Aaron LaCrate: Lily, Mark & Dizzee
Artist:
RWD
There’s a lot to love about Baltimore; M.I.A’s new chick Rye Rye, the best ever programme on TV™ The Wire and, of course, Mr. Aaron LaCrate, a man who has worked with everyone from Dizzee to Lily. Hayley Joyes catches up with the DJ, producer and remixer to get the Know How.
Firstly, we want to know about the video for your new track Know How Theme?
We felt like it was the perfect timing to reintroduce Arsenio Hall. Imagine if he gets popular from that or gets some sort of cult following? They will release all his classic work [Check the video below].
How’s Baltimore doing these days?
It’s a beautiful state, but a horrible city. It has the number one murder rate in America, it’s the number one for AIDS, number one for whatever else there is (laughs). It’s 90% black, so growing up there as a kid I was a minority. It’s a whole other story!
The music seems be getting increasingly popular…
It’s the future of dance music; it’s the perfect combination of dance music and hip hop. More housey, chopped up breaks with loud repetitive rhymes and vocals. Basically crashing and loud.
Can you give us a brief history?
Doo Doo Brown; Baltimore music used to be called >Doo Doo> music, because a lot of it grew out of Miami bass and 2 Live Crew. There was a famous song by Luke called > I Wanna Rock (Doo Doo Brown)> that had a big drum break. That ended up being chopped up and put into Baltimore club music. So it was fast but still very hip hop, almost like how your UK breaks used to be. Very hip hop but still kinda of fast.
How about your own work? You roll with Spank Rock, DJ for Dizzee and Lily Allen, remix Busta, Mark Ronson, E40 etc. How does you do it?
I have an amazing partner who goes by the name of Debonair Samir; we use heavy drums, chopped up vocals and some sort of melody in there somewhere. I was lucky enough to grow in a scene in Baltimore where it was still tiny and there were only about four or five people making records. I was a little kid around these older, super talented guys. I was soaking up all that. Guys like DJ Equaliser, who is the real creator of this genre; if you listened to a lot of his stuff from ’90, it predates the Chemical Brothers or Fatboy Slim. There are also guys like DJ Klass who sort of scooped me up when I was 12 and got me on the turntables.
Lets talk The Wire; which character do you most associate with?
Avon Barksdale, because he just stays focused on his thing regardless of his situation, whether he is in jail or out. He stays with street mentality, that is his business philosophy and he doesn’t falter. If he is given the opportunity to go legit to make more money and sell out on the street, it’s not for him. He is a very focused businessman.
How did you find working with Lilly Allen?
Yeah, I like her as a person, I think she is cool. I think she is a hip hop chick and you don’t really come across those anymore. She is proud to be who she is, and doesn’t apologise. Fortunately I’ve always been on her good side. She speaks her mind and I think there aren’t enough artists that do that. That is the reason art and music are such bullsh*t. Everyone’s like ‘Hey nice to meet you.’ I prefer someone who is like ‘F*ck you, I hate you!’ I like her music a lot; music is all about reinventing something old and no one had taken ska and put them in a pop way.
How about grime artists?
Well I am Dizzee’s American tour DJ and I was touring in America with the Newham Generals, Footsie, D Double E and Jammer. We bonded in Texas when we went to a gun range to shoot and eat meat together. I like artists that I cross paths with; I don’t really look at music too much as a fan. But we were listening to a lot of British music in Baltimore; Shut Up and Dance, Richard Russell and the Prodigy thing, the Chemical Brothers.
And you also rep Seb Chew and Leo Greenslade’s excellent yOyO in NYC, right?
Yeah, Mark Ronson and I imported it over here. He is a long time friend.
Having worked with the whole world, who’s left you’d like to link with?
Probably some one who is dead, like Biggie. A lot of the artists I respect I am fortunate enough to be connected with; I really respect Dizzee and I like Uffie and luckily we’re affiliated.
Know How Theme:
Know How Theme is out now on Delicious Vinyl. Check Aaron MySpace
RWD Magazine
There’s a lot to love about Baltimore; M.I.A’s new chick Rye Rye, the best ever programme on TV™ The Wire and, of course, Mr. Aaron LaCrate, a man who has worked with everyone from Dizzee to Lily. Hayley Joyes catches up with the DJ, producer and remixer to get the Know How.
Firstly, we want to know about the video for your new track Know How Theme?
We felt like it was the perfect timing to reintroduce Arsenio Hall. Imagine if he gets popular from that or gets some sort of cult following? They will release all his classic work [Check the video below].
How’s Baltimore doing these days?
It’s a beautiful state, but a horrible city. It has the number one murder rate in America, it’s the number one for AIDS, number one for whatever else there is (laughs). It’s 90% black, so growing up there as a kid I was a minority. It’s a whole other story!
The music seems be getting increasingly popular…
It’s the future of dance music; it’s the perfect combination of dance music and hip hop. More housey, chopped up breaks with loud repetitive rhymes and vocals. Basically crashing and loud.
Can you give us a brief history?
Doo Doo Brown; Baltimore music used to be called >Doo Doo> music, because a lot of it grew out of Miami bass and 2 Live Crew. There was a famous song by Luke called > I Wanna Rock (Doo Doo Brown)> that had a big drum break. That ended up being chopped up and put into Baltimore club music. So it was fast but still very hip hop, almost like how your UK breaks used to be. Very hip hop but still kinda of fast.
How about your own work? You roll with Spank Rock, DJ for Dizzee and Lily Allen, remix Busta, Mark Ronson, E40 etc. How does you do it?
I have an amazing partner who goes by the name of Debonair Samir; we use heavy drums, chopped up vocals and some sort of melody in there somewhere. I was lucky enough to grow in a scene in Baltimore where it was still tiny and there were only about four or five people making records. I was a little kid around these older, super talented guys. I was soaking up all that. Guys like DJ Equaliser, who is the real creator of this genre; if you listened to a lot of his stuff from ’90, it predates the Chemical Brothers or Fatboy Slim. There are also guys like DJ Klass who sort of scooped me up when I was 12 and got me on the turntables.
Lets talk The Wire; which character do you most associate with?
Avon Barksdale, because he just stays focused on his thing regardless of his situation, whether he is in jail or out. He stays with street mentality, that is his business philosophy and he doesn’t falter. If he is given the opportunity to go legit to make more money and sell out on the street, it’s not for him. He is a very focused businessman.
How did you find working with Lilly Allen?
Yeah, I like her as a person, I think she is cool. I think she is a hip hop chick and you don’t really come across those anymore. She is proud to be who she is, and doesn’t apologise. Fortunately I’ve always been on her good side. She speaks her mind and I think there aren’t enough artists that do that. That is the reason art and music are such bullsh*t. Everyone’s like ‘Hey nice to meet you.’ I prefer someone who is like ‘F*ck you, I hate you!’ I like her music a lot; music is all about reinventing something old and no one had taken ska and put them in a pop way.
How about grime artists?
Well I am Dizzee’s American tour DJ and I was touring in America with the Newham Generals, Footsie, D Double E and Jammer. We bonded in Texas when we went to a gun range to shoot and eat meat together. I like artists that I cross paths with; I don’t really look at music too much as a fan. But we were listening to a lot of British music in Baltimore; Shut Up and Dance, Richard Russell and the Prodigy thing, the Chemical Brothers.
And you also rep Seb Chew and Leo Greenslade’s excellent yOyO in NYC, right?
Yeah, Mark Ronson and I imported it over here. He is a long time friend.
Having worked with the whole world, who’s left you’d like to link with?
Probably some one who is dead, like Biggie. A lot of the artists I respect I am fortunate enough to be connected with; I really respect Dizzee and I like Uffie and luckily we’re affiliated.
Know How Theme:
Know How Theme is out now on Delicious Vinyl. Check Aaron MySpace
RWD Magazine
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