Dirty South Joe
Subscribe
X

Get the latest from Beat

All

Dirty South Joe

dirtysouthjoe-useme.jpg

“It’s safe to say we’re all experts in the art of party rocking,” Joe says when speaking of himself and his longtime collaborators. “Not in the LMFAO way but just in making the crowd go crazy.” Spreading the gospel of trap rap throughout his travels, performing three-to-five shows a week, his set at the upcoming street party is sure to be high octane. During his last visit Down Under, a couple of months back, he found the crowds were very open to his trap rap stylings and made some observations about Aussie crowds. “It’s weird I feel like there’s a huge difference between the average club goer in Sydney and Melbourne, at least that’s what I picked up anyway. I feel the Melbourne crowds are a bit more diverse than the Sydney crowds but either way they’re really receptive to the trap stuff.”

Even as he battled through a scratchy throat it was clear to hear the admiration Joe has for his Philly counterparts, having first met them a decade ago. After making the move from NYC he linked up with Low Budget at the now famous store Armand’s Records. “[Low Budget] was an employee there and I moved to the city and pretty much took over the store with the buying and the management.” Making the DJ triple threat complete, Major Taylor was a frequent visitor and customer at Armand’s. “I met Major Taylor at that time because he was Low Budget’s mentor. He would shop in the store like most other DJs would.”

The eclectic record shop, which still stands, stocked everything from hip hop and Baltimore club music to dancehall and “weird”, obscure releases from indie dance label BFA Records. ”For a few good years right before the internet took over music we had a pretty amazing thing going.” Not only was it the hub for open-minded DJs and fans, Armand’s also became the homebase for the Hollertronix movement and had a hand in the formative days of the Mad Decent crew.

“In the early days Diplo and Low Budget or whoever was working on new tunes or even mash-ups at the time would come in. The only way to test the fidelity was to play them on the store system.” Around this time the famed Hollertronix club nights first started running in Philadelphia and it was a case of right place right time for the burgeoning DJ fresh from New York. “I got there pretty much at the exact right time and everything kind of fit together.” With an “obsession” for southern rap music, as his name would suggest, he found the perfect foils in Diplo and Low Budget, who shared similar tastes. “Meeting them was like meeting kindred spirits. They were pushing this other side of hip hop. This was early 2002 before it had really taken over on a national level. But you could see what was happening and it was exciting. Rap music a lot of it was coming from the south so I was pushing all the hot new sounds and they were doing crazy things with the Hollertronix parties, getting worldwide attention for their part in the mash-up culture.” As the name grew and tremors began to be felt outside of Philly a new culture, where the music lines were blurred, was being born. “They opened up new avenues as far as DJs getting to tour and play music that wasn’t particularly of a niche variety. Certain techno DJs or certain house DJs would tour but not people playing hip hop or weird stuff, with the exception of one or two people. They opened up a marketability and literally a culture.” As fast as such movements appear to spring up the mash-up culture and its offshoots took time to develop on the underground before appearing on a larger scale. “It revealed itself as it unfolded over a couple of years, it wasn’t like everything happened suddenly. Every time you turned around everything seemed to be getting more and more attention. But it also wasn’t like anyone was taken by surprise it was sort of a methodical thing.” Born out of this thriving community of experimental DJs was one of today’s biggest alternative rap and electronic labels, Mad Decent. This growth was something Joe enjoyed witnessing firsthand. “I remember Diplo was touring a lot and he came back around with his first batch of Mad Decent t-shirts. Not long after that I met Jasper Goggins who was coming over from being one of the founders of the Turntable Lab store [in New York], who has since gone on to become the label manager for Mad Decent.” Joe is carrying on the ideals that he and his partners in rhythm began a decade ago in his own way. Always a proponent of the colourful and politically incorrect tones of southern rap, he has since fallen in love with its more recent offshoot, known as trap rap. Joe almost sounds like a mad scientist when speaking on the subject, as if he can barely contain his excitement. Taking the template of drug talk, casual violence and bass heavy beats, trap rap takes things to a more minimalist area. Emphasising the gritty lyrics the electronic based production has influences from UK sounds like garage and dubstep, as well as juke music and Baltimore clubs music.

“They all tempo wise have a similar sound. They’re similar to a lot of the southern rap productions and I think it was just a natural place people took that template or that framework of southern rap tunes and expanded on it like a dance rave oriented thing.” This marriage of sensibilities however is one that musical scientist Joe believes has taken time to develop into the cult phenomenon it is. “It’s just been a long process but personal interests and the dancefloor came closer and closer together. Now it’s this crazy EDM trap rap thing. Just like anything else there’s some good stuff and there’s some bad copy re-production stuff.” The openness and opportunity to experiment is what interests Joe the most, however. “It kind of opens itself up to interpretation that it seems like there’s just about anywhere the music can go and there’s no right or wrong way to do it. There’s a lot of rigid rules around music for the most part, at least with a lot of genres and sub-genres. With trap rap it’s just like, ‘Wow that sounds cool, let’s go from there’.”

The nurturing electronic beats and sheer voyeurism of hearing about the drug trade has made trap rap popular among white club goers. “You can play it to the underground crowds and then you can slip it in to commercial sets and it’s comfortable. You get to play all these Waka Flocka [Flame] and Future and Gucci Mane bangers in the middle of nice clubs with a soundsystem that can play heavier things. It’s pretty revolutionary in a way I guess.”

While he is attracted to a similar tempo when it comes to his musical taste, he always likes to switch things up when performing a live set. “I don’t like to stay in one particular place with my sets. I definitely know what I’m going to do before even getting to read the crowd or the vibe, I have a general idea of what I want to do but there are so many factors that determine what happens. The tempos vary wildly.” Being able to read the crowd and feel the atmosphere, while also helping to set a tone, is an important balance for Joe during his sets. “The line between being a crowd pleaser and a panderer is very fine. I like to dance all over that I suppose. I definitely want to push this trap thing as hard as possible but you still don’t want to play for yourself by any means.” When not performing himself he spends his time mentoring teens in Philadelphia, a city marked by violence and crime. “The local and mainstream media write about the music like it’s too primitive or juvenile to be anything but to me it’s the sound and voice of the people and the kids.” This has prompted Joe to start the Party Music Academy, which is currently in development. “We want to create a space where all are welcome, where they can put the hard work and the hard effort in and stay out of trouble and hopefully they can find their voice and success”.  

BY ANDREW ‘HAZARD’ HICKEY

Recommended