February 28th, 2008Blatant, open sampling
IN today’s culture of sampling in hip-hop and electronic music,fans are accustomed to producers “disguising” or hiding samplesthat they have lifted from other recordings. Artists such as DJShadow, The Avalanches and Nightmares on Wax have made sampling afine art. Usually all attempts are made at concealing the origin ofthe sample by distorting it, burying it deep in the new track orlifting samples from more obscure records.
Not South Rakkas Crew. On their latest release, TheMix-Up, the duo of Dennis “Dow Jones” Shaw and Alex “Alex G”Greggs lift from a range of iconic classics: The Jacksons’ CanYou Feel It, Saturday Night Fever staple If I Can’tHave You, Barrington Levy’s dancehall anthem Under MiSensi and even Sesame Street. On other productions, theybrazenly sample Madonna, Frankie Valli, Norman Greenbaum, ChakaKhan and more.
“I guess it’s just going after stuff that will make the biggestimpact,” shrugs Shaw. “Personally, I grew up on a lot of Top 40stuff. Those are the songs that have a big impact on me. If I’m ina club and I hear a Jackson Five song come on, I know it. I comefrom a hip-hop background, so I’m going to pick out stuff that’sreally going to make people move.”
Shaw was born in Jamaica and moved to Canada when he was sixyears old. As a youngster, he loved reggae but in his teenage yearshe became a convert to the harder-edged dancehall of Buju Banton,Shabba Ranks, Beenie Man, Eek-A-Mouse and Sister Nancy.
“Dancehall is the younger, brasher brother of reggae,” Shawexplains. “Dancehall, to me, is a form of rap music. It’s younger,hipper and faster-moving; the content is more controversial, it’sabout having fun, it’s about dancing. The beats are usually muchrawer; it’s not as melodic.”
These days, he and Greggs reside in Orlando, Florida and SouthRakkas Crew are among the rising stars of contemporary dancehall.They record with the scene’s biggest names and have remixed tracksfor DJ Shadow, Beck and Lily Allen.
Initially producing pop acts such as *NSYNC and even Britney,South Rakkas turned their side project into a full-time concernwhen their four albums of “rhythms” (variations of the sameinstrumental track fronted by different vocalists) all sold out. InAustralia, South Rakkas’ music is part of the Rio deJaneiro-inspired Favela Rock parties. The music is a melting pot ofhip-hop, reggae, dancehall, pop, electro, Baltimore funk, Miamibass and house.
South Rakkas Crew play Miss Libertine on March 1 andGolden Plains Festival on March 8. The Mix-Up is out on MadDecent/Inertia.
