by Alex Shtaerman
Recently named as one of Hip-Hop’s top ten mixtape artists by Rolling Stone magazine, Clinton Sparks starts 2006 off big, teaming with Kanye West to drop Touch The Sky, a 32-track preview of Clinton’s official album Get Familiar Vol. 1, due out later this year. With his stock as a producer on the rise and Smashtime Radio about to go global, we had a chance to talk to Clinton about the mixtape game, Hip-Hop and what it takes to be a real DJ.
RIOTSOUND.COM: What do you enjoy more, producing or putting together mixtapes?
CLINTON SPARKS: I would say they are pretty similar. When I make a mixtape, I actually produce a mixtape. All the stuff on my mixtape, I pretty much produce it all. Then after [the individual tracks] are completed and I actually put it all together, I like to think of the mixtape itself as a production in the way of the transitions between the songs and how I put them together. So to answer that, I like producing and [putting mixtapes together] equally and to me they are one and the same.
RIOTSOUND.COM: What do you like most about your latest CD, Touch The Sky?
CLINTON SPARKS: The intro is heavy, talking a lot of shit on this intro [laughs]. If you’re not familiar with the way I do my intros, I take different records and manipulate them to say different things. I actually concoct new lines out of words [from several different records] so it’s a lot more intricate than what the average person may be used to. Also, the fact that I produced the entire CD – new Ludacris, new Busta Rhymes, new N.O.R.E., Pharrell, D-Block, Freeway, Mike Jones. Basically what I like doing on my CDs is to do new things that nobody else is doing and producing all the music is something that I enjoy.
RIOTSOUND.COM: In your view, what kind of progression has the mixtape game undergone over the last decade or so? It seems like there are so many independent releases from DJs as well as artists now-a-days, what’s your take on it?
CLINTON SPARKS: I think the mixtape is very essential now to Hip-Hop in the sense of breaking new artists and in the sense of an artist actually being able to reach out and speak to his fans in the streets more consistently and on a regular basis. And as far as DJs, it’s a way for them to actually showcase their talent; for those DJs that actually do have talent. I think mixtapes are very essential to Hip-Hop right now, I couldn’t imagine Hip-Hop right now without mixtapes, to be honest.
RIOTSOUND.COM: How much of a role has the internet played? Ten years ago you had to go down to the guy on the corner to get a DJ Clue or Tony Touch mixtape. Now you can go on the internet and order anybody’s CD that you want.
CLINTON SPARKS: It’s a good and bad thing. The good part of it is – yea, it’s pretty similar to what mixtapes are [in the sense] that you can get music out faster to a DJ if you’re an artist or label or you can leak out a controversial track to anyone on the internet, so it’s beautiful for that. But what makes it bad is that there are people who now all of a sudden think they are a DJ and they go on the internet and download songs and throw them on a CD and now they say they are a mixtape DJ when that is not what a mixtape DJ is. You’re just a dude putting songs on a CD.
I’m very defensive of the term DJ because a lot people use it loosely. The DJ is the cornerstone of Hip-Hop, the backbone of Hip-Hop. Without a DJ the club wouldn’t rock. Without a DJ the MC wouldn’t have somebody playing his music. Without a DJ a lot of artists wouldn’t even get the recognition that they’re getting now. It’s a beautiful thing that now DJs are getting regarded and looked at as artists, because they are those type of dudes. I don’t respect those people who try to pose as a DJ when they’re not. The mixtape game and the DJ world is so over saturated with wanna be DJs that it’s almost ridiculous now-a-days. So [the internet] is a good and a bad thing.
RIOTSOUND.COM: What DJs did you admire when you were younger?
CLINTON SPARKS: I remember DJ Juice tapes back in the day. He was the first DJ that I heard cutting and doing intros like the way I do now. I would say he is one of the pioneers in mixtape intros. Also Craig G, Chubby Chubb back in the day. I remember when I would go through New York City I would just record Red Alert off the radio and I would take that home and that would be my mixtape for like a year. I would just be listening to him playing the Jungle Brothers and all types of stuff like that and it was amazing!
When you’re not from New York and you go there and if you live and breath Hip-Hop and you’re a Hip-Hop fanatic and then you go to [New York] where Hip-Hop was born; you just get a feeling that comes over you like – oh my god, I’m where Hip-Hop came from! So when I was young and I would go to New York and actually be able to hear a person live that I have been hearing about, that excitement was just incredible back then. I would tape Red Alert or Chuck Chillout or somebody like that and that would be my mixtape back when I was a kid.
RIOTSOUND.COM: Years ago you used to write comedy for Boston’s number one morning show, do you still do anything like that?
CLINTON SPARKS: I still write comedy and I still write skits for my radio show now, Smashtime Radio. So that’s what separates my show from a lot of other Hip-Hop shows. Smashtime Radio is syndicated; I’m in Australia, I’m in Canada and I’m also all over the [US]. I’m doing a deal right now with SupeRadio and they’re going to be syndicating my show worldwide. They’re going to pick up the ball where we left off, ‘cause I already got all those other stations on my own, so now they’re going to pick it up and make it even bigger. In eighteen to twenty four months from the day the show debuts [on SupeRadio], which should be next month, I guarantee, and I’m telling you right now, they should be the number one Hip-Hop show in the entire world. And we will not stop working until that goal is achieved.
RIOTSOUND.COM: For fans who still haven’t had a chance to check it out, what can they expect when they tune in to Smashtime Radio?
CLINTON SPARKS: It’s a lot of energy with a lot of things going on. There’s brand new music, exclusives, the hot music, freestyles, blends, remixes; a lot of things going on, we don’t get bored. It’s like, when you go into a fight, you just go in punching, you trying to knock that dude out man, you ain’t trying to go in and dance around. That’s basically what my show’s like. When I come in, whatever station I’m on, I almost want my show to sound like it’s a different station, like – wow, this show is crazy!
I want it where people can’t wait for the show to come on because it amps them up, whether they going to the club or maybe they just can’t wait to hear a new record. That’s what I try to make my show be at all times. I try to treat every show like it’s my first show and I’m excited to be on the radio. I don’t lose that passion for giving people the new music. DJing is a lot of creativity and talent, I’m not just a guy that throws on records, you’re going to hear cuts and you’re going to hear blends, you’re going to hear backspinnin’. You’re going to hear everything going on, what a real DJ does.
RIOTSOUND.COM: Rumor has it you’ve been in talks with a couple of majors to release your album.
CLINTON SPARKS: Yea, we’re still in talks, there’s a lot of interest right now. I [produced] the Biggie and Bob Marley record, Hold Ya Head, the first single off Biggie’s album and I also just did D-Block’s new single called Take Everything. I’m also in the studio with Ray J, just did something for him. So there’s a lot of work being done right now; publishing companies are coming towards me, labels are coming towards me.
What you can expect from the upcoming album is a lot of real hot Hip-Hop. I’m going to incorporate DJ elements into the production [such as] cutting in the hook – as a matter of fact, me, Ghostface and Raekwon are doing over a Hip-Hop classic! I can’t tell you what it is yet but it’s going to be a Hip-Hop classic and it’s going to be incredible! We were already in the studio last week and started coming up with lines, you know, to replace some of the old lines. It’s one of the biggest Hip-Hop records of all time and we’re doing it over with Ghostface and Raekwon.
RIOTSOUND.COM: Is it a Run DMC record?
CLINTON SPARKS: Nah, but it is a two man record. I’ll give you that hint. It’s a two man Hip-Hop classic record that still rocks now. So we’re doing that and I also got everybody from D-Block to Busta to Luda to Dip Set to Talib Kweli to Mike Jones, Bun-B, Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Kardinal Offishall, everybody is going to be involved with the album. I’m also talking to Game, talking to Kanye West, talking to Snoop. I’m just trying to get everybody involved as much as possible. I don’t want it to just be like – ok, this DJ got a bunch of records, put it on a CD, put his name on it and put it out. I want it to be an event. I want it to be a Hip-Hop event. I want people who love Hip-Hop to listen to this album and be like – this is a dope Hip-Hop album!
For more Clinton Sparks news and info stay tuned to www.ClintonSparks.com
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