DJ Swale – Q&A Interview
Tell us a little about yourself. Where you are from? How long have you been making Hip Hop?
I was born in Detroit but I grew up in Greenville, SC . I’m currently a junior in college residing in Charlotte, NC. I’ve been DJing since middle school and music has always been a passion of mine. It wasn’t until my freshman year of college that I realized how much potential the Carolinas has to take over the music industry. That’s when I started doing mixtapes to give Carolina artists a platform to get their music out.
What influences you in making Hip Hop?
Kanye West, J. Cole, and DJ Drama influence everything I do. They’re all pioneers in Hip Hop. Kanye and Drama can both be considered GOATS in the industry,
Describe your music, and what separates you from other MCs?
The quality tapes that I put out separates me from other “Mixtape DJs”. From the production, the beats I put on there, the artist, the songs, and even how the tape flows from one track to another is carefully thought out. I don’t just put an artist on my tapes because they have money. They can keep their money, I just want their talent so we can all grow together. It’s hard to categorize Carolina Music. You can’t put us in a box. Every city has a different sound and culture. J. Cole showed the industry what the Carolinas has to offer, I want to take it further than that.
Who have you collaborated with? Who would you like to collab with in the near future?
I haven’t collaborated with a lot of people yet. I work a lot with my artist Fatal, who’s on the Carolinas Finest. I want to collab with as many Carolina artists as I can. Of course I would love to work with J. Cole, I have some crazy ideas that will change the music game as well as the Carolina scene.
Your definition of “Underground Hip Hop”?
I don’t know what my definition of underground Hip Hop is. It can be music that the artist has full 100% control over what they put out. Or it can be an unsigned artist that has its own fan base.
Production wise, who are your influences? Who does your production? And who would you like to work with?
My production influences would be Kanye West and DJ Drama. I’ve never heard an album by him that doesn’t have great production. Drama just has high quality mix tapes, simple as that. If drama hosts your tape, 9 times out of 10 your tape is going to be good. I do my own production. I would like to work with these two to learn how to be perfect when it comes to music.
Any current or future projects you are promoting?
The current project I’m promoting is the Carolinas Finest. It has the best and upcoming artist out of both South and North Carolina. All of the artist are independent and coming up. My next tape will be coming out early 2015.
Can you give us a brief description of the creative process of Carolina’s Finest? Also/ what was the idea or concept description about your Album Art Cover.
The process is the same for all my mixtapes. I spend about a 1-2 months searching and looking for Carolina artist I like. I don’t listen to anything besides Carolina artist. Not radio, livemixtapes, or even my Ipod, I zone out and look for the best of the best. I pick 30 songs that I like and cut that down to 15 if possible. I sometimes have artist send me at least 5 of their best tracks so I can pick which ones that I think are the best, and that’s how classics are made. The concept of my Cover Art is basically saying the music industry is dying. We are the light to bring back real music. Kind of like when Chief Keef started getting popular in Chicago. As soon as he was discovered 50plus other artist got discovered also. That’s how the Carolinas is going to be. It’s crazy how much talent is here. Just wait a year or two, everybody will be rocking with us.
Where can we find your music and info?
You can follow me on twitter @Who_IsSwale , instagram at tolbert93, and my soundcloud link is https://soundcloud.com/elevatedaze
Any shout outs?
Shoutout the 864, my artist Fatal, my producer Kidsclusive and everybody who rocks with the elevated daze movement.
