If our last interview with Ookay showed you how fast your life can change early in a DJ career, today's interview with the one man party starter, D-Rakkas AKA South Rakkas Crew, will prove that you can be just as successful and as much of a trend setter through years of training and preparation. You may not have heard either names before 2002/2003, but it's hard not to bring them up when you discuss the propagation of exciting new waves of music. Often credited as the originator of the Electro Dancehall genre, SRC is more focused than ever on keeping the dance floor alive with songs your brain probably has never even imagined. Regardless if you become an overnight celebrity or you put in the grind for an extended period of time, the common thread that runs through all prosperous career arcs is an undying passion for good music. And nothing could be more true of SRC.
To understand how SRC creates his own brand of eclectic tracks and the potential it has for the future of music, you need to look at his journey up to where he's at now. South Rakkas Crew, which is now composed of its sole member, D-Rakkas1, spent his early years in Jamaica until he was 6:
"From as young as I can remember my dad always had two turntables, mixer, amp, crates of records, boxes of 45s and big speakers that towered over me as a kid. He wasn’t a professional DJ but always had a system set up in the house playing: reggae, disco, funk, and pop music. He really took pride in it."
He eventually moved to Canada and settled in Mississauga. D-Rakkas would go through the typical process that many of us did when it came to music education. He started on the recorder in grade school, then picked up guitar and clarinet in high school, spent a month on the piano, and then moved on to music theory in college. But his start as a DJ came at 13 when he became fascinated with the role of the DJ in Hip-Hop. His new interest triggered the idea in his head that his dad had been showing him the power of a DJ all along by speaking in all kinds of patois with over the top vocal effects into the mic while the music played. As a result, instead of playing street hockey with the other kids, he found himself practicing mixing and scratching. Although he never considered taking the new hobby seriously as a profession ("I thought I would become a dentist or something.") he did practice enough to where his father's turntable needles were worn down and the direct drive belts were abused. With no mentor, he and his friends became roadies for the sound system Kilowatt, not only setting up the equipment but also opening up on stage. The unfortunate death of a close friend at 17 caused him to give the turntables up, temporarily.
After high school, he had the inclination to create the music DJs would play instead of only being a DJ. What did those early tracks sound like? "It might surprise some people but I started with Latin Urban music. I started a company called Papiculo Entertainment about a year after returning to Canada from New York. I was working out of Bassmint Productions in Toronto. I signed 2 artists, Shadow and Shantall. This was the Puff Daddy and the shiny suites era of Hip Hop and I wanted to make some really commercial Latin rap stuff." One such song was Papichulo Crew's "El Monumento" featuring Shantall. D-Rakkas started his path by interning at Junior Reid's studio in Kingston for a few months. While he was there, he started to deeply appreciate his parents' decision to leave Jamaica at a young age so that he could have an improved quality of life. After the internship, he returned to Canada to enroll at the Harris Institute for the Arts in Toronto and studied Audio Engineering and Artist Management. Another internship in New York at D&D Studio later and D-Rakkas was technically educated to allow all of his creative ideas become reality. He moved to Orlando, FL and then conceptualized South Rakkas Crew in 2002. But it was initially a side project as he was managing Riprock n Alex G Ent., a company that handled a lot of 'N Sync's production. It was the result of not having the proper outlet to put out the type of music that he wanted to work on and would one day start a huge trend in Dance music.
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It didn't take long before South Rakkas Crew had a hit on their hands. In 2003, "Clappas" took off with several versions of Reggae artists interpreting the riddim. He admits that the creation wasn't a deliberate one so much as a fulfilling feeling:
"I don’t know if it was all that conscious, especially at first. My initial idea was to infuse Dancehall with Pop production and just make something really clean with good quality. I knew it would be a good combination of my ‘more’ Urban sensibilities and my team's Pop production. The DJs in Europe started describing it as Electro-Dancehall and I guess that gave birth to the genre. Now you look at all these artists and producers that have run with it like Diplo with Major Lazer. It feels good to have made that kind of impact."
As the popularity took off with the record, so did the demand for live appearances. It was his production as South Rakkas Crew that got him back behind the 1's and 2's. At first he would tell people that "We are not DJs. We are producers." He was content at working in the studio since getting up on stage in front of hundreds or thousands "scared the crap out of" him. But with mp3s making it easier to be a mobile DJ while also killing record sales, he reconsidered offers and started up again in 2007. D-Rakkas would show up to venues with his Hercules MK2 controller, but by the time his set was done, any early doubters were converted into devout fans. The first turntables and mixer he ever owned came courtesy of JC from 'N Sync ("Thanks man!"). They were 2 Technics SL-1200’s MK5 and he's since replaced the mixer with a Rane 62.
Getting back into DJing has affected the angle with which he approaches production and vice versa. "I listen to music differently now. I’m more conscious of a songs sections that might make it easier for DJs to mix. Also, now that I’m getting more into the turntablism side of Ding I’m finding myself making beats that I can cut and scratch to." Over the years, he has packed dance floors by prioritizing his DJ skills in the following order of importance: music selection, improvising while reading the crowd, crowd interaction on the mic, live remixing/mixing, and turntablism. As an ambassador for Virtual DJ, he's been working with their Digital Vinyl System so he can tour this year for the first time with proper turntables. He's also been working on changing how people view Virtual DJ with a bigger street team, DJs sponsorships, and producing the Atomix Power Room series. "There is a perception to some in the pro-DJ market that Virtual DJ is substandard to Serato or Traktor when it’s actually a superior product and the most widely used. 150 million downloads compared to Serato’s 7 million. I intend to help change that perception."
You'll immediately notice on a South Rakkas Crew track that it would fit perfectly at a club in the Caribbean as well as a music festival in the UK. Exposing himself to so many kinds of music and harnessing the big sound of Pop music equipped D-Rakkas to fuse the island rhythms of his Jamaican roots with the wild energy of Dance music. He makes sure that each original song is a unique one by molding his beats to mesh with the vocals. But prepared to be transported to Jamaica on every track.
"I’m Jamaica. It’s in my blood. Even though I left when I was 6 I grew up in a Jamaican household. It’s the feeling, a culture. There is a time that kids reject what their parents listen to trying to be independent which was around the time I found Hip-Hop but the thing is that culture in Canada is tightly entwined with Jamaican culture as well. Go to a Hip-Hop party in Toronto and don’t be surprised if 50% of the music is Reggae/Dancehall."
1. [South Rakkas Crew is the name he assumes as a producer and D-Rakkas is his DJ name.]^ 
Last Call
1. What is your favorite movie of all time?Gladiator
2. As a young DJ, who was the one DJ you looked up to?Cash Money
3. As a DJ, what's your biggest pet peeve?DJs that go on before you and purposely try to kill your set. The haters.
4. What is your current DJ set up at home?I got a bunch of stuff here but what I actually use on a daily in my DJ setup is:
- Virtual DJ 8
- 2 Technics SL-1200 MK5
- Rane – Sixty Two
- Novation - Dicers
- Novation - Mini Launchpad
- Numark - Redwave headphones
Mainly for Production I use:
- Macbook Pro
- Reason
- Logic Pro X
- Focusrite – Scarlett 2i2
- Microphone – Rode NT 1-A
5. What's your favorite record of all time?This is the hardest question because I have such a variety of music that I love depending on my mood. Today I’ve been rockin’ out to one of my favorites: “More Bounce To The Ounce" by Zapp and Roger.
Keep up with D-Rakkas AKA South Rakkas Crew on his Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube.
Bryan Hahn will raise his kids to listen to South Rakkas Crew at a young age. He's on Twitter: @notupstate.