Ron Trent Interview
by Boogie McClarin | Published January 2007 | Features Archives

What happens when you raise a boy with Afrocentrism, polyrhythms, and mathematical precision? What if you throw in some music history, an extensive discography, love for movement, education, wisdom and a vision?

The boy grows to a man who is an innovator, an artist with a sense of responsibility - a man like Ron Trent.

Born in Massachusetts to parents active in their college's Black Power movement, Ron was raised in Chicago in a home that stressed education, excellence and cultural awareness. "My parents stressed the importance of studying the past and its connection to the future...They really helped me to see how the chessboard was set up."

Academic achievement and social responsibility were balanced by a passion for music. In addition to receiving early training in world rhythms by studying congas, Ron says he grew up with "a lot of jazz". He eventually expanded his training to the trapset, snares and cymbals, but they weren't his only source of sound. While Ron cultivated an ear for percussion that went beyond the 4/4 framework, he was also learning about the art of the remix from exposure to the rise of the 12" and the EP.

The founder of Prescription Records, internationally known as a DJ and a highly-acclaimed producer, Ron has seen the industry from it's beginnings. "My father ran one of the major record pools in Chicago, NADJA - I think that stands for the National American DJ Association - so I grew up around 12" and EPs. Before it was even called disco, when it was still called 'uptempo R&B', record companies would give out promos and my Dad ran a pool that distributed promos to DJs and music lovers around the city"

It was no surprise when in 1982, Ron began his own career as a DJ. With a diverse playlist that included rare grooves like "Heaven and Earth" to the more popular (though he admits "goofier") Cameo songs, Ron became another of the high school DJs making the rounds in the city.

Make no mistake, however - Ron had to work to get to his piece of the pie, being the youngest among a slew of now-legendary DJs. "I had a jumpstart on learning about music, but in order to earn my bones, I had to pull up my boot straps." In time, he was respected by the pioneers that came before him and had earned his place among the legends.

RON TRENT: I made a decision when my dad died that I was going to find something that I could appreciate and love doing everyday. My dad eventually graduated law school and was Assistant Dean at Olive Harvey College, and by the end of his life had done all these things but never really got to appreciate the fruits of his labor. So I said, you know, I'm gonna get a jump start on this. Originally I wanted to be an architect...

5: That makes a lot of sense, because your sound has interesting structure and composition. It's mathematically elegant, as well as having a rich rhythm.

RON: Yeah, I'm into mathematics and design. Sound architecture - that's the key to me.

5: Talk to me a bit about your first track. I have little anecdote about it being the first and only set of doubles I could blend consistently. Remember I called you at some insane hour so you could listen?

RON: The first track I released was called "Altered States". Actually on the same EP were two other tracks and the one I thought they should play was a track called "Afterlife" on the other side. It's funny how things work out, you know. I thought that was going to be the one and it turned out to be "Altered States". My friend Terry Hunter told me, "You need to put this one out". I was talking to him and Armando who's not with us any more. Armando was like, "I got this label," and so he put it out. The response was over the top. I didn't expect it. It was a definite international flier for me. It put me out there and established my credibility. What happened was that Frankie Knuckles and Dave Morales got on top of it and, to be honest, they were the ones who really took it on an international front. A short story: Frankie would come back and forth from New York and play a club called AKA's and he played that record three times in one night, so it was officially broken here.

5: And on the DJ side, what was the big break?

RON: On the DJ front, there's my cousin, who's no longer living, and Gene Hunt. Gene's manager Steven Norvilles and my cousin went to Quigley South High School together. If my cousin, Anton Rogers, was alive today he would be one of the premier DJs out. He actually influenced one of my other cousins, Andre Hatchett.

5: I didn't know music was such a family affair...

RON: Yeah, me, Andre Hatchett and Lee Collins are cousins. A lot of the stuff I used to play at the Reactor [a Chicago club of the '80s], Anton would give to me. Anyway, he passed in 1989 in a car accident - he was actually in the car with Andre, Darryl Townsend...They had a little crew and had just dropped Andre off. They were major record collectors and so, for me, being the youngest in the crew, I was immersed in a lot of music on the DJ front. These guys were always buying records. I don't just mean going to the record store - I mean flea markets, out-of-town flea markets, garage sales, experimenting with buying a whole lot of stuff and sorting through it. So that's the school I come from. To this day I'm an audiophile. I like to study music, try new things out. That's what keeps it interesting. And that's why when I went to New York I had no problem connecting there.

5: Now when and why did you leave Chicago, a place where you were established and succeeding, to move to New York?

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