The justalilhype! crew had the opportunity to sit down with one of Canada’s most renowned party rockers, DJ Jester. He has held Toronto down for over 10 years with campus radio shows, club nights, concerts and various events in between. While he would describe himself as a hip-hop DJ, his versatility is evident given his ability cater to the local West Indian community through reggae and soca and hold down large mainstream events with the recent electro dance movement. He’s worked with local talents such as Kid Kut (of Baby Blue Soundcrew fame) for the Kill Da Dance mixtapes, as well as internationally known DJs like Clinton Sparks. His relationship with Clinton Sparks (and other well known Toronto DJs) has led him to join the ranks of the Smash Squad DJ crew. Jester has also ventured into the realm of composition and production, where he has been successful enough to have his work available on iTunes. Many DJs we interview have done a lot in their careers, but seldom do we encounter DJs who seem to have done it all; he’s rocked parties worldwide, hosted radio shows, produced commercially available music and shows no signs of stopping.

Please introduce yourself to our readers.

What’s up! It’s your man Jester, all the way from the T-dot. Toronto, Canada — holding it down.

What first interested you in DJ’ing and how did you get started?

For me, it goes way back. A lot of friends would ask me for those tapes that you would call cassettes. I would make little mixtapes for my friends although they weren’t really “mixtapes” but they were something then.

Back when I was in high school, I wanted to do a lot of the high school parties and dances. I wanted to be that guy to play at those parties ‘cause I loved the music, so I started collecting a lot of vinyl when I was in high school. That was my start.

What styles of music do you like playing the most? What do you rock in the clubs?

Everything. As a DJ, you have to grow with the music. There are so many different genres, especially these days. A lot of club music is very electronic dance music based so you have to keep with that as well. I grew up playing hip-hop and R&B and because of my West Indian heritage, I would play reggae and soca–whatever it needed to be and whatever goes these days in the clubs.

What would you say sets you aside from the other DJ’s in this city?

Versatility. The amount of musical knowledge and what I like definitely sets me apart.

You were saying a DJ needs to grow and adapt to the music. What was one genre that you were hesitant to take on?

I can’t really say there was a genre that I was hesitant to take on. If it’s good music, it’s good music. That’s the way I see it.

Do you have any projects or collaborations coming up with emcees from your city?

Not really any collaborations with emcees. I’ve done it. I did a mixtape collaboration with Rochester. I’ve done a few collaborations with Toronto DJ’s. Wristpect and I did one called Brain Candy. It was pretty popular and more dance based. It was something fun that we just wanted to put out there. I did a collaboration last year for my birthday party with Wristpect, Scratch and Clinton Sparks. We’re a part of a crew called Smash Squad. It was a fusion of all genres of music; something Scratch liked, something I liked, etc.

Tell us about your involvement with Smash Squad and how you got in the crew.

Clinton was one of the hardest working DJ’s I had ever seen and I thought he was from Toronto! That’s how often he was here. We would always cross paths and I brought him to my college radio show. He played some of his exclusive records at the time and we just had that friendship for years. It was just a natural move to become part of Smash Squad.

What kind of opportunities does being in that group open up for you?

For all of us, we all venture into so many different avenues where we’ve all done our touring. It’s something where we all feed off each other’s success. That’s basically the best way to put it. It’s not something where we rely on others to get us certain gigs; everybody does their own thing. We prove why we are Smash Squad.

As you progress through anything, you have to pay your dues. What would you say would be ‘paying your dues’ in the DJ world?

A lot of young DJ’s come to me for advice and sometimes the simplest thing is paying dues, whether it’s playing at a store opening or a small event. It may seem small to you in your eyes but you never know who’s going to be there and what it may become. It may grow into something bigger. I also think that part of paying dues is starting off small. Don’t expect to be in the mega club the day you start DJ’ing. You have to work your way to those little clubs that only hold 150 people. You have to take it to that extent. It doesn’t mean you’ll be there for the rest of your career but you build your base as you go along.

The context of a DJ is expanding as DJ’s now are jumping on official records and doing production. Where do you see the “DJ” heading in the future?

I’m glad you asked me that because I’ve already started dabbling in those sorts of things. I produced a remix for an artist out of Toronto name Aleesia. The record’s called Not That Girl and I did it with De La Vega. It’s her official remix; you can download it on iTunes. Plus, I have a few records coming down the pipe soon. I don’t want to say it just yet but it will be pretty big. It’s featuring a certain fire-starter. That’s all I will say.

Would you say DJ’s these days need to be on the remix and production side of things?

Yeah. Especially now with the ‘digital dj’, anybody can pick up Serato or Traktor or any of these programs and play the exact same records you’re playing. Obviously I’ll play them differently but at the end of the day, anybody can be a DJ. Now what got me into production was that I wanted to play my own records and remixes in the club. That’s where my head’s been at lately.

As you were coming up as a DJ, what would you say is that hardest challenge you’ve faced?

Exposure. Really and truly. You didn’t have the Twitter and MySpace or any of those social media spots. You had to hustle and literally record on a cassette deck to get yourself out there. That’s been my hustle.

 

What are some of the achievements you’ve had throughout your career that have left a lasting impact?

In terms of achievements, I’m pretty blessed. I can honestly say that I’ve opened for a lot of artists, from Kanye to Kardinal to Jermaine Dupri. I’ve done a Drake video release party. The list goes on. I’m pretty thankful for those things and to have those opportunities.
In terms of achievements: four time Stylus Award winner, Flavour Pool DJ of the year. I’ve won a few awards and I’m very thankful for that. I’ve worked very hard to get those awards.

What’s next for you as a DJ?

Producer. Remixer. I know a lot of DJ’s become artists off of those accolades. Nowadays you’re looking at DJ’s and DJ’s are the focal point of certain events. These days a lot of DJ’s are being used to promote products like Blackberry, HP, iPhone, whatever. That’s the next step for all of us DJ’s. For myself, I’m focused on the production side of things.

It seems that on a lot of songs on the internet introduce the song title and the artist (and maybe the feature) but they often don’t credit the DJ or producer. What are your thoughts on that?

I think those who know will know. Like the Pitbull record [Give Me Everything]; people only know Pitbull, Ne-Yo and Nayer. Nobody ever says Afrojack. He gets completely pushed aside and it’s his record but I think the people who know, know. I’m sure he sees it but he’s not really complaining about it because he has a fat check off of it. That’s the shitty side of things but the people who are fans of Afrojack will know. It goes both ways but at the end of the day, you’ll get your shine.

Growing up, which DJ in the scene did you look up to the most?

I’ll name three. The first being Jazzy Jeff. I think he inspired a lot of DJ’s. He inspired me to get onto Serato. I told him that to his face! I had the honour of playing with him and meeting him and I told him, “You are the one that got me onto Serato.” I wasn’t going to. I was stubborn. I didn’t believe that this new technology was going to be the way of the world. I was convinced that I’d be bringing my crate of vinyl around until I flew to Vancouver and they charged me for being overweight. Thank you Air Canada. That’s one.

The second being Starting From Scratch. His drive and determination is like none other. The third is a recent one, and that’s DJ AM. From the times I’ve seen that guy rock the club, it was just phenomenal. Nobody will go up to him and request a record because you’re going there to hear him play and let him do what he does. Rest in peace to him! Definitely DJ AM.

What is HYPE?

It’s energy. It’s what you should be if you’re an artist or a performer. You have to be HYPE.

Introduce yourselves to our readers.

I am Ollie Van Roost. I am a co-founder and the creative director.

I am Mer Van Roost. I am a co-founder and I work in all aspects of the business but mostly in the marketing and sales departments.

Tell us why and how you decided to start up Bruxe Design?

Ollie: We used to do a lot of designs for snowboard companies. We started the design marketing office and worked on that for a bunch of years. Gradually, we found ourselves sitting on a bunch of ideations that we thought were great but that ultimately never went everywhere.  We were sitting on so many designs that the company felt was stylish but too risky, so they passed on a lot of them. We thought that the best ones were overlooked by the company so we decided to take those designs and start a small collection of bags on our own. We always talked about designing and we also thought about doing designing other items. We weren’t looking to specifically establish a backpack brand or an accessory brand; we just wanted to design and we just happened to start with bags.  When we first started designing for ourselves, we wanted to do it right and start off with a business plan. Unfortunately, we did not have enough money so we decided to just order some bags and jump into the designing process headfirst. That was how Bruxe Design started and here we are today.

Who came up with the name “Bruxe Design” and what does it mean?

Ollie: We wanted a name like Adidas, a name that doesn’t have an immediately accessible meaning but sounds really good, with the whole vowel-consonant structure. We came up with “Bruxe” because we thought it sounded classy and expensive. Also, the fact that it’s hard to pronounce creates for it a sense of mystique. Also, we were born in Brussels so “Bruxe” plays off of that too.

Your logo is a stylized “B” in what looks to be an old English font. This logo was very well received and has been associated with your brand. How did you come up with this logo?

Ollie: The font isn’t even old English. We started working on the logo with Brussels in mind as a starting point. We used the crest of the Belgian monarchy as inspiration and decided to make our logo crest like by adding serifs. There is a lot of familial pride in Belgium where familial lineages are well documented and go back thousands of years. We liked the idea of staying true to one’s roots and really knowing one’s history, so that was part of our inspiration to style our logo like a crest. We wanted the logo to look nice and pay homage to our country of origin as well.

What were some of the greatest difficulties you encountered while establishing your brand?

Ollie: When you build a brand, you want to repeat the same formula over and over again, whether it is in how your market the brand or in what products you carry. You want to create a sense of familiarity with the brand and have your customers feel comfortable and know what to expect. While this is good, we didn’t want to do it because we may be setting our brand up to be pigeonholed if we did. When brands are so set in their ways it may be hard for them to branch off into new things that they may want to try because they either get too comfortable with what they are doing and the consumer has come to expect that familiarity. For us, the brand is an extension of our office. We are constantly coming up with new design ideas so we tend to just brand a lot of the stuff we come up with and wait to see what happens with them.  While we choose to be unpredictable and not follow a branding formula, there are difficulties because we cannot always convey a clear message to our customers. We go from designing bags to chair inspired jewellery. People don’t really know what to expect from us and have a tough time establishing a sense of familiarity with us, so that makes things tough sometimes.

Mer: It’s hard to start a retail store because people don’t always want to try new brands. We had to work with smaller retailers at first. Also, marketing is difficult. It’s really marketing driven here in Canada and marketing is taken really seriously here. All the little details are important like, who is on your team, what is your six month strategy, or what is your two year strategy. We are the complete opposite in how we approach marketing. We are mainly just two guys so everything has to come organically and we don’t have the manpower to really push the marketing. We work with a few blogs and a few guys that we trust and we just try to get the word out slowly.

When did you guys start working on establishing Bruxe Design and when was the launch?

Mer: We started working on it in the fall of 2007.

Ollie: Our first collection launched fall of 2008.

You guys are recognized for the design and quality of your bags. Tell us about your bags.

Mer: We didn’t want to push our logo with the first collection so we went with an all black collection that had black logos. The five bags we were launching looked like sihilouettes. We thought the designs were great but they were refused by a lot of companies. For our bags in general, quality is very important. We also like our designs to be clean and traditional looking as well.

Your bags and your other products are unique from what many other companies are doing in the industry. What are some of the things that you draw inspiration from?

Ollie:  We are inspired by a lot of the same things that inspire other designers, like popular culture and the 1920s. However, we approach our products more from a design standpoint than from a trend or marketing standpoint. We don’t bother with what’s hot on the market right now. We go with what we want to do and what we think is aesthetically pleasing. Ultimately, the difference in our products from the vast majority out in the market lies in our designing process. We have a very loose designing process and a lot of what we create stems more from design intuition than studying the latest trend reports. I think this is why our products come out looking a little different.

What, in your opinion, is the difference in designing a product from a design mindset rather than from a trend or marketing mindset?

Mer: The design will be more timeless. Three years ago, people were big on all-over prints. We didn’t do that. Instead, we did a bag that was laser cut. It was kind of trendy at the time, not as much as the all-over prints, but it will still be classy in ten years. We focus on quality, durability, and achieving a classic look. We don’t focus on the hot color that’s going to make the bag a hit this year but undesirable next year. We are mindful of the trends that are shifting around us but we feel that the bigger companies focus on the market too much. They see what’s doing well at the time and jump behind that. They sell a lot of bags that way but we do not believe in doing things that way.

You guys were quite young when you started Bruxe Design. Do you see it evolving with you as your grow or do you feel that it has grown all it can at this point.

Ollie: It’s not going to change much. We do want to diversify and aim some stuff at kids later on though. However, the 25-50 age range is our target demographic. By 35, most people have a design awakening and realize that they no longer love what they used to. We want to focus on those who have this shift in taste and offer them something new to try.

Another popular product is your handmade chair inspired jewellery. It’s a very original idea. How did that come about?

Ollie: We are chair nerds and think that they are absolutely beautiful. People love chairs. If you ask architects and designers what their top-ten favourite objects are, five out of those ten objects will be chairs.

Mer: It’s the most iconic thing for architects and designers because it’s often the first thing they study in design school.  Jewellery is hot right now too and there is not a lot of masculine jewellery to begin with. I was apprehensive when Ollie suggested we design jewellery but when we finally did, the line was a hit. We had a soft launch for the line on blogs the day after Christmas and we received 1200 e-mails after new years from people who were raving about the line. We hadn’t even officially launched it yet!

How does it feel to work with your brother?

Ollie: We want to kill each other sometimes but at the end of the day, you need to really trust somebody and know that their agenda is yours. Neither of us have our own agendas. We have the same goal. We trust each other. I can’t replace him.

Mer: We both have our design tastes. When you go into business with people who have other projects on the side, you may discover that they are looking out for their own wellbeing or for the betterment of their other projects. It’s better this way. We have the same goal and we work well together.

You guys have a close knit business and it’s great that you do a lot of the stuff yourself. How do you maintain the essence of the brand while expanding the business?

Mer: We will always be very involved in every aspect of the business. We are also very hands on. We do renovations whenever we get a new office or a new showroom and it’s fun w hen you don’t work with your hands a lot to get dirty. We want to follow Stussy’s method. They have fourteen employees who are paid very well and kept very content. They run a very tight and efficient team over there.

Ollie: There are other people involved besides us. There is a guy who has been with us for a year now and he came in as an intern but is now doing amazing design work for us. We are putting together quite a team. Ultimately, I would love to be on the golf course every day. While we will always be involved in the business, we don’t necessarily want to be in the office every day.

How important is it to source the highest quality materials for your designs?

Ollie: Very important. It’s difficult when you want to authentic about so much stuff but I think that this is what characterizes us as people who really love design. At the same time though, we are making it harder for ourselves. Our designs may get lost on the customers who buy the bag but cannot appreciate the craft and quality materials that went into it. Nonetheless, we do it this way because we want to.

Mer: Higher quality materials and craftsmanship leads to higher quality products and will build the brand up strong. There may be risks and the whole process takes longer, but people will trust your brand.  Ralph Lauren is a great example of one such brand. Its popularity is resurging now but it wasn’t all that popular ten years ago. However, it has always been a reliable brand that people have trusted and that is why it’s been around for so long. We are going to start designing clothing so we are sourcing from a really good fabric company. It may be a little more expensive to do so and it might be hard to compete at retail with our expenses, but like Ollie said, it keeps our integrity. We have pride in what we put up.

What are the most important elements of design for your as individuals?

Ollie: I would say the creation process for the design. If you study the process of a lot of designers you will see their values. It comes down to taste. People do it every day in a sense. When you get dressed in the morning, you are doing designing. When you buy furniture for your house, you are designing. It comes down to price too. It comes down to taste, price, and the choices you make.

Mer:  I would say the execution of the design into a good product. Our product is very understated but it still has appeal. We draw inspiration from the iPod. The guy who designed the iPod is a genius. It has a simple, beautiful design that is accessible and practical to use. We don’t want to reinvent anything. We just want to make our products what they are supposed to be, pure and simple. For example, a bag should be super clean, made with good stitching, and made with good fabric. Simple is often hard to do though.

What is HYPE?

Ollie: HYPE is street hustle.

Mer: HYPE Is bullshit. HYPE is when you don’t have a strong enough product. HYPE has sold a lot of products that do not have real HYPE. A lot of companies have had it really easy in the last ten years. Why should I pay $60 for a t-shirt that is worth $20 only because a celebrity endorses the product? People are getting sick of this so that’s why a lot of heritage brands are popping up.

The artists formerly known as 4DZ are one of the best-kept secrets in Montreal’s music scene. Now going by the name Nation Ruckus, the alternative hip-hop maestros are reinvigorated and prepared to spread the ruckus throughout Quebec and Canada. Drawing influences from acts like Rage Against the Machine, Tupac Shakur, and Method Man, Nation Ruckus seeks to infuse intelligent and lyrical hip-hop with high energy beats and live instrumentation to create tunes that translate well into the high energy atmosphere of live shows. Never one to buckle under pressure, Nation Ruckus has had ample experience in performing for the public, with appearances at the Montreal Jazz Festival and an opening act for Big Boi anchoring their impressive resumes of live shows. With their newest initiative to feature up –and- coming local artists in their act with appearances in their music videos, live shows, and album tracks, it is clear that Nation Ruckus is working hard to spread the noise and appeal to everyone’s love of creative, ambitious, and adventurous tunes.

In this interview with justalilhype! Nation Ruckus touches on a number of different topics. They talk about their new album, Boombox Manifesto, their unique approach to beat making, the most important aspects of a live show, and the difficulties of getting known as English artists in a francophone province With their live performance chops and their willingness to experiment with new influences and musical fusions, it is clear that Nation Ruckus has been kept in the dark for far too long. It can only be a matter of time before the ruckus reaches your doorstep and kicks down all of your musical inhibitions.

Can you introduce yourselves to our readers?

Milk-E: I am Milk-E Fresh. I am the rapper of the group.

DJ WiM: I am DJ WiM, I am a composer, guitar player and I work on the back vocals.

Quality: I am Quality. I am a composer, guitar player, and I work on the talk-box and contribute to the back vocals.

What is the origin of the group’s name?

Milk-E: We were calling ourselves the Nation Crew for a while and we still use it now from time to time. In creating music for our upcoming album, Boombox Manifesto, and brainstorming for our name, we decided to call ourselves Nation Ruckus. We like to cause a ruckus and we are always trying to make noise and get in your face. We decided to combine “nation” and “ruckus,” and that’s how our name was born.

Quality: The name evokes the image of a community making noise together. One of our main goals is to have our music be a platform for up and coming dancers, graffiti artists, DJs, and MCs to showcase their skills. We want to bring them up front in our videos and at our shows and expose their art to the world. Nation Ruckus is not just the three of us. We have a whole crew of people that we want to represent. It’s bigger than us.

Who came up with the name first?

DJ WiM: I think I did. We spent a lot of time choosing the new name. It was a major move for us.

You guys were previously known as 4DZ. What inspired the name change even after you have built a large fan base with the old name?

Milk-E: We’ve been playing music together for a long time. We made our mark with 4DZ. We played at the Montreal Jazz festival, played a lot of shows, and won a lot of urban contests. However, the sound of the crew changed somewhere along the line. 4DZ was more of a big band with more instrumentalists and things changed when some members left. We were still running as 4DZ when we started production on Boombox Manifesto but we decided we needed a different name to show where the group is now. The main composers stayed the same but our stuff wasn’t the same sound or concept we had before so we decided to change the name.

What makes Nation Ruckus Montreal’s best kept secret?

Milk-E: We have been around for a long time as 4DZ. One of the things that makes us different is that we have always tried to incorporate live instruments into everything that we do. We try to represent all types of music and not just straight hip hop. If we had to categorize our music we would call it alternative hip-hop. Our music has rock, pop, and electro influences. I think for us to bring those styles together into one cohesive sound is definitely a sign of maturity. Despite the fact that we have been on the scene for a long time we feel like a lot of people out here don’t even know us yet, much less across the country and across the globe.

You guys created the Ruckus Monkey, a character who is now the group’s official mascot. Tell us about him.

Quality: The Lockdown video exposed a lot of the up and coming artists who we want to showcase. There is a guy in the video, a dancer, named Mark Greene. He is wearing shades and a cap in the video and doing some great moves. I felt that he embodied everything Nation Ruckus was about. I took a snapshot, sent it to a graffti artist, and it became the Ruckus Monkey.

You guys refer to yourselves as a “Nation Crew.” What does this mean?

Milk-E: Basically, Nation Ruckus is the three of us. The nation crew is a concept. The nation crew is the whole team. When we play live we will always have a drummer, always have a bass player, and we might have a keyboardist or horns. The nation crew is our whole package, including the people who have been working with us for years.

As an alternative hip-hop group, you guys have a really fresh sound versus other groups that are predominantly sample based. What is your approach to beat making?

Milk-E: Quality’s approach to beat making is rooted in incorporating different strains of sound together. We will have synthesizers and samples like every other rap group out there but we will also add in guitars, strings, live drums, and live bass.

What types of instruments do you use within your music?

Milk-E: When we are recording the albums in the studio we need different studios from time to time to accommodate the different instruments we may be using on the track, like drums or brass, which require a huge studio. We want to bring that live instrumentation aspect into our music. We do our show live with three musicians but we incorporate other instruments into our act 75% of the time.

Quality: Yeah, we mix a bunch of different instruments. I use old school drums, old samples, straight loops, and old classic stuff that you have probably heard before. I also use electronic synthesizers and I use a lot of keyboards, but I try not to rely too heavily on samples. I do get inspired by samples a lot of the times though. Our beats are a great mix of everything and you need to listen to a lot of our tracks to get a good feel of our style really entails.

DJ WiM: Yeah, we draw a lot of inspiration from the 1980’s and the 1990’s.

You guys are really creative and original but have there been challenges to stay on par with the popular direction of music?

Milk-E: It’s a good question and it relates to the origins of the band. When Quality and I started the band, we played with a lot of musicians and did a whole lot of things. We dabbled in soul, punk, and classic hip-hop sounds. If you listen to our first EP, we were all over the place and just exploring what we could do. We even did some songs in French. When DJ WiM came into the picture, we sat down and discussed what our next move should be and what direction we wanted to go in, how to break into the music scene, and how to really make our mark. We decided to focus on the alternative aspect rather than soul or hip-hop. We are bringing back old school hip-hop but with a 2011 sound and influence. All three of us are on the same page and I really like what we are doing right now.

What is one of the most important aspects of a live show?

Milk-E: The theatrics of the live show are really important. The MC needs to move the crowd. And it’s not all about lyricism. The skits and how you interact with the crowd and how the musicians interact together all play a part in keeping the show interesting. We are like a b-boy crew in a sense when we take the stage. We look to blow people’s minds, keep the energy high, and get the place jumping.

When you are all performing live, it seems like Mike-E the center of attention. How is everyone else incorporated during live sets?

DJ WiM: I agree. When you are in the audience, Milk-E is the leader, no doubt. He is not the guitar player, he is the MC. He is taking his place and doing his part to keep the energy high. I am doing the same thing, and the drummer, the bassist, and everyone else is doing their job. The conductor is integral to the orchestra but the conductor cannot do it alone. It is the same with hip-hop. The MC is the front man but he just wouldn’t sound the same without his backing.

Quality: Milk-E is the front man and we just make sure that the background is working well for him.

Milk-E: We are all music lovers. When I go see a show, I want the lead singer to hold it down. I think I do that job properly as the MC. However, I also like the little things when I go to see a show. I will stare at the DJ and the drummer for minutes at a time, just to see them work. People do that generally. They want to go see the show and wonder what everyone up on stage is contributing. The three of us sound great but we like to add diversity and flavour to what we do and I think our audiences know how to appreciate this.

Tell us about your experience with performing with various types of crowds.

Milk-E: When we perform for a small crowd, we are good. When we perform for a bigger crowd, we are great. The bigger the crowd, the better the show will be. We played the Montreal Jazz Festival in front of ten thousand people and it was probably one of our best shows.

Quality: Opening for Big Boi was a great show too. People were really into our performance. When you do a show like that and people come up to tell you that they liked you better than the main artist, that’s when you know you did well.

Tell us about your next project.

Milk-E: It’s our first real album. It consists of us showing off our skills basically. That is a big part of hip-hop culture whether you are a b-boy, DJ, graffiti artist, or MC: you have to go and prove your skills before people will listen to what you have to say. I wouldn’t say that we are doing intellectual rap but it’s definitely intelligent rap.

What music do you listen to and how do you draw inspiration from other artists?

Milk-E: We all grew up listening to stuff like Rage Against the Machine, but I also listened to gangster rap. Personally, I always identified with artists like Rage Against the Machine and Tupac Shakur, people who had something to say, more than I identified to artists who just aimed to rock the house. We try to combine those two mentalities though. I am a huge fan of Method Man and all those cool acts. They didn’t have anything important to say but they could rock the mic. We try to find the blend between those two mentalities but we always try to keep our music intelligent. We don’t dumb it down no matter what we are talking about. Our song Funky Sneakers is a light track. It’s not talking about saving the world or anything but it’s done in an interesting fashion. It’s not dumbed down, it’s not an easy song to get into, but it’s really catchy when you do get into it. 

Tell us about the thought process of creating a song.

Quality: It’s been crazy. I have so many ideas.  I typically start with a bass line, and then I might throw in a drum kit or some guitar. I start from samples sometimes too. Other times I start from a song I heard. I can start my beats from anything.

DJ WiM: We are working on a conceptual album. All our tracks have to stay true to our concept. If not, we will not put it on the album. We try to keep the concept in our packaging, lyrics, and the live show as well. We want the album to come alive on stage. We are not going to change anything to make the album easier to play on stage because the concept will become lost. When you hear our music on the CD it should sound the same as the live rendition.

Milk-E: What’s interesting about our process is that we can start off from many things, such as a raw concept, or just one line or a hook. Oftentimes I will bring in a hook and we will try to play off that. We don’t have one strict way of making songs. When you hear the album you will feel that it all fits together but has a wide diversity of sound throughout its individual tracks as well.

Tell us a bit about the direction you are heading. In your earlier songs, you would also rap in French. What’s the concentration now?

Milk-E: We used to have that, but not so much now. We changed our direction concerning that. I still listen to music in French but we relate more to English music. We grew up listening to mostly that so at some point we had to make a choice to focus on one language. As far as the barrier goes, it has been a challenge to sing in English in Quebec. On another level, when we release elsewhere in Canada or across the globe, it’s definitely not going to be a problem. One of the reasons why it took us so long to make a name in this industry is because we didn’t understand that context fully. The whole industry here has heard us but they are not interested in releasing us in Quebec because of the language barrier. We do hip-hop and in English and the market is mostly francophone. We concentrate on producing here but we are aiming to release it across the globe. 

What advice do you have for up and comers?

Milk-E: Despite working on your talent, the most important thing you can do is produce yourselves. Independent music is doing so well nowadays. Try to be business minded. If you are not going to do your own promotion you are going to have to take care of your own production at least. Start investing now. Buy gear and prepare to work for yourself in the future.

Quality: Learn your craft. Learn where your music came from and where it is going.

What is HYPE?

Quality: Energy.

DJ WiM: HYPE for me is taking the energy we have on stage and transferring it into the crowd.

Milk-E: HYPE is youth resistance culture. Nation Ruckus is HYPE.

Halifax’s b-boy scene just got a little more crowded with the rise of Eastern Bloc, a young b-boy crew ready to channel their enthusiasm for dance into performances that will take the Halifax b-boy scene by storm. Dissatisfied with the lack of recognition that the Canadian b-boy scene receives in international circles, Eastern Bloc yearns for the chance to compete on large international stages to showcase Canadian b-boy talent. Although still quite young, the members of Eastern Bloc have a very mature outlook on b-boying and welcome new challenges and new experiences. There is always the fear that talent will be offset by immaturity, as can be the case with young crews, but Eastern Bloc’s willingness to improve their skills and to diversify their experiences displays wisdom beyond their years and promises a bright future of continued success and evolution.

justalilhype! traveled across the Iron Curtain in a bid to learn the secrets of Eastern Bloc’s rise to notoriety in the Atlantic Canada b-boy scene and as it turns out, there is no secret. There is just hard work and a passion for dance. Along with this revelation, we also got the scoop on the crew’s breaking origins, what it is like to be a young Canadian crew, and what the world can expect from them in the future. The cold war may be over and the Eastern Bloc may have dissipated, but another Eastern Bloc arises in the West and it is deadest on stretching its break dancing ideology across the globe.

Please introduce yourself to our readers and tell us how you got into break dancing. 

FT: My name is Fatlum Topalli, a.k.a. b-boy Kosodope. I am from Kosovo. I started break dancing when I saw my brother and Jeff do it. They were in my house, practicing moves and stuff. I use to make fun of Gerzen Faradgiv, a.k.a. b-boy Gerrr, who is now a member of our crew as well. Then, “Floor Wars” came around and I went out to show support. I saw the stuff that they were doing and it got me HYPE. That’s how I got started.

GG: I am George Grigoryan, a.k.a. b-boy Spike Nice. I am from Armenia, which is in Europe. I started learning how to break dance at a class called “Classes In,” which was taught by a guy named Toby. Shout out to Toby, he is now in Korea. Another member of the crew, Igor Geshelin, a.k.a. Igrok, also came into the class and taught us as well. 

GT: I am Gezim Topalli, a.k.a. b-boy Kid Nasty, and I am from Kosovo as well. I knew George before we started break dancing. We would just chill and ride bikes together. All of a sudden, Drew Moore created the “Classes In” program and I was invited by Jeff to have some fun and learn how to break dance. I enjoyed it so I invited George and we all went down like that. We were very HYPE for a battle called Flow Rules and it was pretty dope. We lost to Luke’s kids, but Luke said that we should have won. That’s just life.

JL: Hey, I am Jeff Lin, a.k.a. b-boy Sokay. I am originally from Taiwan. I got into b-boying because of break dancing videos and my English tutor at the time. I would always watch cool break dancing videos on YouTube. One day, I asked my tutor where I could learn this type of dance in Halifax and she introduced me to Halifax Dance. That’s how I met Toby, Luke, and all those guys. I met Gerzen when he dropped by at a practice session I had with George and Gezim. We then attended the “Classes In” program and met the rest of the members.

Tell us about the creation of the crew.

GT: The crew name came from Igor. He would practice with us and found that we could never find the right name. He pointed out that we all came from the East and that helped us decide to call ourselves Eastern Bloc. We added more members later on.

What makes your crew unique? What separates Eastern Bloc from other dance crews?

GG: A lot of crews have crew members that are from the same place but our members are all from different countries. When we became a crew, not all of us spoke fluent English so we would argue all the time over routines and such. We would always work it out in the end though.

Many of you are still young. What is it like to be up and coming b-boys in the scene? Is there any pressure?

GT: It’s all good. It feels real good because we are getting down with all the heads. We get to chill, meet new people, and just vibe out with everyone. It’s all about having fun and getting our names and the crew’s name known.

JL: There is a new generation of b-boys coming up but there are still lots of old school heads that are still active and still able to perform. With that said, there are many new b-boys on the scene now and we will just have to step up our game and just strive to be on the top.

What’s coming up for the crew in the future?

FT: We have a battle coming up on March 3 called “Rock To The Top”. It’s going to be in Citadel High School. That one is mostly for Atlantic Canada and we are hoping to win that. Our boy Luke is going to be there with Koala Corps, our masters. We try to stay humble a lot, even though we know that we are better.

(everyone laughs)

I am just kidding.

Living in Canada, it’s very good to see people from different cultures coming together to form a crew. How’s it like to interact with people from different parts of the world?

FT: You get to see where people are coming from. They always have something new to add to the floor because of where they are from, whether it is something from their culture or their life experiences. People from all walks of life can always give you more inspiration.

GT: It’s real good. I won the qualifiers for a competition called “Last One Stands” last year and I got to go to Holland. I got to see all these different styles of dance over there. I saw dancers from France and dancers from the U.S.A. You get to see the difference in how they move and how they hit the beats.

In order to have a nice set, music has to be a big part of break dancing. Tell us how you incorporate music with dance. 

GT: We got DJ Lean Rock in the crew. He’s got all the crazy, classic, funky beats. We listen to old School Hip-Hop a lot, artists like De La Soul, Black Sheep, Slick Rick, Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan, and Big L, just to name a few.

What are some of the goals you would like to achieve as a crew?

GG: A lot of people around the world underestimate Canada and this is the first year that Canada’s been to the International Breakdance Event. My boy Kid Nasty went down. A lot of people underestimate Canada and if you ask them where Halifax is, they won’t even know. We got practice spots so watch out! We have heaters. It’s not that cold in Halifax. Once we get a little older, we are all going to get our Green Cards. We are going down to the U.S.A. to show our stuff. That’s what’s up!

What is HYPE?

FT: HYPE is when you are in the moment and you see something that you really like. You feel energetic and you want to get down.

GT: HYPE to me is inspiration when you see something crazy. You don’t even need to do anything that crazy to be honest. Just show a style for what it is. You could wiggle your fingers with the beat and if you do it right and the moment is right, everyone will go crazy. That’s funky. That’s HYPE to me.

JL: HYPE is the moment when you see something that you can never see on videos. HYPE is the moment you see something and you feel it.  It’s that feeling of excitement. That’s why you should always go to jams and not just stay home and watch videos. You cannot feel the energy around the jam. HYPE is the feeling around the moment.

GG: HYPE is like my boy Sokay said: it’s feeling the moment. It’s like when there’s a circle going on, there’s hundreds of b-boys at a spot, and you see a b-boy take it to the next level and do something that no one has seen before. Everyone goes crazy and everyone gives love. Everyone is real. They are not jealous. The moment that someone does something crazy and everyone throws their hands up is what’s HYPE to me.

Shingo Shimizu is a Montreal-born, Toronto-bred design that has been exposed to drawing at an early age. He is also a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design’s Communication and Design program. Having produced visual creatives for numerous clients including Coca-Cola, Virgin Mobile and Toyota, he is one designer in Canada that people should pay attention to.

The justalilhype! Crew got a chance to ask Shingo about his early life, his years in college, and his experiences working as a full-time designer. Shingo tells us about his transition to working independently, and further discusses about his passion, Illustration. Aside from art and design, he also mentioned to us about his love for music, as he uncovers to us through the interview that he is also a DJ.

Please tell our readers about yourself.

I studied graphic design at Ontario College of Art and Design. From there, I had a few full-time jobs as a graphic designer but I was never good at doing layouts. I would say that’s my weakest point. My strengths I’ve stuck with are logos, pictograms and illustrations. I think people picked up on that so through that I did flyers for club events. It spread really quickly and soon after I was meeting art directors and getting into the illustration game. That’s how I got to where I am now. I stuck with it.

A lot of artists draw on their background for inspiration. How does your upbringing influence your style?

I grew up on a lot of manga where a lot of my friends grew up with North American style comics. I think that’s a big difference. I still love North American style comics like Marvel and DC but I would have to say that I’m naturally drawn to manga. My sketch book gravitates towards that style. Other than that, I’ve always loved surrealism and pop-art. Obviously I loved Warhol.

I think what really stuck out for me, style-wise. When I was growing up, I picked up a comic called Arkam Asylum. It’s a hard cover book. It really stuck out for me stylistically. I was thinking that this was not like any other comic. It was really different and raw. That was when I first came across spray textures. I was young so it probably didn’t stick with me ‘til now.

Tell us about your learning experience at OCAD. How did attending the school help you today in your career as an artist?

During my time at school, the colors of the computers in the computer labs were all beige. That pretty much sums up how different it was. Even then, computers were just getting popular as a design tool and a lot of us wanted to depend on it but at the time our instructors were very reluctant. They would want us to use the photocopier or cut and paste. It was a very hands-on approach. I think that’s really shaped me as an illustrator now, like how I approach brainstorming and coming up with ideas. The only difference is that I would probably do a lot of my research online now instead of the library. I think the instructors were also very different. They were really old–in a good way! They really taught us the basics, which are fundamental. I’m sure there are a lot of great instructors now but I don’t really know.

I walked in a few years ago and I noticed the level of work was quite a bit different. I wasn’t really too impressed with the work I saw being presented in the hallways, whereas I’ve always been impressed with the students at Sheraton College. They’re a huge animation and illustration school.

What mediums do you use?

It really depends on what projects I get, especially what effects I’m trying to obtain. If I need textures, I’ll definitely create my textures from scratch. For paper textures, I’ll go to a paper store and research some papers and get it scanned. I usually start off with hand drawn sketches for sure. Since I work with vectors, I scan in a quality drawing and trace it and then polish it up in Photoshop.

What does producing creative visuals for Coca-Cola, Virgin Mobile, and Toyota, as well as being recognized by Advertising & Design Club of Canada mean to you as an illustrator?

It’s great. The best thing about working really hard is being recognized and rewarded for it. I think the toughest thing for a lot of artists out there is that they work probably harder than I do and they haven’t been recognized yet. It’s tough. The competition is crazy out there, especially with the internet.

What advice would you give to up-and-comers who are trying to become recognized?

You can’t stop! Because of the internet, everything is saturated. Because of all those creative source websites, you have to compete with that. You just have to keep at it and be open to new ideas. You have to just keep improving yourself and your style. Everything is now evolving so much quicker and you have to be ahead of that.

With a growing client list, how do you prioritize your projects? How do you select your projects these days?

It just kind of comes in. If the money’s good, you take it. That’s my advice. It’s all about balancing commercial projects. That’s what will put food on the table and give you some time to coast while you work on your personal stuff. For me, I just take them at the moment.

How do you draw the balance between catering to the client while putting your own style into it?

It was in the beginning because I didn’t really have a style. I came from a design background where I could produce whatever the client requested. At the same time, I would do it in my own way but stylistically it wasn’t my style. From there, that was my basis. It wasn’t like I came out of nowhere and had a style. I could do various styles. At the time, the client knew that so they would ask me to do a certain style. Now, I have three or four styles which I’ll take to a client and see which one they like. I’ve been in the game for over ten years now so they’re confident in my work.

One of your specializations is character design. What’s your approach to creating these characters?

I talk about it with the client, because the client has a vision (usually blurry) of what they want and I guide them to it. It’s kind of like doing a police sketch where someone will say, “No, the nose needs to be a little more narrow.” So we’ll go back and forth until it’s right and everybody is happy. Then we’ll do a polished version and spin-off characters from that.

Have you ever considered creating a Shingo character?

I think my problem is that I get tired of things easily, that’s why I think the toughest thing for me is to do my own logo/identity. That’s why the website is pretty plain. I might eventually do an animal and keep a template but change the animal whenever I get bored.

What is HYPE?

The tingly excitement you felt encountering something so badass, you want to share it with the rest of the world.

Underdogs have a special ability to always do better than the ones on the spotlight. The fact that they get fewer chances to shine allows them to take every opportunity to heart. What are the biggest differences between the star and the underdog?

 

Their attitudes play a vital role on their development. With the will to always trying to succeed and show people that they are better, they are consistently improving. People that are established and have already acquired a certain status only have the pressure of staying relevant. They aren’t really searching for anything more, other than other outlets of impression. When the underdog rises, it is more than simply an account of success. It also proves that often times, talents are overlooked. If chances were fairly distributed to people, there wouldn’t be any underdogs in the first place. That being said, the true underdogs that have a chance to be successful are the ones that work extremely hard.

 

Underdogs within hip-hop are not necessary unskilled. They are just waiting for the right time and trend to boom. Hip-hop is evolving, and a certain genre might not catch people’s attention at a certain time. The only method for an underdog to truly achieve success in hip-hop is to be persistent and continuing on improving their craft. The time will come for them to shine.

 

There are also a lot of advantages of being the undiscovered. The fact that the pressure is non-existent allows you to fully challenge yourself, and not challenge an image of yourself that is viewed by others. The transition of being an underdog into a star is an interesting one because it allows the underdog to smell what success is. There is really no true formula for the underdog breed. While, a person can always stay away from the spotlight, if they are searching for opportunities and success, they will sooner or later reveal their tails, and at that time have a chance to rise.

Not going past the goals you aimed for is something that many cannot follow because of their strong ambitions. That is perhaps why humble leaders are often times more successful because even though they are ambitious, they understand their goals and would not step too far over the line of victory.  While hip-hop icons and successfully participants of street culture are subjected to carry a certain degree of pride, it can also be subtle. There is a difference of being cocky, and being able to respect the people around you for recognizing your success.

 

Victories are good, but people become out of reach of their initial goals. Being modest is important because it keeps you grounded. Like any artists, succeeding one’s goal is important, but be able to pace your success that you are also in control. Many hip-hop artists blow up too quickly, and forget the reason why they started rapping at the first place. DJs could become too popular and start playing for the crowds instead of playing for the love of music. Dancers that have achieved certain popularity sometimes would leave their original bboy crews, and forget the essence of a crew. The bottom line is to be humble, and always reflect on your accounts of success and learn from it. People always say learn from your failures, but learning from successes is also important because success could make people lose balance.

 

There is nothing more intoxicating than victory, and nothing more dangerous. People that are really good at what they do, need to remember that they have to be careful about celebrating victorious battles, and not let their strong ego blur or distort their visions.

In the culture of advertising and branding through new media, traditional modes of advertising of idols and celebrities has changed drastically; from expectations of company interests, to niche marketing, and now more predominantly towards the concepts of “self branding”. Dominant figures of society have been increasingly using the process of matching brands to their notions of self-identity.

The trend of advertising is now leaning towards the focus of the branded persona and it greatly affects popular culture. Street culture icons, and hip-hop figures dictates what type of brand matches their persona, and subsequently, attaches the brand to their own persona. This could cause both positive and negative effects to either the person connecting with the brand, or to the brand itself.

Often times, marketers might argue that anyone representing your product is a positive for the growth of the company, but if a brand is targeted towards a specific audience, brands must be careful and monitor on who is associating themselves with the brand. Often times, artists use this method to quickly draw the following of a successfully brand. On the other hand, emerging labels and brands seek artists to sponsor in order to ride their success and publicity. This investment could be economic or would require a large sum of money depending of the status of the celebrity. Whether the person accepts the brand or not, it creates a notion of self-branding, and the artist automatically attaches him or herself to the brand.

Advertisers in the future cannot simply target celebrities, but celebrities themselves will hold the final decision on choices of associating one-self with brands, which in relation with the evolution of new media, alters everything in the adverting industry. Within street culture and hip-hop, using success brands and labels to depict branding in music videos allow us to see how artist creates a brand for himself or herself. In retrospective, anyone can self-brand when they have achieved a certain level of recognition.