Interview with Dj Rashad

 

1. How do we link Dj Rashad with juke ? Tell us a little bit about your personal history in the juke- scène?

It all started for me around 1997 when producers like Dj Deeon, Funk, Milton and Paul Johnson were releasing tracks on the booming label Dance Mania (DM). As a young guy, I was impressed by those tracks and I wanted to do that shit too!

At that time my cousin was a dj and we started working together on making tracks. After a while, I got in touch with Dj Nehpets and Gant-Man and we played for a radio-show called WKCC.fm. It was a cool time, but after a while we went our own way. About that time, I got to know a few people like Dj Spinn, Dj Clent and Dj Chip. Chip was releasing some tracks on Dance Mania and through him, I got my first turn on Dance Mania too on the record ?Dj Chip ? Bang Ski?.

You know, the cool thing with Dance Mania was that Ray Barney (the owner of DM) gave money for the tracks before we even sent the tracks. He was like: ?have some fun with it and make some good stuff?. Anyway, eventually I was making an EP with Clent on DM, but then it went bankrupt and that EP was never released...

 

2. At the time of DM most tracks were called ?Ghetto House ?, but at a certain moment people became calling it ?juke?, a term first used by Dj Puncho, how did he come to the word juke?

That?s true, Puncho was the first to use this name in a track, on DM... Ah well, how do people come up  with it? I think it came from something like jukebox, but ofcourse, now it?s just a word on its own.

 

3. How big is juke in Chicago actually? I see many people dancing to juke and showing off their footwork on Youtube for example, but otherwise I read the commercial stations won?t play the music, besides Power92.fm maybe?

First of all to make things clear, you got 2 different types of juke-music. There?s the footwork music, which has a more basic feeling to it and is more underground, just some tom-toms, claps, bass, kick and some short samples and that?s about it. My track ?XTC? is a good example actually.

The other type is commercial juke, so mainly r&b or hiphop-remixes.

As for their popularity, there isn?t a big difference like 60% to 40 %, but if it comes to plays on the radio, the commercial juke will be played more. You know, mostly the tracks are explicit and that?s the main reason why the underground stuff isn?t played much.

The totality of juke, so the 2 types together are really popular and most important, it keeps the kids of the street.

So it?s already popular in Chicago, but do you see it evolving in other states and countries as well?

Yeah, its also popular in other American states too, I played in Minnesota for example and they absolutely loved it! As for Europe, the fact that dj?s and producers take it up too,  like Kill Frenzy, is a good example of the popularity.

And how do you and other dj?s take it that juke is taken outside Chicago?

I?m really down with it, it?s a good way of promotion and thanks to that the oppurtunity to play in Belgium is given to me. 10 years ago I wouldn?t have dreamed about that. The fact that some Dj?s  keep hating, they are wrong man! If I gotta be honest, some people in Europe do it better than some guys in Chicago, so probably jealousy is the main thing.

So, summarizing, it?s already really popular in Chicago, becoming more and more in Europe, but is it popular enough to make a living of?

Nope, I combine it with a daytime job. Music is my life and my way to express myself, but you can?t earn a fulltime living of it. It?s mostly the same for other juke-producers.

 

4. Classic question numbero uno: what are your plans for the end of 2009, besides spinning in Belgium?

    And producerwise, what can we expect on Juke Trax Online?

 I got lots of plans with my own label, Ghetto Teknitianz. There are a bunch new young artists, Dj Remi and Dj Pillsbury. It?s some fresh stuff. There are a lot of new guys, but not always as fresh and new.

They are some plans with the label from Gant-Man too, Bang The Box Recordings.

Besides that I?ve upcoming productions with Godfather, Omega and Kill Frenzy on Juke Trax Online, so it?s gonna be a good end of the year.

5. Talking about producing, I hear many hip-hop and ghetto-producers say that they prefer ?the real deal? if it comes to making beats and tracks, so for example a beatmachine like the MPC and some synthesizers instead of software. What?s your prefered tool?

I mainly use the MPC in combination with Reason and some synthesizers.

I noticed you often use synthesizers in your tracks, which distinguishes you from most juke-producers.

Yeah, it?s just come spontaniously. I was like, let?s do try this and it worked out well.

 

6. Another tool that?s often discussed about, is what dj?s use for a dj-set. The last couple years Serato introduced itself to dj?s and from then on, it became almost a hype. How is this evolving in Chicago? Do (juke)-dj?s use Serato or still some other tools as well?

Some are using Serato, but CDJ?s (CD-players) are also still in the running. Personally I like Serato, because it?s fast, compatible with most format and it?s the future.

You see, when Dance Mania went bankrupt, there was no one to pick it up again, until Godfather and it?s cool he decided to choose for mp3.

 

7. Any last words?

Look out for dj Rashad in 2009 and 2010  and keep it juking!