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Readers of this site should be up on DJ Carnage. He produced “Big Spender” for Theophilus London & A$AP Rocky, gave us a pretty legendary interview last November, and is carving out his own lane as a producer and rapper. We recently got wind of a trap remix he did of Hardwell’s “Spaceman,” as well as a track on Borgore’s next release (which drops on the 24th of September). With those accomplishments, as well as having guys like Tiesto dropping his tunes, it made sense to bring Carnage back to get some more insight on this side of his output.
Interview by Khal
Most heads know you for your tracks for A$AP Rocky (“Big Spender”), Kreayshawn, Waka Flocka and others. What would you say is your biggest rap credit as a producer right now?
I think the A$AP record might be one of the biggest because his name holds so much weight right now. Aside from that and the one with Waka Flocka, I have one with Chris Brown and Kevin McCall called “What’s Gucci.”
We’ve been checking for some of your other production work, and you definitely lean on some EDM, with a feature on Borgore’s next release, and guys like Tiesto dropping your tracks in regular rotation. Had you always been into EDM? What was your motivation to start pursuing making dubstep or house tracks?
I got into EDM from listening to hardstyle a couple years back. I had a friend named Paul who would always play the group Above And Beyond and I instantly fell in love with the chords and melodies. After that I just fell in love with the culture.
Are you ever working on, say, a beat for an MC you know and immediately know that the sound would work better at a different tempo?
A more likely scenario is that a rapper will be in the studio and hear an EDM track I made and want to hop on it. More often than not, it won’t be a track that will cater to them and they will just want to get on it because they have dollar signs in their eyes. Sometimes I have to just exercise some quality control.
You’re definitely all over the place with your sound. Hailing from Maryland, was there a rich/vibrant music scene down there that influenced you?
There was no sound coming from Maryland! I got all my influence from the Internet and Brian Pumper.
Who would you say are some of the EDM artists or DJs that you look at as mentors in what you’re trying to do?
Borgore, Hardwell, Afrojack, Brian Pumper, Cyrano from The Cataracs, and Chipotle are my biggest influences/mentors.
We mentioned the Borgore release earlier; do you have any other tracks lined up for release?
Along with the EP I’m doing with Borgore, I just released my Hardwell “Spaceman” Festival Remix and I have some amazing singles for Riff Raff, A$AP Ant, and Bodega Bamz.
You’ve already got your foot within the trapstep scene. What are your thoughts on the EDM crowd getting so hype over the trap sound over the last year?
It’s awesome because I’ve been doing it for years and I’m excited to see what creative stuff people can come up with.
How do you see your career progressing? Do you ever have plans to stick with just one sound, or just keep moving in the direction you’ve already laid for yourself?
I’m still a pretty new artist so I’m looking forward to constantly reinventing my sound. I’m definitely always on some new shit.
