Rich Medina
RICH: I think I've seen a lot of the same things as other people; the record industry is eating itself alive. Going digital will make you ubiquitous, but you can't expect the business to bend to you. You have to change your model to flow with the new possibilities, and the new possibilities are making the business a blank canvas. It's what my momma always said: "If you don't wanna get hit, you don't play football."
I've accepted the fact that gone are the days of major label deals unless you are already in the machine. But I see it in the upside because there is less to fight against. There are less obstacles in the way because performing live is where you're going to get most of your love and loyalty. It's just about shifting and changing to what the new opportunities are now.
If I put something on my Myspace or a digital server, I'm hopefully giving my current fans what they've been asking for and turning some new people on. The key is to respect the fact that you have to be able to go live, go live consistently, and to be able to go live on the drop of a dime. And ultimately I think people are tired of the gingerbread man thing.
5: What's the gingerbread man thing?
RICH: The ginger bread man is - put the dough in the ginger bread man stamp and push out a million of them. That's the way the industry operated for years. But now, people want pie, juice, soda, water, cake - and I think that's a trend across the board. People are in their own ways branching out and looking to challenge their crowd and themselves. And that can only do well to everyone's craft.
It's best when you have people recognize the opportunity to have their creative license recognized, rather than being dictated. No more of this tightly structured skeleton you have to present yourself in. Now it's a blank canvas. So if you want to curse through the whole song and put it out there - you can. If you want to put some downtempo stuff on your album and challenge your crowd - you can, rather than having a large label cut you off because they don't feel it's marketable enough.
5: I remember someone saying once that they don't want fame because it comes with too much responsibility. As the brand behind your name grows, do you feel like, while you gain more supporters, you gain more haters as well, and why is that?
RICH: Not everyone is going to love what you do. Honestly, what we do as artists isn't meant to be loved by everyone. Just hit the people that embrace your work and continue with it. If they have a problem, nine times out of ten, the problem is their's. I don't have any negative feelings, and if anything, it's jealousy and that's flattering. If you don't like it - you don't have to like it. But if you're going to challenge it, I would say bring the issue to the horse's mouth. Don't become a part of the rumor mill because if the critique is honest, it might make the artist better.
Overall, it doesn't bother me. I take it with a grain of salt. And if anything, I look for that because you want people to be turned on by your work. So as long as they're thinking, I'm doing my job. It becomes pretty simple at that point - critics come and go, but real art sticks.
5: In Prefix mag you said: "To me it's just proof that you're impacting people, and one stupid thing about mass appeal as an artist is that the people who say or do the worst things to you or about you are just creating more interest in you."
RICH: Exactly. It doesn't sway me or move me to make a huge sweeping statement about haters. God bless them all. Just spell my name right in print when you say it. And luckily for me, when a person catches the rumor mill, they usually end up coming to my parties and saying, "I heard this and this, but now that I met you, I can see that the person who is saying this is essentially jealous."
All in all, I'm not seeking out jealousy or saying that it's all just jealousy, but I don't have any enemies and I don't go out and create them.
5: On a positive note, coming from the perspective that I live in Omaha, can you name a hot party you've played in a city you wouldn't think would have a scene?
RICH: St Louis, Missouri - that's a hot party! That Fly party with Luan Le and those guys (Trevor Matthews and Dino) is over the top. Outrageous! You don't think "soulful House Music" when you think of St. Louis as an East Coast kid. Not to say it doesn't exist. But I think a knowledgeable music person is a knowledgeable music person wherever you are.
Sometimes you might approach a city that you think is a - quote - "small town city," but as a guest DJ, you have to listen to what a resident is doing, and you can gauge from that as to how deep you can take the room.
For me, I try not to judge cities by geography because you never know what you're going to get. After 17-some-odd years playing professionally, you can never judge a book by its cover.
5: Glad you brought up that professional aspect. I also hear many people in the industry defer you to a category of a "professional" DJ. And it's not in the context of you having a name, or that you have been playing for many years, or even because you travel. One of the other people I often hear you grouped with in that context is DJ Spinna. What do you think this context of "professional" means to you?
RICH: There are parallels in our careers, Spinna and I. I think it comes from the fact that there is an opportunity to make a career in many different fields and you can pick up a lot of work depending on how well you present yourself. And Spinna and I talk about this all the time as well - being professional and acting like a professional.
It goes beyond the actual DJing part. It goes far beyond being able to play multiple genres effortlessly. But when you tie good admin and good people skills to talent, it's an undeniable power. My girl does my admin and she attacks that the same away I attack record store, my journal, my producing or even the way I attack the turntables when I play out.
5: So your business partner is also your lover?
RICH: Yeah, Tracy's been handling the business side of things for the last three years. She's been a godsend because now I can really focus on the art. So at this point she makes the executive decisions and I live with them because I know it's based on forwarding the business. Sometimes it's jamming them for the money, or doing a gig for less money to prove yourself. Keep on proving and you keep on improving.
I've groomed Tracy's perspective on the business that it's about attacking opportunity the same way you'd want me to attack the turntables. That double-headed approach gets you the win. I get promoters saying to me all the time, "Damn, man, whoever handles your papers, I email them and they email me the day of." Or, "I ask for a mixtape and they send me five fucking mix tapes that week!"
And then you get to the place and rock them - that's the cherry on top and you've handled your business like a man.
5: And Tracy handles your admin full time?
RICH: Yeah, no doubt. It goes back to your initial question about family slowing down the hustle. I don't have to trade in my lifestyle for my family because my lady is a part of my business. If anything the hustle will get stronger. She doesn't want to go to a 9-to-5 and I respect. As long as we stay healthy and focused, we can't lose.
5: Sounds like an ideal situation. Being a traveling DJ is a huge strain on most relationships.
RICH: For sure. When you're in business and you're surrounded by drunk people and horny girls - you have to have a trust in your household that will allow you to be who you are. You're swimming in temptation - temptation to have another drink, temptation to give in to advances. And I can say I'm one of the luckiest dudes right now because my woman understands and trusts. And that just adds to my power. By delegating authority, I gain authority. And I'm delegating in my own household.
5: Switching subjects, the Mayan calendar ends at Oct. 28th, 2011. While the Mayans never directly said the world will end at that point, many believe a rebirth of sorts may happen. If so, what three albums would you bury in the ground for future generations to discover?
RICH: James Brown - The Payback; Fela Kuti - Water Get No Enemy; Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.
5: Your own album, Connecting the Dots, was phenomenal. In hindsight, how do you feel about it? Anything you would change?
RICH: I think in one sense I wouldn't change a thing. I have people that go to poetry readings that never go to the club, and people who dance at my shows who never hear me speak and people I play basketball with that do neither of those. So with Connecting the Dots, the album title was what I was trying to do by bringing all those worlds together. But the album allowed me to show my face as a writer, composer and producer. At the time I was listening to Quincy Jones' album, The Dude quite a bit. I think he played three or four horn lines on the whole album, but he arranged everything, and gathered the artists and talent together to make it one unified statement. So I took inspiration from that role of a composer and brought on a number of high caliber artists that helped broaden the perspective of my own album.
5: Seems you've slowed down on the production tip since then. What projects do you have coming up?
RICH: When studio distribution went out of business, it took a lot of wind out of my sails. But I'm 80% finished with a new record I'm producing for Ranjit. He's an amazing guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist. And he's the first artist who's approached me that's asked if I could help him with his development.
I've also been getting back to recording myself for my own second artist album. So I'm in the woodshed recording and I've just been stingy with my music since I put my album out based on the notion of learning how the game is changing. I learned some valuable lessons with my first album about the interior workings of what will make a record successful and what won't. And in the meantime, I've just been piling up music, piling up music, piling up music so that when I figure out who my allegiance will be with, I'm going to have so much music.
5: Advice to up and comers?
RICH: There are only certain things that you can do alone. And while you're trying to find your way, you need ears to validate your work, so you don't have the luxury to be shitty to people. So be cool and practice your ass off. And if you fall down, keep your mouth shut and get back up. And just know that someone is out there that is ill'er than you, or putting more effort into getting what they want, so just don't be lazy. Ask questions and don't think you can do it yourself, so be humble and ask people who know more than you.
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For more on Rich Medina, check out his website at richmedina.com and myspace.com/richmedina.
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