DJ Yoda - London, UK - Autumn 2006
By: Yousif Nur
Uh-oh. Rockfeedback is just a little late for the time initially appointed for DJ Yoda's interview - why does everything in the East End have to be tucked away in the back street alleys anyway? Clearly, initiative was thrown out the window this afternoon.
So after three phone calls for directions, we eventually arrive at the front door with much apologizing, pleading with avoidance that we can still have ten minutes with DJ Yoda. They're only too happy to let us in right after previous interviewees Popworld finished with him twenty minutes ago. Gulp...
Being tipped by Q Magazine as one of '10 DJs you must see before you die', DJ
Yoda (aka Duncan Beiny) and ourselves are sat in a spacious room around an expensive looking table with signed copies of the new sat atop it album discussing matters of just how snazzy the office looks, surrounded with at least two LCD computer screens and, more to the reason why we're all here - to promote the new long player, 'The Amazing Adventures of DJ Yoda'.
'Well, basically it's a big deal for me, because this album is my first real proper artist album.' Explains Yoda. 'Everything else that I've done has either been mix CDs or mix tapes, but this time round I produced all the beats myself, I've been working with vocalists and all of that is still kind of laid out like a mix CD, but the difference is rather than mixing other people's records, I'm mixing my own records....
It's been a long time in the making because I've approached it the same way as I've approached mix CDs, which I normally find very easy to knock out quickly, but I've fast realised just how much work it takes to make a real album - especially getting in touch with all the guest vocalists that I wanted to get that are on this record. That took a long time and clearing samples took a while too. It's a slow process, frustrating even, but it's satisfying to finally have it out!'
That's quite understandable. In terms of creative output, differences were inevitably encountered in making a real album as opposed to a mix CD he's so synonymous with.
'It definitely took longer, because with a mix CD you can come up with concepts, like maybe it would be cool to mix a reggae song with a drum 'n' bass song - and you get the two records and mix them together and that's it. When you're making music, the concepts have to be a lot stronger. So I thought, 'I want a track that's all about breakfast cereal', so which rapper would be best on that topic? Biz Markie knows all about that so I speak to him about it, he writes the lyrics...
Getting Biz Markie was the biggest coup for me because he's always been my favourite rapper, and the chance to get to do a track with him was really exciting for me so to get him involved was amazing.'
Collaborations. A wide range of collaborators is the norm on any hip-hop album, but with guest vocalists featuring Princess Superstar, Sway, the old school (and not to mention) legendary Biz Markie and Mr David Viner(!), ten out of ten must be awarded for variety. So how did he rope them all together? And were they all admirers of his material or the other way round?
'It was a different story with each of the vocalists.' Beiny reflects. 'On the album, some of them like Ugly Duckling and Jungle Brothers were people I had toured with and ended up doing a lot of shows with them and it made sense to do a track with them because both of that lot approach hip hop with a sound that's it's about partying. So that's how that came together.'
Someone like Mr David Viner I knew through a friend of a friend and I really liked what he was doing, so I just thought it would be cool to do a blues track with him and have hip hop, scratching - with blues! The Sway one was just about how I wanted to find a British MC, but someone who had a sense of humour about what they did and he's pretty much the only person out there that's like that. Well, him and Aspects (who also features on the album as a guest vocalist) So as I say, it was a different story with all of them.'
So a cream of credible, well respected underground artists were enlisted on the big project, and it looked like he pretty much had Christmas (or should that be Hanukah as he's Jewish?) come early this year as he'd had his wish list of collaborators all ticked off as he elaborates further;
'I was really lucky because I did a list before I started working on all the music on the album with all the vocalists I wanted to get involved. And I managed to tick off everyone that was on that list! Some of them were harder than others, people like Biz Markie, I had to hound them! That was one of the reasons it took so long to make the album to the level I was happy with. I was quite perfectionist about it, and I got it to that level so being honest with everything else, I'm very happy with it.'
With that in mind, how long did it take from start to finish?
'Some of the beats I made on this album I started making in about 2001! So it took years and years..'
Producers often find that when they want to develop their own projects it takes a long time in coming because they have other commitments..
'I find it really weird that some people can just go and disappear into a studio and come out with an album two weeks later. But I guess it depends what kind of music you make, because a lot of the music on this album is quite intricate - there's a lot of scratching, there's a lot of layers and samples too. I did all myself and there wasn't a band either, so there was points where I would spend a whole day on something that would last three seconds! So it's a slow process, but worth it hopefully.'
What was the overall plan or conceptual idea for the album?
'I don't think I approached it with a plan that I wanted it sound like 'this' overall. It was more a case of taking it track by track, like, I wanted to do a track that was about breakfast cereal. I wanted to do a track with Sway, etc. So I approached it track-by-track and hopefully put it altogether in a collective body of work. I wanted it to sound like a mix CD in the end, so it wasn't just like 'a track, some silence, another track, some silence..' so it all flowed in the same way it would if you listened to one of my mixes.'
DJ Yoda is quite possibly the only DJ in the world that can put together the theme of Emmerdale to a hip-hop beat or get 'Together Forever' by Rick Astley satisfyingly scratched. To our minds, anyone who can pull that off deserves a statue erected in their honour. So why does a cut 'n' paste method like an 80's edition album seem so whimsical, and find hip-hop tongue in cheek?
'I just find it weird that other people can't approach music with a sense of humour, especially hip-hop which is supposed to be about fun anyway. You get a lot of moody people in hip-hop, and people take it very seriously. I'm prepared to crack a smile or anything like that, so it just comes naturally to be like that.
Do you instinctively know what beats and samples go together?
'I've tried just as many things that don't work! (laughs) so I guess it's just trial and error, sometimes things just seem to fit together and sometimes they don't... and sometimes they don't but I use them anyway! (laughs)'
A suggestion is made that he should give the Family Guy theme the Yoda treatment...
'I think I've got that on record somewhere actually!' he notes, as much laughter ensues.
'People forget that at the end of the day it's entertainment, especially something like hip hop which is meant to make you dance or it's meant to be enjoyable. It's meant to be a way to forget your worries, not sit around and being miserable and mopey!'
Take note of the above Fiddy Cent. See also: Ja Rule and P Diddly or whatever you call yourself these days. What's next in the world of DJ Yoda? Future plans for another wacky mix cd we hope...
'Definitely.' Yoda says. 'But for the rest of this year I'm touring really and I found a really cool way to do this album live. Because of the way that I'm touring it, I want to use DVD video scratching. I filmed everyone that's on that album and I've got all the animations to use too, so I'm mixing and scratching all of that live on DVD. I think I'll probably do a DVD album of the live show.
A tour that I did last year called 'Yoda Goes to the Movies' was taking clips of different movies that I like but having them being scratched over by music, and I guess the live music for this album is that, but with my own visuals instead of bits from films. Then I can probably turn into what I want to do next after that musically.'
I'm going to look into making some beats for other artists as well and getting another mix done, so there's lots I need to do.'
We add that the importance of visuals is a major influence on how music in channelled out as a medium...
'Definitely, there's this new equipment that means you can scratch DVDs in the same way you would scratch records. Basically using that came very naturally to me so it's the next level up from just Djing.'
And our time is up, just as we promised, it quite literally took ten minutes to get those words. Rockfeedback might be shit with directions, but we stick to our word...
Artists in this article: DJ Yoda