Features

With the name South Rakkas Crew, it’s some kind of West Indian slang term. What does it mean exactly?

Dennis ‘Dow Jones’ Shaw: It’s really ‘rockers’. Rakkas is the way we pronounce it. When I used to DJ at parties, we used to call reggae music ‘rockers’. We would put in on flyers that we were going to be playing hip hop, r’n’b and rakkas. When we were looking for a name to start the company, we thought rakkas would be a cool thing. We were in Florida at the time, so we thought South Rakkas.

You guys have been getting a lot of props from press like XLR8R, Pitchfork and the Guardian. They all say things like you’re breaking new ground and pushing boundaries. Did you set out to do things differently and shake it up or did it just turn out that way?

It pretty much turned out that way, but I knew when we came out, we would be doing different things, there’s the combination of the urban sensibility that I have, along with the pop sensibility that Alex Greggs possesses. We both came from Toronto and we’re surrounded by multiculturalism and all these different genres of music that influenced us growing up. We didn’t want to be constrained by any labels, we wanted to be coming out with some cool stuff.

So you both grew up in Toronto?

Pretty much. I was born in Jamaica and grew up just outside of Toronto. Alex grew up in Toronto. Living there you go through a lot of phases of music. You go through hip hop, house music and that whole jungle thing. Just everything. You can hear that in our music.

You met at a recording studio, is that right?

When I came out of college, I started working at a studio in Toronto. I already knew Alex, but it wasn’t until I was at the recording studio, we became friends and really got to know each other.

Can you tell us a bit more about your creative process? Where do you get your ideas from? Do you just sit down and throw it around, or is it more methodical than that?

It’s really not too methodical. I find that when you over think things, it ruins the creative process. It can work at times, but it makes the work harder. Our best work comes when Alex calls me in the middle of the night and I think that’s cool and I chop it up and work on it a bit more. Or I come up with an idea and Alex works on that. Sometimes Alex works through the night and comes up with different ideas and I’ll like one of them and start recording vocals on it or whatever. The best work is when you have that freedom to play around and do that until you come up with something cool. That’s as far as creating new music. When we have a remix to do or doing something specific in a studio, that’s when we have to come up with ideas or we just bounce off each other.

Well we’ve all heard of Mad Decent, otherwise known as one of the best labels on the planet right now. Do you work closely with Diplo? How did you come to be signed with Mad Decent?

We’re not actually signed to Mad Decent, but we’re definitely affiliated. We’ve put out two projects through Mad Decent and that’s the relationship we have. I’ll call Wes (Pentz- Diplo) and say we have something we want to put out or he’ll call us with something to work on. There’s a remix we just did with him. It’s not an actual contracted thing, we’re just cool with each other. How that came about was that M.I.A. wanted us to do a remix with her for her song The Land and she called up because she was a fan and we did some work with her. She was down in Miami and she called up and said come and have dinner. It was there that we met Diplo as he was her boyfriend at the time. For months after that, he’d call us up every once in a while and we should do something together. You should let me put something out of yours and eventually we did.

I was going to ask if you could work with any one of the artists on Mad Decent, who would it be?

All of the artists on Mad Decent are dope artists. I love DJ Sega, Jaimie Fanatic, they’re all great. I wouldn’t put one above any other really., They all come up with dope material.

Having worked with some of the biggest names in pop, including Michael Jackson, does that translate into the South Rakkas sound and experience? Does it have any impact at all?

It does indirectly. The whole pop thing is more Alex’s frontier. He came down to Florida before I did. He moved down and then I moved down a year later. He’s worked with Britney and all those pop artists. The sound has been polished, but I’ve come from a more urban background and it’s dirtier. Even when I chop up songs I come from a DJ point of view. When we both come together, it becomes that South Rakkas sound. The  pop sensibility does have an effect, like knowing how to arrange a song in a pop format that can work and has a strong hook and choruses and has things lead out. Having a polished sound that’s nice and clean and good technical production with the levels being where they are meant to be. It has a big sound and can stand up and that’s where it definitely helps.

Like you said before, you were born in Kingston, did you grow up there?

I was born in Kingston, but left when I was 6.

Obviously, the dancehall vibe forms a major part of your sound like you were saying, that dirtier sound of South Rakkas crew. If dancehall is your first love, what’s a close runner up music wise?

I would say hip hop. Between dancehall and hip hop, it’s everything. I can’t really say dancehall is my first love, because it doesn’t really work like that. I remember growing up and listening to my fathers records, which was old school reggae, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. I also listened to disco, because I grew up in the 70’s. Then in the 80’s, it was hip hop and I went through a crazy b-boy stage. I was break dancing and all that stuff. If you talk to a lot of people in Toronto, they all have the same kind of story. They all went through these stages of music. If I sit here with my iPod and listen to songs I love and that are nostalgic to me, I’m going to be listening to some classic house, old school hip hop, old school dancehall music. I mix and match everything. It’s the same thing when I DJ or when I sit down to do production. That’s the kind of things that are running through my head. Dancehall and hip hop are my first two real loves.

Obviously South Rakkas crew are very much about the party and is danceable music. There are elements of disco and pop and all kinds of things. I was going to ask more about your latest album Stimulus Package. How long did that take to make?

Half the album we had already as a work in progress for a year and a half. We were sitting on that and Alex was doing production and I was touring and we were trying to figure out this new album that we wanted to put out and when. The last four months before we dropped it was when we really went in and finished the second half of the album. It didn’t really take that long. With us, we don’t really have a problem creating the music, it’s everything else that happens around that. Things like which album are we going to drop it on, what’s the timeline, how we are going to promote it and when we would set up the tour and the best time of the year to drop it. It’s all those other things, not fear of finishing the album. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense and you don’t have that push, because you don’t know exactly when it’s going to drop. But I think if someone listened to us, they wouldn’t know when we produced each track, because we stick to a unique way of doing things and it doesn’t get dated.

It’s not trend based.

Exactly, It’s all different.

So you didn’t compose a lot of it this year. It’s been over the last few years. What was it like to do an entire album of your own material under South Rakkas Crew, because you have done a lot of remixes for other artists. Do you think the album captures everything you wanted to be and where South Rakkas Crew is at right now?

Yeah, well we could still keep going and do an album of 30 tracks and do new things and capture more of a personality. We’re still limited by how many tracks we can make and the time constraints but we’re very happy with it. I love the album myself and the way it came out. I can’t wait to make the next one and I’ve been thinking about it.

Is this the first one? The first full length?

We’ve done what’s considered an EP with all the remixes on it. Before that, we dropped riddim albums and concert albums. In total, South Rakkas has dropped maybe ten projects. Some were only released in Japan and some were released in Jamaica. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the concept of riddim albums. It’s one instrumental with twenty different tracks or artists doing their own take on a song. It’s really a dancehall phenomenon, with DJ’s juggling songs. It’s a different kind of concept. I know people that aren’t in the dancehall world probably aren’t familiar with it. We released a few of those and that’s how we built South Rakkas and the dancehall market before we started dropping albums.

Did you start out doing all your live shows in Jamaica?

Not at all. We really started off in Europe. We were producers. I would go to Jamaica all the time and record artists. What happened is that we were getting so many requests to DJ and I would have to keep telling people we’re not DJing and we’re not a live sound, we are producers. After four years of constant requests I thought about it and thought we should get out there and see what’s up. I used to DJ when I was a kid.

Yeh I read about that, that you used to DJ for a while growing up.

So that’s how it all came about, it’s only been three years, since I started DJing again and started going on tour.

Do you like Djing more to get that instant crowd reaction? Do you like Djing or producing more?

The grass is always greener on the other side. Now that I’ve been DJing I kind of miss what’s been going on back in the studio. It’s the same thing for Alex. He’s sitting in the studio and he wishes he was out there DJing. I am like you know what? We should just flip for six months and you go and DJ and I’ll stay in the studio. The grass is always greener. Everyone thinks it’s great to be touring and travelling from city to city every night and it’s tiring. It’s work.

I have heard that, that it’s tiring. But I guess you get to see a lot of the world.

Yeah, it’s fun for the three hours you are in the club and you have fun and you party a bit with the people and then it’s great. But then the other 21 hours a day when you are on the plane and you are sitting in a hotel and a lot of the times you don’t get to see a country when you get there. You see an airport, a hotel, the club and then you’re back to the next city. It’s not always all fun. I’m glad with this trip to Australia we get to spend a week in Melbourne.

That’s where we are. We’re in Melbourne. You’ll have to come and say hello.

That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to be smart about it. I’m going to meet people at the club, get some numbers. I’m going to be here for a week and I’m going to try and hang out and see some of the sights. Australia is my favourite place to visit.

Really? In the entire world?

I guess I shouldn’t say that, but it really is. I have the most fun and the crowds in general in Australia are great crowds. The people really come out to party. Some countries are into a really specific type of music and I have to look out at the crowd and speak to that. The people on the left might be into hip hop, because when I play hip hop they’re all jumping up and down. Then when I start playing electro they were quiet and the electro guys were jumping up and down. In Australia they want to hear good music and they want to party and they party hard. I love that. It’s just the attitude.

That’s very true. Everyone love to party here. What’s your favourite thing to do in Oz? What did you get up to last time?

I didn’t get to do much outside of DJ’ing. I remember when I was in Perth I got to go down to the beach and it was beautiful. It was a little bit cold, but it was a beautiful beach. Outside of that, I didn’t get to see much. That’s why this time around, I want to take some time and go around and see some things. I don’t know what there is to see.

There’s a lot to see.

I didn’t get to see a kangaroo. I’d love to see a kangaroo. That’s what everybody wants to know when I go to other places. Did you see a kangaroo?

Someone should take you for a drive to see some kangaroos. The next thing I was going to ask is do you have any other releases coming up soon?

The last couple of months, I’ve been getting a lot of requests to play the US and Canada and a lot of the shows promoters are requesting us to play dubstep sets.

Dubstep is massive.

It’s weird, because I don’t consider myself a dubstep DJ. I guess we kind of fit in that realm. In the next album, we will look into maybe dropping some hard dubstep. If we’re doing dubstep it has to be something special.

It has to be South Rakkas Crew dubstep.

We’re definitely going to do something a little but special and different. That’s the only thing right now. We haven’t given it that much thought, except I would like to realise something in the US spring. I’ve just been kind of brainstorming thinking we definitely need to put some dubstep in there, because people seem to be definitely on it over here.

Dubstep has spread everywhere. It’s gone absolutely mental. Everyone loves it.

I haven’t been to that many dubstep shows. It’s a weird thing. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a party that was all dubstep. I’m interested to see how those parties are going to go.

Just to wrap it up, what’s your advice. I’m going to a South Rakkas Crew party, what should I bring?

Just bring yourself and help with the mentality of having fun. Realise we are very approachable. Come up and say hi, if you want to come up and say hi. I always try to come to shows early and hang out with people. Even after our sets, I stay and try and have fun. I like hanging out and getting a vibe from the people. If you have requests, request them. If you have something to say, say it. We’re all about having fun. I’m coming out with MC Serocee this year, so it’s going to be different. We’re going to do some live songs from the album. It should be real cool.

So don’t forget to bring along kangaroos, so you guys can hang out with kangaroos.

(Laughs) Yes.

South Rakkas Crew hit Australia starting with Sydney next Friday. Stimulus Package is out now via free download through Mad Decent and of course feel free to try your luck at grabbing a free double pass to SCR in Australia by hitting our current competition here.