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The 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System videogames that ruled the ’80s helped turn RJD2 into a kick-ass DJ and musician ready to exploit the ’10s.
“That system taught me hand-eye coordination, which is critical for music of course,” RJ Krohn, aka RJD2, told Wired.com in an e-mail interview. “Videogames were very hard back in the ’80s, compared to now.”
LISTEN: “Games You Can Win” by RJD2
A singer, DJ and multi-instrumentalist, Krohn’s 8-bit-influenced work veers smoothly between hip-hop, indie rock, electronic funk and soul. His music has been featured in videogames, films, television and commercials, and been used as the intro music for Mad Men, the hyper-popular television show about chauvinists who make commercials.
His fourth full-length, The Colossus, comes out Jan. 19 on his label RJ’s Electrical Connections, and an iPhone remix app called Touch Mix (link opens iTunes Store), created by Future Audio Workshop, launched last week.
Fans looking to catch his national tour, which wraps April 11 in Seattle, can sign onto RJD2’s Twitter feed for a chance to score free tickets and perhaps even a private DJ lesson. It’s all part of the business plan for a modern indie music entrepreneur. Krohn holds forth on mainstream hip-hop, fears of classification and the power of videogames in the list below.
Tech and life lessons from RJD2
Videogames are your friends: “Videogames were very hard back in the ’80s, compared to now. Plus, there were more problem-solving games. NES piqued my interest in problem-solving as well, which is at the heart of constructing sample-based songs for me. It’s mentally the exact same drive or discipline; also, the music for those NES games was amazing. I really think it gave me a love for weird intervals and chord structures. It’s really quite advanced music compared to the scoring for modern first-person shooters. These were all critical to what I’ve done later in life. I think my interest in all of them, if not generated from, was certainly fostered by playing the NES.”
Never classify your own work: “I never did, and probably never will,” Krohn said. “Call it what you want. I’m not too concerned with how to classify records, period. So that applies to my own as well.”
Don’t be an unpaid beta tester: “I’m actually a nut about very specific tech things, but not technology by any means,” he said. “I use an out-of-date computer to record, and purposefully stay a few generations behind the front lines of tech advances. I don’t like being an unpaid beta tester for companies, and I don’t like to learn new programs or interfaces. I own three [Akai] MPC-200XLs, because I know how they work. And I don’t need something that’s faster; I need something that is reliable and predictable. Time is the most valuable resource we all need to manage, by far.”
Advertising integrity matters: “I never thought about my music showing up in commercials, before it showed up in Mad Men, a TV show about advertising,” Krohn said. “That’s a trip. In reality, it just happened. But when it comes to advertising my music, it has to be the right fit: Something I like, something with integrity, something that’s fiscally worthwhile. The triumphs come when it works out, and allows me to buy instruments or something to better my recordings.”
Mainstream hip-hop is all about econ: “There have always been different kinds of rap music that comes from different regions, and different mentalities,” he said. “But there’s nothing that really unifies mainstream hip-hop other than the fact that it sells. Wu-Tang Clan and Gucci Mane don’t really have much in common musically. So I see mainstream hip-hop as an assessment of the economics, rather than styles or aesthetics, in art. I like Lil’ Wayne; I think he’s talented. I love Ludacris; he’s probably my favorite working rapper. They’re selling lots of records, but they don’t have much in common with Soulja Boy. Or Common, for that matter.”
Photo of RJD2 courtesy Dan McMahon
DJ Shadow’s New Site Signals New Era of Creative Control[#iframe: https://more-deals.info/images_blogs/underwire/2010/01/gamesyoucanwin.mp3?_=1]
