97, DJing and stuff,
it wasn’t shit. It wasn’t a city that anybody thought of. And now, if
you take a snapshot [then] and compared it to a snapshot today, it’s
night and day. There is so much happening. It’s like, there’s a sense
of pride that me and the people that I have come up from—my graduating
class, if you will—that we have.
Do you call your mother from the road?
Yeah, of course I do. When I remember.
When did you start working with Blueprint?
Late 2001.
Did you start working with him through Definitive Jux, the successful underground hip-hop label?
No, he’s from Cincinnati. Well, he’s really from Columbus. We knew each other from the scene in Columbus.
How did you start working with Definitive Jux?
Copywrite from MHz became friends with the guy who runs Definitive Jux, and he introduced me, basically.
You just finished this record with Soul Position. Are you going to work something else that’s solo?
Yeah; I’m working on my album right now. It’s half done, three quarters done. My next album will be out next year sometime.
Will it be like Deadringer?
Not style-wise; it’s gonna be sample-based. It’s gonna be a similar approach in terms of making songs.
Now comes the hard question.
Okay, bring it on.
A lot of people compare you to DJ Shadow. How does that make you feel? Do you feel like your work is similar?
Well, yeah, we’re both hip-hop DJs who started to do production work.
We felt a little confined by what you’d call traditional rap music, but
wanted to do more.
Really? Is that what you think it is?
I wouldn’t even say that. It’s not even that. Scratch that.
I was nervous about asking you that question. I tried to think about
why it is that you’re compared. Because you’re both white and spinning?
Is it the sampling? I honestly think it’s what you both pull, sample
wise. He does a lot of sampling the way you sample. He pulls a lot of
conversation samples, like you. Also, if you listen to Shadow’s
Entroducing, it is very moody, like your record.
Yeah, yeah. I don’t know. I’m not stupid; I know that there are comparisons.
Have you met him?
Yeah, I toured with him. He asked me to come out and tour with him last year.
What are your long-term plans?
I would like to be at a point to be able to do big, major-label rap
production shit or even R&B shit, but just do it in a manner that I
want to do it. But still be able to do solo albums. That’s one thing
that nobody really does. Shadow’s got his solo thing down; he can do
that. There’s a number of people who can do their solo thing, their
instrumental shit. But they really don’t have the ear or sensibility to
do good rap music. Ultimately, I’d like to straddle the two.
|
|
|
