After having won three DMC World Championships, one would think that a DJ would retire gracefully and rest on his laurels – happy with such a huge accomplishment. Yet six years after his record breaking winning streak, DJ Craze still batters away at the turntables, and has even come to encompass more than simple hip hop beats found in his earlier sets. Turning to DNB as a weapon within his arsenal, Craze turned heads when he decided to branch out into a faster and less well known genre in the US at that time, and set himself up as a dominant force within the DNB scene in North America – yet still retaining his hip-hop and Miami Bass roots.
“I really like drum and bass, the music and the vibe,” Craze remarks. “I think it was a progression from hip hop because the production is what caught me first. DnB production is amazing nowadays. The speed of the breakbeat didn’t matter to me it was just the vibe I got from it.”
Having witnessed first hand one of his earlier DNB sets in Boston in 2000, disappointment that he didn’t do a full turntablism set was thrown out the window as he was able to produce a DNB set that was unique in its entirety, skipping and jumping from genre to genre but maintaining the upbeat provenance that DNB installs. It seems however, that music of all styles and bites has been Crazes passion from the very beginning, and he admits that environment was definitely a factor in his musical growth, with the salt water and humidity of a Floridian upbringing.
“I’ve always been into music as far as I can remember.” Craze reminisces. “I live in Miami so my musical taste is all over the place. I grew up listening to everything from rock to salsa and meringue to Miami Bass to freestyle music to hip hop. Good place for music.”
Craze is a man who hasn’t so much as reinvented his style of play over and over, as he is someone who has integrated the various passions that drives him into a contiguous whole. “I don’t think I re-invent myself, I just like to show people other sides to music,” he says. “I like too much music for me to stay on one thing for too long.”
This personal ethos and possibly footloose genre-flit crosses over to everything that he does, which also stamps a a definite mark amongst his DJ sets. “I approach every set differently,” he admits. “I never know what kinda crowd I’m gonna get so I just wait till I get to the club to decide what I’m gonna be spinning. I do like to start my sets on a low bpm and gradually pick it up. In between that I’ll play all kinda genres.” Yet even with a seemingly mish-mash of styles, which can range form everything from hip-hop, rnb, breaks and dnb and would seemingly be off-putting in their incongruous nature, punters still keep coming back for more. “I do wonder sometimes why people like my sets. But I think it’s that a lot of people do like going to clubs and not wanna hear the same kinda music the whole night.”
Not limited to his DJ sets, Craze has always had a keen interest in the production side of music. From mix cds to scratch battle cds, his forays into the production realm have been many – and as time has passed, his familiarity of production techniques has increased. “I’m having a great time making music right now.” Craze cheerfully admits. “I finally know how to use the equipment so my ideas come out faster. I usually start with the sample or rhythm first and add the drums later to fit that.”
With DJing, and producing, it seems natural that Craze would also enter into the record label industry, which he did when he helped found Cartel records, which focused mainly on cutting edge US dnb. “Cartel is good but me and Juju haven’t been working that much on music because we’re both feeling other styles right now. We’re definitely gonna start working on some [dnb] beats soon.”
With so many laurels behind him, and with a constant touring schedule that finds him visiting far reaches of the globe, it is no wonder that Craze is in high demand for events. Yet this hasn’t stopped Craze from continuing to put himself out there via releases. “Right now I’m really feeling Miami Bass again,” Craze enthuses over his latest projects. “I got a Miami Bass mix cd coming out on Disque Primeur/Audio Research n the next couple of months. I’m also working on a Bass album with my boy Ash-rock from Hydraulix. I’m working on a hip hop project with my boy R.I.P.P.A. as well.”
Craze is, unto himself, a legendary icon amongst both hip-hop and drum and bass, and although his accomplishments are many, so to is his respect for those others of his ilk, including those of talent here down under.
“I think Australian DnB is dope right now. The production level is really high,” and for a man who has travelled through two of the worlds most definitive genres of the new millennium, his attitude remains as pervasive as his sets. “Hip hop and DnB is almost like the same thing for me,” he notes with altruism. “They both move me. Perth can expect to hear something really different when I get there.”
.jpg "Grub - Hawthorn")