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 CRAZE AND INFAMOUS INTERVIEW I was Lucky enough to catch up with DJ Craze and Infamous at the Plasa show in Earl’s Court, London on 11/9/01. The pair were there to showcase at the Stanton stand. From watching the two of them jam together it quickly became apparent just how good both of them are and just how well they work together. They took it in turns to drum beats whilst the other would scratch, and all they were really doing was warming up. Between them they have numerous DMC and ITF titles, and they are at the very forefront of possibly the world’s greatest DJ crews, the Allies. After Craze’s showcase he had a quick chat with Billy Bizniz and then I went with him and Infamous up to the press area upstairs. It became immediately apparent that Craze is an incredibly open and confident person, which comes across in his DJ routines. He is unbelievably friendly and at times even quite witty. He has a kind of boyish charm about him. He is well mannered and seems completely relaxed with Infamous by his side. At one point during the interview, a man came over to our table to wipe it clean and empty the ashtray and Craze made a real effort to thank him. Infamous is very different to Craze. He is far more shy than Craze, and doesn’t seem particularly interested in the interview, although he appears happy enough to be sitting down and relaxing. The interview is pretty much in it’s entirety here, only slightly edited where Craze said some things that he didn’t want me to put up. danny So what are you up to in London? craze We’re here at the Plasa show and we’re gonna stay here for like another 2 weeks to practise with the Perverts until the DMCs. danny How are your routines and everything coming along for the DMC team final? craze Its coming on dope. We got it all planned out and, you know, its just all about finishing it. infamous We got Lots of ideas. craze Lots of crazy new ideas, its gonna be real crazy. danny How confident are you about it, do you think its going to go OK? craze Sure. [Laughter] You know, we always say we’re our own worst enemies and shit. It’s like if we fuck up we fuck up, you know what I’m saying? So it’s all about just doing it on the night. danny Are you nervous at all? craze Yeah! I always get nervous, we always get real nervous man. You know, we could always fuck up, that’s always the big thing. You could have a perfect set but if you don’t pull it off in that one night. danny Like in 97… [US DMC final]? craze Yeah. danny How did you feel after that? You must have been gutted afterwards. craze I mean, it just made me more hungry, I really don’t give a shit about it. That night, I was just like ‘yo, fuck it, I got third.’ You know what I’m saying. That was like my second big attempt, so I was just like ‘whatever.’ I mean I was pissed off about the whole needle shit but I was like ‘fuck it.’ It got me more hungry. danny What about Tony Prince? A lot of people have said stuff about how he’s used you as a marketing toy in the past, and that he’s not really in it for love and just doing it for the money. craze OK, let’s talk about Tony. [Looking at a somewhat unflattering picture of Tony Printe]And his fat belly! Nah man. [laughter] danny What do you think about him? He never really seems to know what he’s talking about does he? craze The DMC people, I mean they don’t really know about, the art. I mean they know of it, but they don’t really know about it. They don’t know about it like we know about it. infamous Not like the All Star Beat Down. [a new DJ battle organised by the Allies DJ crew] craze Not like the All Star Beat Down and shit, you know. It’s done by a lot of DJs and shit and it’s for the DJs. [Infamous clears throat and leans over to the Dictaphone] infamous All Star Beat Down… The best battle to ever hit turntablism. [laughter] craze Haha. Fucking, what was I saying? infamous That Tony’s a really nice guy. craze Yeah, he’s a really nice guy. danny Why did you start your own battle up? Was it just because you didn’t like the way DMC or ITF did it? craze Well, I mean, nah, its just like first of all to be a battle DJ you put a lot of work into it and at the end of the day you get two fucking turntables?! Hey, what the fuck?! You know what I’m saying? And its like, you don’t really get a lot of exposure from it. infamous They’re all [other DJ battles] fucking different to the All Star Beat Down. craze [laughter]Like, the difference with the All Star Beat Down is that we’re throwing it, we’re getting together all the heavyweights that we dig that know about shit. Like Q[bert], like the [Scratch] Perverts, like the Executioners. You know, all these people that we feel know what the rate of what’s going down today is. You know what I’m saying? And like these other DJ battles, like DMC, they have branch managers judge and shit. You know what I’m saying? It’s like, what the fucks going on?! infamous We try and look out for the winner as much as possible. So, for example, we got $2000 in cash and royalties off the video for the rest of their lives. danny Do you think its more about people who have already got their status so to speak, so what about doing it just for the up and coming DJs? Would you want to do that at all, to promote new material? craze Well, I mean, the new material we’re promoting is the DJs. It’s an all star beat down where we pick the people that we feel are dope right now. We’re pretty much done with battling after this year. Maybe we’ll get back into it, but I mean, that’s the whole point of the All Star Beat Down. We choose the new talent that we think is good Next year hopefully we’re gonna have more international DJs cos this year we just we had to do it kinda quick. We had to just pick the people that we knew were kinda dope. Next year its gonna be more international, were gonna look out for more people that we think are up and coming. danny So what are you going to do if you’re not battling? Are you just gonna produce music or what? craze We wanna be behind the whole turntablist scene, you know what I’m saying. We wanna start, you know, running Tablist magazine [the Allies forthcoming magazine]. We wanna start really putting all our work into the All Star Beat Down to make it a better turntablist competition. I mean, it was dope this year. Everybody was mad satisfied, but we wanna see what else we could add to it to make it more entertaining and to look out more for the winners and shit. danny As a crew in general, do think you’ll ever reach the status that ISP [Invisibl Skratch Piklz] did? craze Not really. I mean we got more titles than ISP, and we got, you know what I’m saying, we got new talent and shit but its just like, what the Piklz did, we’re never going to surpass. danny Do you think you’ll always be in their shadow a little? craze I don’t think we’ll be in their shadows. I mean, we’re a different crew. Just like the Piklz were a different crew, like the executioners, they’re a different crew. I mean, Q[bert] will always be the all time best scratcher in the world. You’re never gonna surpass him, so that just makes it impossible, you know? danny What about in the crew? You [Craze] seem like you’re the leader of probably the whole community. Do you see yourself as the leader of the community and the allies in general? craze Nah, fuck it! This mo’erfucker right here, [gestures to Infamous] he’s the one in charge of Tablist magazine. He’s the one in charge of the fucking website. He’s the one doing most of the shit. He’s the one that puts most of the work into it. You know what I’m saying, I have to do a lot of gigs. I have a kid. I have a house to take care of and like, he always comes back to me and asks me what I think about this, what I think about that, but he’s the one that’s mainly running all the shit. Like Atrak. He’s running ammo with his brother in Canada. Klever’s still active, and shit the rest of the Allies, they’re all just working on music and stuff like that. Like they wanna drift away from the turntablist scene cos I guess… They didn’t grow out of it, it’s just they wanna do something different, you know what I’m saying. danny Do you want to do something different? Do you want to start producing more drum ‘n’ bass? craze Yeah. danny I read that you’d started producing a couple of tracks. craze Yeah yeah, cos battling and shit, that takes all you time up, right? Like making up routines and shit, and I bought all this equipment and I still don’t know how to fucking use it. So I’ve been at home just trying to use my equipment ‘cos I wanna head in a musical direction cos you cant always be a turntablist. You can’t forever be a rapper. You can’t forever be anything. You know what I’m saying. You gotta grow out of it and branch out to different things. danny Is it a whole crew thing, are you all into drum ‘n’ bass or do you all have your own different styles that you’re into? infamous I was into it for a few months. [Craze laughs] I mean, I respect it as, you know, I think its really well produced. Its just something that I cant listen to too often. danny Are you more into hip hop? infamous Nah, I listen to rock a lot. A lot of rock ‘n’ roll. craze He’s the rocker of the crew. danny Do you think you’ll ever come up with something like Dexta did last year infamous Yeah, I mean, I try to do things with rock records but when you do stuff with rock records you have guitars, drums and bass and that’s pretty much it, and then with hip hop you have a whole variety of sounds that you can pick off. So I, Id rather make stuff using hip hop records. danny Who do the two of you respect most as a DJ? infamous Swamp. craze Yeah, Swamp. [laughter] Hell yeah. Swamp took it to that other level, you know what I’m saying? For pure technicality I respect a lot of people, you know. I respect the [Scratch] Perverts, I respect this mo’erfucker. [gestures to Infamous] I respect Atrak. I respect Klever. All the allies. I respect people just doing new shit, like fucking Ptrix like fucking… infamous Swamp craze Swamp infamous Mix Master Mike craze I mean, anybody who puts some work into it and if you can see that, you gotta give em respect, you know what I’m saying? infamous You wanna get like, when you watch them you can tell they’re… craze You can tell that they’re enjoying it and they know what they’re… infamous Yeah, like Mix Master Mike. You watch Mix Master Mike, and you can feel his energy. danny Like yourself, [Craze] you come across with probably the most incredible stage presence and energy of anyone. craze [Coyly]Nah, I don’t. danny Whatever you do you seem to get a reaction from the crowd. Where do you think that comes from? craze I think that just comes from the DJ part inside of me. You know, its like just trying to rock the crowd. I’m always trying to please the crowd. You know, I’m not always like ‘I gotta throw this technical shit right here.’ danny Even simple things though, like your DJ Vadim routine when you slide the record across you’re back. craze Yeah, that gets a lot of reaction and shit. I mean, its just little things you gotta do to get the crowd on your side, you know what I’m saying? danny So what about turntablism as a culture right now? It’s becoming a lot more commercial with scratches coming up on pop records and all these pop bands with DJs and things like that. What do you think about that. Do you think it’s a good thing or a bad thing? craze Anything that blows up is good. I mean, it’s blowing up, you know what I’m saying? A lot of people are accepting it. danny But maybe more people get into it just for the glamour. craze The hardcore heads usually push that away though, you know. Like, cos they feel like that’s they’re thing and they don’t wanna let nobody in it. danny There’s always a backlash though. Over here we had trance music and UK garage, and that was underground for a time, and then it all came overground and became more commercial and all of a sudden it was everywhere. In the charts, on the radio, everywhere. craze Yeah, and it gets real cheesy and shit. Yeah, I mean, I feel you but that’s the whole thing, bro. You gotta help it grow somehow, it can’t grow in that one little circle. You know, you gotta branch it out, and let it take on other forms. Like the hardcore will always be like… the hardcore heads. You know what I’m saying? People that know will always know. danny What about the drum ‘n’ bass scene? The whole scene seems to be lacking a little bit right now. It went through a little patch when everything was just dark and it lost its musical side a little. craze Everything goes like this. [Craze makes wavy hand motion] Everything has bad years and good years. Like turntablism. 97 was kind of low, 98 it went up, and 99 it was aiite, you know what I’m saying? With drum ‘n’ bass, like, it went through a whole dark period and it had to kill itself in that. Everybody had to wake up and say ‘hey, this is too dark.’ And now you got all the Latin sounds coming through and you got all the other shit coming all the funky, like, hip hop shit coming and not the corny jump up shit. danny What sort of drum ‘n’ bass are you into? craze I’m into anything Dillinja does. I like Ray Keith shit, you know it all sounds the same, but I like it. It’s hard, it’s fucking rugged. Ed Rush and Optical shit, Konflict. I like all types of shit. As long as it has a dope ass bassline and dope ass drums, its all good. danny You had a kid recently, so does that put things into perspective a bit what with you travelling all over the world and stuff. Do your partner and child go with you at all? craze Nah, she stays at home. She’s only two years old. That’s made me wanna become a better business man, you know what I’m saying? I mean, we put so much work into this and after we’re done, we want something back from it, so we gotta get business smart and we gotta start running shit instead of other people running shit that don’t know shit about it. danny What about the internet scene? There’s a lot of talking goes on there, like aliaS_… [a DJ from the internet scene] infamous The guy's a fucking dick. craze Who nicks?! danny He said he could take you out, he said he could take out all of the Allies. craze Yeah, he’s always said shit about us, I mean when it comes down to it, you can talk it, but if you cant back it up. danny Did you hear his tape though? craze Yeah, but a lot of his sounds are sped up. It’s like, that fat dude cant even scratch that fast live, you know what I’m saying. infamous He’s a good scratcher but… danny Have you met him? craze We know who he is. We know like… danny He’s Nicks. [ Nicks runs asisphonics.com, a turntablist website] craze Yeah. danny There were a lot of theories that went round. One time he was Dstyles and another time he was… infamous Nah, the fat dude is nicks. craze I mean, I thought once it was D[styles], then it was Q[bert]. I hated Q[bert] for a minute cos I thought it was him. I was like ‘oh man, that nigga’s talking shit about us bro. What the fuck?!’ And then somebody, I guess somebody heard him scratch somewhere and then it just started leaking out and everybody was just like ‘yo, its Nicks.’ danny He scratched with Q[bert] one time didn’t he? craze Some shit like that. infamous He cuts up with Dstyles a lot. danny What about DJ Domination? On his site he said he could take you out no problem? craze I mean, I fucked him up so many times and shit, I mean, he did fuck me up once, I mean, but I was fifteen, I’d just started and it was my first year Of course he’s gonna fuck me up. He wasn’t doing shit. He goes on stage with this little broom trick and shit. danny Yeah, he does a lot of body tricks and things like that. craze I lost to him, and I mean, he just takes it like, ‘I beat him,’ like he beat me now, you know what I’m saying? danny That’s probably something that’s wrong with DMC. If you look at Tony Prince, he’s always talking about the tricks, and he seems to like body tricks probably more than the musical side to it. craze I mean, if you wanna see something visual then it’s OK, but like again, they [DMC] don’t know ANYTHING. They don’t know better. danny You seem to keep it musical and yet still manage to put body tricks in every now and then. craze I mean, body tricks are cool if you know how to do them musically, you know what I’m saying, if you know how to put them in at the right moment. danny But at some point it becomes more like a circus. craze Yeah, like if you do six minutes of body tricks, that’s not good. danny What about you? [Infamous] You never seem to do body tricks, you always seem to try and keep it musical. infamous I’m too goofy to do body tricks. [laughter] Like, I’ve tried them before but I just don’t look right doing them. I try to make my routines so hard that I barely have enough time to take my eyes away from it. danny Develop does that doesn’t he? He’s got this whole style where he manages to use every part of the record. How much do you feed off each other and get influenced? Do you often all just hang out in the same place? craze We used to bro, like a year or two ago we used to always do shit with develop. We used to go to New York a lot and practise a lot but then like, I dunno. They just got into beats . I mean, now we’re getting into beats but at the time we still wanted to fuck shit up, you know what I’m saying? So we don’t jam with them a lot. We jam basically me, him, [Infamous] Klever and Atrak. infamous We still jam, but the rest of them be working on beats and shit. danny Klever just came out of nowhere didn’t he? craze I knew him for like four years. danny It was like all of a sudden this white kid with glasses came and won DMC. infamous The red neck!! danny What did you think about that battle? [2000 US DMC] A lot of people said that maybe Ptrix should have won. craze I mean, I wasn’t one of judges. The judges were Atrak, Rob Swift, Roc Raida, and he [Klever] wasn’t in the crew. We weren’t even thinking of putting him in the crew. The whole thing was like, if you look at the tape, I mean Ptrix he wasn’t doing nothing new. infamous The thing with Klever that a lot of people don’t get is that if you see him scratch on a video you’re like ‘oh shit, yeah that’s pretty good.’ But when you’re there and you can hear it loud and live, just the way he cuts, you can tell there’s an energy in it, and its like ‘shit,’ cos he almost blows you away with the way he scratches. craze Klever that year really didn’t have nothing innovative, but if you look at the whole shit its like, you can just look it and see the skill level was a little bit better. I thought Ptrix’s routine was dope as fuck… danny It wasn’t too different to his 99 routines though, he did similar juggles. In 99 he came across as a brilliant DJ... craze Oh yeah, hard as fuck. danny …but he didn’t seem to develop it. craze I think it was like I told you, you gotta rock it that night and I guess that night wasn’t his night. He had a dope ass routine but Klever rocked it a little bit more. danny Do you two ever comes across any resentment at all for your success, especially you [Craze] being 3 times DMC champion ? Do people ever get jealous to the point of hatred. craze I get hated on a lot, I mean… infamous I get hated on a LOT. craze Sometimes I check the internet, and whenever I do check the internet I always check on what they’re saying about me cos, you know, you just wanna know what the fuck people are saying about you. Most of the time its just like negative shit, so I’m just like ‘yo, what the fuck?!’ I put so many years into this and nobody really gives me the props that I deserve and shit, its like, I don’t give a shit about it no more. Now it’s just like… I’m out of this. danny How famous do you think you are? craze I mean, I’m kinda DL, I don’t really give a fuck about fame. I go into a club and I go straight to a corner with my beer and I don’t wanna talk to nobody. You know, its not that I’m rude, but I just keep to myself, you know, I’m not into the whole fame thing. danny Qbert’s hiding away now in Hawaii doing whatever he’s doing, so how much do you know about what he’s up to at the moment, coming up with this new style with this unknown scratch master. craze I don’t believe that. He [Infamous] went to Hawaii, he chilled with him [Qbert] for a minute. danny Is there no scratch master then, is it just like a con? craze Maybe it is, I mean, what old skool scratch master can teach Qbert?! He’s so far ahead of everybody. danny What sort of new stuff is he coming up with? infamous Just crazy scratching man. Like, I see him cut and I don’t understand half of it. I can always distinguish cuts but a lot of the shit he does, I’m just like ‘what the fuck is he doing?!’ danny So it’s pretty much beyond what anyone else has done? infamous Its just Qbert, you know. The standard that he’s always been at. His cuts are just amazing. danny How much do you feed from the old skool? craze The old skool? I grew up on the old skool. I watched Rocksteady and Xmen to get my shit. And when Develop came along, I took his shit. You know, I took his whole style, and when this mo’erfucker [Infamous] came along I took his whole shit. danny That’s another thing. If you look at team routine from the past ten years , you’ve got Rocksteady DJs and then there’s a gap where you didn’t seem to have any good team routines until the Allies and the Scratch Perverts came along. All other team routines seem a bit mundane with no real life to them. Why do you think that is? craze I think they’re stuck in the past, you know what I’m saying? danny All the routines are the same, there’s nothing good about them at all. craze I just think people need to get more creative. Its like, this is what happens right. Every year something new comes out and everybody want to do it. When crab came out, everybody was doing crab, when flare came out, everybody was trying to do flare, and there were no team routines cos there were no team routines coming out, so when they first came out, all their reference was like, Rocksteady DJs. danny In 1999 you had maybe ten teams and only you and the Scratch Perverts did something different that actually sounded good. Everybody else was just one person drumming, one person cutting. There was nothing good about it all. It’s a shame really because there’s a lot more that could be done. craze Yeah, there’s a lot that can happen with team routines. danny How different do you think your team routines are going to be this year [with the Scratch Perverts]? How gobsmacked do you think people will be? infamous This year we’re gonna be weird. This year we got like a billion ideas of like crazy shit that nobody’s seen before and we’re trying to put it all together. It won’t sound anything like any team routine you’ve heard before. danny Have you got any new techniques using feedback loops [the Scratch Perverts recently pioneered a technique of creating sounds using feedback loops] or anything like that? infamous Oh yeah yeah, we found like a whole different way to flip it. craze Those Brits. danny If you look at the UK scene, its always been lagging a little bit. If you compared US and UK DMCs year to year, the US would always come out on top. Our DJs aren’t bad, they’re just not that exceptional. You Americans are always at least 10 steps ahead. craze Yeah, well, I mean a lot of them are kind of still new to it. Its like, it takes years to be good. danny Do you think you missed out on anything at all devoting so much time to turntablism? Like maybe your childhood. If you look at Atrak, he started incredibly young. craze Atrak hasn’t missed shit cos that homeboy knows how to balance his time. He knows like, now its school time, now its turntablist time. danny He talks a lot about how seriously he takes school. craze Oh fuck yeah! infamous He’s like this mad scientist. danny Has he finished school? infamous He’s gonna take a year off to do tours and stuff and then he’s gonna go back. danny Whats he going do? Surely he could make a living out of scratching, just doing gigs and things like that? Why does he want to carry on going through school? craze He’s one of those people who feel like ‘hey, what if one day my arms fall off!!’ And that’s good. infamous He’s like an old man. craze More power to him. danny How did you do in school? craze I graduated. Late. But I graduated. infamous I went to college for a few years. danny What were you like in school? You must have been into scratching by then so what did people think about it? craze I was always to myself. I had like two friends and shit. I was always like in a corner with my headphones on. danny Noone could have predicted what was going to happen. craze Hell no, I see my old peoples from high school and they just freak out. They’re like ‘you're Craze!! What the fuck!! You're Craze!!’ They hear about me, but they don’t know who the fuck it is. danny What do you do when you’re not DJing or producing? What other stuff do you get up to? craze We play pool a lot. Bowl a lot. We fuckin… infamous I like to have sex with women as often as possible. craze I like to have a lot of sex. [laughter] I just chill. I watch movies. Play games, video games and shit. infamous Anybody else wanna try an American cigarette right here? It’ll kill you way faster. danny There must have been a point when you were younger when you didn’t have decks, so what did you want to be before you touched the turntables. craze Nothing. danny Nothing at all!? You didn’t have any ambitions or anything? craze None whatsoever. After I graduated, my mom gave me 2 years to figure out what the fuck I wanted to do, and I just said ‘aiite, fuck it, I’m gonna try and do this DJ shit.’ danny Have you ever had another job? craze Yeah yeah, I worked with my dad once in a factory, and shit. That shit sucked. I work hard now, but I wouldn’t wanna go back to those days. Working sucks. danny What about Tony Prince’s infamous ‘golden turntables joke.’ Was that offensive? craze Yeah, that was fucked up. At that moment I was so happy, I just blew it off like ‘haha you funny ass nigga. Aiite, cool.’ danny He says some pretty stupid things though doesn’t he? craze You know, he’s Tony Prince, he called me up, he apologised. He cut it out the video, he said he’s extremely sorry and this load of shit and I was like ‘aiite.’ Tony always says stupid shit. danny How much respect do you have for him? craze As a business man I got the utmost respect for him. danny He was always there when you one DMC. He’d be the first to congratulate you and walk over and everything, but outside of DMC, do you spend any time with him or speak to him at all. craze Not really. I always say ‘wasup Tony. You chilling?’ [deep British accent] ‘Hello.’ But, you know, he’s a bad ass business man. I heard homeboy got like mansions and dope cars and shit. danny Are any of you religious at all. You got any views on life and death? Qbert has some quite strong views with this whole perspective, do you have anything similar. infamous Qbertism. [At this point someone behind us is playing Cold as Ice adjusting the pitch but keeping the key of the track constant] craze You hear that shit?! danny Its like the Stanton ones, with the key correction. craze Yeah yeah, what did you think about that? danny I think it’s good. Its impressive because it means you can put on old records that are maybe a bit slower and speed them up a bit and they still sound good. craze I kind of like that shit. danny What other innovations would you like to see? craze Final Scratch. That shit is hot. You tried it? You seen it? [a report on the final scratch will be up on the site very soon, and you have to trust me when I say that this piece of kit is INCREDIBLE] danny I’ve seen it but I’ve not tried it. craze Shit is HOT!! danny What about your Stanton mixer? craze Oh, we’re still working on it. The fader’s a little fucked up. danny What about the focus fader, what did you think about that? It seems a little too loose. craze Yeah, too loose. Shit, I think they got put like some adjusting shit on it to make it a little more tight. danny Do you think you’re mixer will be one to replace the 05 as the industry standard? craze I don’t think so. danny How much money are you making? [tape cuts out] [Craze and Infamous both confirm that they are making more than enough money and Craze rightly points out that if a company is willing to offer him money to endorse their product then of course he is going to accept it] danny Do you guys know any funny jokes? [Infamous tells a joke which relies on visuals and is actually quite funny] craze That was aiite. danny Are you sporty at all, do you play any sport? craze I don’t do shit. I stay home, smoke weed, practise and make beats. That’s all I do. danny You’re not into working out or anything? [laughter] craze look at me bro!!! infamous Skinny motherfucker. craze I love what I do, I do it good. I stay home. Once in a while I go out and catch the sun. danny Are there any DJs you think are overrated, I mean you look at DJ Domination, he’s making a fortune with Gemini but he doesn’t really do anything creative. craze I wouldn’t say he’s overrated, cos I don’t think nobody rates him and shit, you know what I’m saying. I don’t think nobody, only the stoopid people. Overrated DJs… craze Honestly, in my opinion, my honest opinion. aliaS_. I mean, he’s a good scratcher right, but… infamous But he’s got all these little kids on the internet all over his nuts. craze I mean, he’s a good scratcher though. But lets say you have a programme like Pro Tools and Logic, right? You can perfect everything. danny That’s what he does. If you listen to his work, he’s obviously used his computer because he’s got all kinds of samples and drops and stuff. craze Yeah, its like, you can fix anything up. What would impress me would be if I see him live and he didn’t fuck up. If I see him live and he does all that same shit that he does on that tape, id give him props, but he don’t do it. Its not about wanting to see him on stage, its not about that, its about it being a different ball game doing it in front of people, you know what I’m saying. Its like that whole ‘ill do something banging shit,’ and when I’m in front of people I forget combos, its like, it’s a different thing. And like with Q[bert], he can do that shit anywhere. Dstyles he can do that shit anywhere. Klever he can do that shit anywhere. danny What do you think about asisphonics.com craze I don’t know about that shit. infamous This whole scene is based on innovation, there’s always a lot of hype that people build around stuff like ‘oh, I got this whole new thing that I’m coming out with’ or ‘oh listen to this new shit.’ Its not really anything different its just a LITTLE bit different. craze It’s like someone saying ‘I got this crazy ass combo.’ And then its just bitten from combo shit that somebody has done before but changing one little thing, and they call it their combo. danny A lot of kids now, they see you on TV and look at tutorials and videos like manuals, and the whole culture at times isn’t really going anywhere. What do you thin about that? craze I didn’t learn from a tutorial or shit like that. Qbert didn’t learn from writing it down on paper. It was always something that he felt and he came up with some crazy shit. Like turntablism can be taught, but you gotta have that inner funk. danny What about Atrak’s scratch notation system, how does that work? I’ve read a lot about it but didn’t really understand how it worked. craze Yeah, but Atrak’s a different thing [laughter] infamous His notation thing is really easy to understand but the thing is, eventually, like a few years down the line, scratching is going to be like playing the guitar, anybody can be like ‘oh, I wanna scratch here.’ danny It seems like anybody these days can get into it, and so does that take anything away from it, the fact so many people get into it and so perhaps it isn’t such a unique skill. infamous Theres always gonna be the people that stand out. I mean, I’m sure Santana learnt from a book, but he’s still just an amazing guitar player, and that’s what’s in him. If you have it in you that you can be amazing then you’ll be amazing. If you’re not meant to do it then its just not meant to be. danny What do you think about the new DJ academy in Japan. They pay £12000 for two years and learn to scratch and beat mix and things like that? craze [looking shocked] How much?! 12000?! That's like going to college or some shit. That’s fucked up cos you really can’t make money form turntablism unless you get lucky. danny Now any rich kid can just come along and try and be the next Craze, Infamous, Qbert, whatever. craze It doesn’t really matter if you’re rich or poor though, if you’re dope, you’re dope. I mean, I don’t know about that shit. 12000 fucking pounds. infamous Maybe we should do that. craze Fuck that, I’m teaching lessons next year. danny What about the new video that’s coming out. Is that finished? infamous Its like 2 minutes away from being done and then were gonna go to manufacturing and then the All Star Beat Down video is done, and that shit’s gonna be coming out in like a month. craze It’s gonna come out on DVD and shit. danny What did you think of Qbert’s Wavetwisters? That was probably the most obscure, different thing anyone has ever done. Did you feel it at all? craze Yeah, I liked it. I liked it a lot. I thought it was real artsy. Real fucking creative. I mean I can’t stand watching it for more than 5 minutes. You’ve really gotta be fucked off your ass and shit to really appreciate it. It’s a fucking dope fucking movie though. But it’s just like how some people feel about drum n bass. They love drum ‘n’ bass but they can’t be in that room for more than five minutes, and that’s the way I feel about Wavetwisters, you know what I’m saying? It’s dope. danny It took a huge amount of time to make. Would you have the patience to do something like that? craze Hell no. Well, yeah, but not the drawing part. Making the music sure, but… infamous Me and scamp [Atrak] could do that. craze That’s true. danny Would you ever want to make a movie? craze Sure, in the future, I mean, I try and do something new every year. We try and come up with stuff and evolve. danny What’s your all time favourite movie? craze For me, probably the shining or… Beat Street and Crush Crew!!!… infamous Scarface, that’s obvious. I like Shadow of the Vampire a lot. [Craze gives Infamous a confused look]. Yeah! That’s a dope movie. danny What about favourite tracks? craze My favourite track of all time, I’ve always said this since I first heard the song. Pass Me By is like my all time favourite. Just cos like when it came out we were in high school and I was trying to look at this girl, and I really felt that song. danny How were your childhoods? How were you raised? Were you raised in rich families or raised on the streets or what? infamous I was raised in a pretty wealthy family but, you know, it wasn’t always like that. There were also members of my family who didn’t have that much money and stuff, so I had a good balance. A lot of my friends didn’t have a lot of money and that just kept me balanced. I don’t really, like, if someone has money, cool, but if not then it don’t matter, just so long as they’re good people. danny How do you like England, the culture and everything? craze Its not just England, but I don’t like going nowhere. infamous You guys have the most amazing dairy products. The cheese is the best cheese in the world. craze Music, drum ‘n’ bass over here is off the hook. Clubs over here are off the hook. danny You go to Bristol a lot don’t you? craze I like Bristol a LOT. Over here got me to really like love drum ‘n’ bass, cos over there its like a raver thing. danny How much attention does it get over there? Does it get a lot of coverage? craze Oh hell yeah, I mean, it has a big following. You ask any of the drum ‘n’ bass DJs where they make their money, and they’ll tell you in the States. They make good money over here, but they gotta play like 3 parties a night to make great money. Over there they go to one festival and Grooverider gets like, fucking, $6 7000. That’s a lot of money. danny Wheres you’re favourite place to play? craze I like playing in LA. infamous I like playing in New York. craze Yeah, New York’s cool. I like Bristol, I like London, I like… infamous Japan. [laughter] I like playing over there. danny What do you think of all the Japanese DJs because they seem to like 5 or 6 new ones every year?! craze That dude last year with the blonde hair, that was off the hook. infamous Hanger, yeah. That was off the hook. danny What do you think about DJs copying other styles? You’ve got people like Akakabe copying Total Eclipse. craze People always bite what’s new. There’s this one person I know [at this point we got news of the WTC terrorist attack.] infamous [Infamous puts on a whiny, patronising voice to get his point across about his lack of recognition] In – faaamous [exasperated laughter] craze The reason why is cos, I guess, the tapes the tapes he’s on don’t blow up. Like ITF videos don’t blow up, and I’m not saying that just cos he’s in my crew, I really noticed it and the Perverts have noticed it too. They’re like ‘damn, hold on.’ danny You seem to come up with stuff that’s really good but never gets you much credit. craze He’s a funny looking DJ too!! [laughter] infamous I get this a lot. [Infamous sounds genuinely upset and hurt about this] Like people see me on stage and they think that I’m this angry fuck asshole, and like I’ve heard stories of people who are afraid to approach me and that’s really what I think it is. Just that when I battle I wanna look angry and focus. danny Yeah, you don’t ever look too happy. Like in 99 you seemed really unhappy. infamous Yeah I fucked up. I’m not really looking for fame or fortune or shit like that, but it would be nice for people to take my ideas more seriously. craze [leans over to Dictaphone, not really realising the seriousness of the attack on the WTC, as none of us did at the time] And by the way, World War 3 is about to start. This is the last interview you will have with Craze. danny What do you think about all the school kids murdering their teachers and then having it all blamed on music? craze That’s not the music. It’s the stupid ass parents. You know what I’m saying? Its never the music. You gotta teach you’re fucking kid what’s reality and what’s make believe. And you gotta teach them like you have an asshole in you’re head, and then you have the right guy in your head. I don’t believe in… infamous God and the Devil. craze Right. You got a right side in your brain, and a left side in your brain. Its up to you what side you listen to. Honestly, I have a kid now, and the music that comes out nowadays, it fucks me up. I’m like, that one shaggy song, [sings, sounding genuinely angered] ‘it wasn’t me,’ that’s like wack. And [sings] ‘pay my bills, pay my telephone bills.’ Like chickenhead songs. Like this new trick daddy song, [sings] ‘maybe cos I’m a thug.’ And they got little kids singing this shit like its cool to be a thug. You know, its like ‘what the fuck are you teaching the youth?!’ danny What about P Diddy, Puff Daddy’s new stuff. He’s trying real hard to get back on, because he fell off long ago. craze I don’t think he ever got on. You know what I’m saying? He’s been a great dancer, he’s been a great dancer. He’s a good performer. danny You’re not feeling his new stuff at all then? craze I never felt his shit. The people that made his music, those fuckers just take shit and sample it. danny What about notorious BIG? craze I LOVE Biggie. Biggie was the bomb. Never liked Tupac, don’t give a shit about dem thugs. But I like Biggie, he had skills and shit. He was dope lyrically, the way he flowed. danny Whats your favourite routine anybody’s ever done? craze infamous Swamp’s 96 craze Yeah, I like swamp’s 96 routines. I like Qberts routine where his hands do different things in different motions with the records. That to me was like bang. That’s the hardest shit, to teach you’re one hand to do one thing, and the other to do something else. Anything Develop came up with in that year. infamous His guitar routine. craze Guitar, You Can’t Get Fresh. Everything he did that year was off the hook. Atrak’s Get Your Freak On routine. danny Mysterio in the 98 US craze He’ s a magician. danny He always does stuff like that, like in 97 craze We have a video of his. That fucker is amazing. Basically he’s like David Copperfield. He does shit where he like levitates the record and shit. He does some other shit where he’s just like picking up the record and putting it back down. We had no idea what he was doing. That shit was hot. danny Do you ever come into contact with him at all because he’s a DJ that never seems to get any props whatsoever? craze Shit, we’re gonna give him a lifetime achievement award at the battle. danny I think he deserves it. craze I think people that do different shit deserve to be recognised much more. Like swamp. Like, you know, you name you’re three greatest DJs, and they won’t mention him. I mean, he is a fucking great ass DJ, bro, cos when he gets on he outshines anybody. You put me, Qbert, Atrak, Klever, Ptrix. You put us all on one show and he will definitely outshine us. danny He comes across as being mixed up in a lot of drugs though. [sly laughter from Infamous and Craze] infamous He’s drug free. craze Yeah, he’s drug free. [At this point I’m unsure whether or not they are being sarcastic or telling the truth] danny But in 96 DMC [US Final], he does this thing where he pulls the record off, smashes it and then tries to mutilate himself with it. That’s not normal. craze I think he really feels like a real artist, you know what I’m saying? Like, he really wants to, like, tell people that he’s different. He’s an artist and shit. danny What do you think about drugs in general, what with having a kid now? craze I smoke a lot of weed every day bro. I just go to the back. I don’t smoke in front of her. I mean, its all about what you teach you’re kid, you know what I’m saying? danny Do you think she’ll grow up to be a DJ? Like a Craze junior? craze I would just like for her to be anything in music. Like from fucking playing the piano to singing or playing the fucking drums, I don’t give a fuck. Just something in music. danny Has she started taking notice of what you do? craze Hell yeah, she gets in my room and she just sits down next to my headphones and she just starts danny So what are you up to for the rest of today? craze We got one more fucking performance and then we’re gonna practise with [British accent] them Brits. danny Do you like doing stuff like this craze Hell no. danny You get like a crowd of maybe ten people at most just walking by not really paying much attention. craze It’s a fucking trade show, you know what I’m saying? infamous It’s a corporate show. danny More about money than anything else. craze Yeah. We’re just here to like, show off the new shit. I wanna get out of here bro. infamous It’s crazy to see that these are the people that run the DJs and the clubs. danny OK, that should just about do it, we’ve been here long enough. craze It’s kinda cold here bro. danny Thanks a lot. craze Cool bro. danny Thank you very much, its been an honour. 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