Q&A: Dazed
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
So for those who aren’t familiar with you tell us a little about yourself?
My name’s Dazed, I’m a producer, emcee and engineer and used to DJ a while back. Grew up in Canberra, fucked off to Sydney after school and started a lil’ crew with a homie under the name Dazed & Flawlezz. Pretty much ripped stages for a couple of years, got schooled by the Sydney heads, knocked out an EP and life shit brought me to Melbourne while Flawlezz went back to Canberra. Since being here I’ve produced a few tracks for a bunch of artists, done some more D&F stuff and more recently joined the DFTC crew and released a 7″.
This isn’t your first release though?
Yeah we did an EP back in 07 which was just on some free download and hand out copies at gigs steez. We actually dropped another EP beginning of this year that had Gex, Ciecers on the beat and guest verses from Maggot Mouf and Arkiteks called ‘Land of the Savages‘, which was also free on our Bandcamp and probably went under the radar from lack of promo and releasing it after new years haha.
Not many people are putting out wax let alone 7s. What made you do this so early on in your career?
I had originally planned to to a producer album sort of like “Crate Cartel Radio” where it was more of a “Dazed Presents…” sort of deal. I had a bunch of artists lined up but we all had different scheduals at the time, releases, I went overseas, life etc got in the way. Anyway I wanted to still put something out so I grabbed my 2 favourite tracks from it, and figured do a 7″. 2 tracks, no filler on some collector tip. And what hip-hop artist doesn’t want to be imortilised on wax? I figured after 6-7 years or gigs, free releases I finally felt comfortable to put my money where my mouth is so to speak and have something I’m real proud of.
So where does Down For The Count Records and the self titled compliation you guys have also put out recently fit in?
We’ve all worked with each other or at least known each other and it sort of seemed like a logical thing to do. Sparts & Force did that Powerlines album a year or so back, Mol One featured on that, and I’m pretty sure Force and Sinks had done stuff together at some point as well, so they formed the crew. It turned out that I was actually doing production for them all (and wasn’t aware of the crew) separatley so it seemed logical for me to jump on board as an in-house producer, engineer and jump on the mic every once in a while. The Compilation originally started as a little DFTC album sampler that was meant to come with the pre-order for the wax. Halfway through mixing I realised “shit, this is an albums worth of stuff and it’s quality; not some freebie stuff” so we turned it into a full length, still added it to the pre orders and released it on it’s own.
The DFTC collection seems to be a pretty tight. What’s it like working togther?
As a crew we all bring something different. We connect in a friendship and musical sense so it’s dope but we all have had different upbringings in life and music, so we all have to meet somewhere when it comes to crunch time as opposed to some crew of dudes who grew up together, listened to the same shit, hung out at the same spots and therefore sound similar, you know? Force and Sparts are lethal on the mic, real commanding types, Sinks is just
crazy… throw him over any sort of beat and he’ll rip it and give it the upmost respect. Mol One is one to watch out for… just really different from a lot of other cats lyrically and I’m not just saying that cos he’s crew. He’s on some headphone music sit back and analyse his words type haha.
crazy… throw him over any sort of beat and he’ll rip it and give it the upmost respect. Mol One is one to watch out for… just really different from a lot of other cats lyrically and I’m not just saying that cos he’s crew. He’s on some headphone music sit back and analyse his words type haha.
Even the most pleasent heads can be critics at times. How’s the reception to the LP been?
Reception has been awesome. The CDs are pretty much all sold out and I think a lot of heads are surprised because the release just sorta snuck up out of no where and it’s like BAM, here’s 14 or so tracks of posse shit, solo joints and so forth.
And the 7?
The vinyl reception has been crazy. It’s been real dope getting messages from heads I’ve looked up to giving props and co-signing it. Heads have copped triple copies and doubles so I can’t complain at all. I really wasn’t expecting a response like this.
What’s your favourite track on the compilation ?
Tough one! I was thinking about this the other day and I don’t really have a favourite but there’s 3 joints that stand out for me. “No One Is Dancing“ produced by Chris Labs… dark, dark, Cypress Hill Temples of Boom beat steez and is up the ally of the stuff that I listen to on a day to day basis.
It was originally meant to me Sinks and myself. Sinks sent me the beat and it was one of those cases where you hear it and ideas are flowing in like it’s connected to you somehow. So yeah, I played it to Sparts and he bugged out hard when he heard it. Later that night I got a message from Sinks saying to take out his 2nd verse and put Sparts in so he obviously wanted to be a part of it which was dope. He (Sparts) came round like the next day and blessed it with his crazy verse. The real mininal hook stands out for me.
You managed to slip a remix onto the album?
I dug the beat I did for Arkiteks and wanted the crew to rap over it for a remix for the sampler we were going to do and for the digital 7. People don’t do remixes anymore. I remember back in the day there would always be remixes whether it’s a different beat, they add another emcee, flip the sample differently etc. So yeah, I flipped the sample differently, switched the drums and got the boys to do their thing over it. I put the beat switch
at the end just to spin some heads around and let Sinks to nuts on it. Def blessed it.
at the end just to spin some heads around and let Sinks to nuts on it. Def blessed it.
Planet of the Apes is a dope track and a banging beat. How’d you get that sound?
Planet of the Apes is actually one of the first beats I ever did! I did it in like Garage Band aggges ago and found the stems so I sent it through the MPC to get that sound and changed the drum sounds to something a bit more beefy. When I first joined the crew they sent me a folder full of stuff they were working on and this was on it… it blew me away how raw they went on it. I actually added my verse in while mixing just cos I wanted to jump on
it, but it serves as a nice bridge between the verses. Unfortunatly Mol isn’t on it though… next time, maybe a remix haha
it, but it serves as a nice bridge between the verses. Unfortunatly Mol isn’t on it though… next time, maybe a remix haha
So where can people expect to see you playing a gig next , got anything lined up ? Is there going to be a launch party?
Not yet! We’re all finally back in the same city so it’s time to get busy so hopefully over the summer we’ll be able to bless the stage. Promoters, get at me! Haha but yeah, we’re all in the same spot so time to get busy.
Anything else too add?
I’m producing Grand Arkiteks album at the moment. Check it early next year. Peep the bandcamp page to grab our discography (dftc.bandcamp.com). Sinks just dropped a mixtape ‘The Sinxtape Volume 1′ over some classic 90s production so cop that. Sparts mixtape is dropping early next year as well and it’s crazy, no bias, straight up. Buy some records so I can support my sneaker habit!
