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  Jase Interview
interview 0531 added 28.09.07 words:
Fraksha
technical:
Spoon
Manager, artist, promoter, top boy DJ etc etc. Flago is the man with his finger in many many pies of different flavours. Constantly with a phone to his ear juggling this and that, he’s always on the grind. As well as his own interests he’s helped out countless acts and rarely will you find anyone with a bad word to say about the man (apart from the odd middle-aged Venezuelan woman, but that’s another story)…
State your name and occupation
I go by the name of Flagrant and I am a turntablist / artist manager… among many other things…just an all round hustler will probably sum it up best.
The Business man huh? For people who don’t know can you give them a run down of what you're involved in...
Well then I guess you DO want to know everything I do...Well besides DJing, I manage the Melbourne rapper Phrase and a Melbourne based producer called M-Phazes. I also own a record label with Phrase and an extremely talented producer by the name of J-Skub. We have one artist signed to our roster called ILLY. Illy is an up and coming MC from Melbourne who is sure to be the next big thing to come out of this country. I run a club night called Late Night Hype with my boy MJ and it’s currently Melbourne's only 100% Hip-Hop night on the weekend. Oh yeah and I also just signed a solo deal with Illusive Records to do a legal mix-tape series... keep your eyes peeled for that.
Crooked Eye's the crew yeah, tell us a bit about this and how it got started?
Crooked Eye Fam started originally with Phrase, J-Skub & Daniel Merriweather. I wasn’t on the scene when the crew originally formed…I met Skub and Dan through Phrase… after some solid drinking sessions and putting in work, I earned my stripes… since I joined the crew we have seen 3 new additions to the crew…Unknown who is a Melbourne producer, Illy & M-Phazes. As a collective we like to represent a new generation of Hip-Hop artists coming out of Australia. With every release we all try to push the envelope.
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Because I am self employed I only have myself to blame if shit doesn’t go my way
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You manage Phrase amongst others? How do you find managing and co-coordinating the career of a major label artist while still trying to maintain yourself as a high profile DJ? A lot of late nights yeah?
Well I'm a night owl by nature so initially it was hard to have a late one and get up early but over the years I've learned that you gotta have the jump on everyone if u want to get ahead so I'm up and around by 10am every day - even if I am DJing till 4:30am... Because I am self employed I only have myself to blame if shit doesn’t go my way. Every day is a new hustle.
You used to get quite involved with the battling scene, entering battles and running the ITF's in Australia. You've taken a bit of a backseat from this the past couple of years. Was this a conscious decision or just something that happened as other parts of your career took off? Is it something you could see yourself getting back into?
To be honest, the battle scene in Australia is dead. When I was younger it was all about battling etc but I think as you get older you realise that DJing wont always be the thing you do for some extra cash while you live with mummy and daddy…You move out of home and suddenly there are bills to pay, booze to buy, taxis to pay for… when those realities slap you in the face, you kind of realise that that you need to think about your career in the "music business" and figure out what you can do to pay the bills - battling don’t pay the bills. As far as I know, only 2 Australian DMC champions have actually made money off their titles - DJ Dexta and DJ Samrai. Every other DJ that I've seen win the Aussie finals is still scraping through. Now don’t get that twisted…I fully support every DJ that chooses to continue focusing on battling and every year I am blown away by the routines these guys put together. But for me, I am thinking about my future and I can’t see a DJ battling career supporting my family one day. So the decision I made was certainly a conscious one. And no I don’t think I would ever battle again…maybe in a team format though - I love team battles.
You've toured + played with a lot of very high profile acts including snoop, DMX, Guru, Mobb Deep...you've chilled out with Primo at D+D studio's...who's sticks out for good or bad reasons and have you ever got star-struck?
The only artist who I have found to be a total dick was *ahem* Super Producer *bull shit* Solar who has been working with Guru. That dude is suffering from the "New Fame" disease baaad. I think he thinks that because he is working with Guru that he deserves the same kind of respect that Premier gets - but Solar aint paid dues in the international market… In all my years of doing shows etc, it's always the guys that are tagging along with the REAL artists that act like fools... the artists are almost always really pleasant to be around. As for being star struck, the only time I've been star struck was when I met Snoop...That dude is such a legend... I mean he popularized so much slang that we all use today in Hip-Hop... it was pretty crazy…oh and I also got pretty star struck when I met Kool Herc - WOW!
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It’s always the guys that are tagging along with the REAL artists that act like fools
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Rumour has it you've just signed a solo deal yourself. Tell us a little about that and what we can expect?
Yeah this is true…I have always wanted to do a legal mix-tape and the guys over at Illusive Sounds have made it a reality for me. Its going to be a mash up of classic party Hip-Hop tunes...Although I would love to do a mix-tape of all current tunes, its practically impossible to do it because the Major labels wont clear the new songs for compilations on labels other than their own.. And given that most of the current Hip-Hop is out through Universal, I'm pretty screwed. So I just thought, why fight it, I'll just make the ultimate hip-hop party banger mix-tape…so yeah... keep an eye out for it…it’s coming soon.
 Who outside of Crooked Eye should UK heads be checking for from Australia?
You need to peep these cats:
myspace.com/autismthewordsmith,
myspace.com/obeserecords,
myspace.com/spitsyndicate and
myspace.com/bigcuntsickcunt
Whats next up for the business man then?
Get over to the UK of course!
Any shouts?
Nah…I hate everyone.
Finally, what’s your favourite English saying?
Definitely the Bristol Cities mate... it's all about the Bristol’s.
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Fraksha
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