"Let the Sunshine in"		"After the storm"

1. Let’s start by letting people know where you’re from?

I’m from the mean, mean, cold streets of Catonsville where if your dad doesn’t buy you a new car for your 16th Birthday you may not speak to him for a week! That was a joke people. I’m from Catonsville but now I live in NJ about 16 minutes from downtown Manhattan.

2.What is you’re position or role at Élan Records and when did the label start?

Élan Records is owned by myself along with my partner Ian “45” Carey. We started in May of 2000. Ian does all and I mean ALL the technical stuff. He does the mastering and mixing of all the releases. He is also the engineer of Soul Providers too. I won’t let anyone else engineer for me that’s partially why I haven’t released a solo project. Ian has started his own side company “Urban Mastering” I think his site will be up soon but you can reach him thru the www.elan-records.com site. I am the guy that’s out in the public. I go to like every party from NYC to Miami when I’m available I love to party. I deal with a lot of the business garbage as Ian stays in the studio and we split everything else.

3.You are also an artist/producer on the label right? What group are you in and who makes up the group?

I’m a third of Player INC. (45, dj Jani, and myself), ½ of Enfant De Amour (Ian & I), and ½ of the Soul Providers also Ian and myself.

4.What are some of your most notable songs?

“RISE” is the one we are most famous for,” Try My Love” “I Don’t Know” “Set Me Free” “Spaghetti Disco” “Deep Inside your Love” (Enfant De Amour), We did a bunch of pretty big remixes too. My favorite remix is “Supernatural” on Slip-n-Slide UK last year. It has a spoken word from Ursula Rucker. I’m not a big fan of poetry but that is by far one of my favorite remixes.

 5. The “Luv Shine” happy hour is a pretty good & convenient Sunday evening party? What was your motivation and goal for this party?

Well most incredible event to ever hit Baltimore “LUV SHINE” isn’t really a “happy hour” or “tea party” When people hear those terms they have a certain image in there head so I try not to use those terms. “LUV SHINE” came from a few things.
The number one thing was boredom.
Baltimore really doesn’t have much to do in my opinion. So I figured a Sunday early evening is convenient for most people to hang out and still be able to go to work the next day.
Second thing is I have all these DJ friends that don’t get a chance to DJ so I created a place for local DJ to play. Baltimore has so much talent but they don’t get a chance to display it very much.
Third. Expose Baltimoreans to the music and real club culture. Ian and I travel to Europe so much and always come back and tell stories of how they do things I decided to show people instead of talking about it. The problem is Baltimore really isn’t into change. Also races don’t mix here. I always noticed different races don’t hang too much I’ve never been to a club here and seen Asians, Blks, Whts, Arabs all in one club. There are a bunch of all those groups in Baltimore, Luv Shine is where you will see this although right now it’s mainly black. Another reason is people in Baltimore are always talking about how it was back in the day. DJ’s are always pumping up “Ol School” what about the current stuff? There are so many things going on around the world that Baltimoreans are missing because people are so concerned about the old school.
*****Get ready people I’m about to go into my usual rant*** There are so many things that upset me about this city and their out look on clubbing. I hate and I will spell it out I-H-A-T-E dress codes. Dress codes don't keep out the thugs. me and my crew have beat a plenty peoples' ass at Choices when they had a dress code,32nd Street Plaza, Genesis parties and other corny ass wannabe classy spots. That was awhile ago though. I want people to come to Luv Shine and sweat their asses off as they do every month. Nothing in this city is classy or fancy enough to require a dress code. Trust me I’ve been to some pretty swank shit and nothing in this city is really that high class. People think cause they put on their court/church clothes people will think they are upper-class or have money. If they have money why do they cry about paying $10 to get in a club? I see so many tiered flyers that read” Old school 25 and older dress to impress back in the day reunion jam” yo, WHAT EVER! Those parties are so weak to me. Why would I get all dressed up pay $25 to hear some old music and a bunch of stuff the radio played on my way to the event???? A big part of it is the radio stations here run the clubs. The radio stations suck!!!! X105.7 sucks, 92Q really super suck and it ain't like I’m hating or what ever if that’s what you think. I’m just saying what a lot of people feel, most of Baltimore’s CLUBS, PROMOTERS, DJ’S & RADIO STATIONS SUCK. Promoters here take the easy way out a lot of times. They don’t do anything interesting to make there party special. They keep low over head and make an ok profit. I can make that same profit but with an interesting event. Ultraword, Fever and now BUZZ are really the best events that ever came to Baltimore since I’ve been clubbing. I never met Scott Henry before but I love Buzz I go every chance I can. Charles Feelgood is my boy and he really knows how to put on a party. Some may say those are so called” Raves” but those kids are more open to new things and they change with the times. The “Garage” scene here is really strange to me. It’s either too black (I'm very much blk) or too gay (I’m very much straight) or too damn old (I’m 31) or a bunch of old music. I love classics but I want to hear new stuff too. As far as that scene goes I think Biskit's “Good Vibrations” is the best thing around. You get greeted at the door with smiles from lovely ladies and not by the dress code police. They feed you and give away bottled water. And you get the hottest DJ’s, KW, Spen, Biskit, Technics…. Those guys throw down. And the crowd party hard!! Really hard. Even though they play a lot of classics they are not the same ones other DJ’s play every week. I just want the garage heads to know that there is more to it than what they have been given over the last few years. It is 2003 you know. I just really makes me upset that there isn’t much to choose from in Baltimore. I feel instead of bitching about it I was going to do something about it. So I came up with Citi Life and started Luv Shine. Although Luv Shine is only about 40% of what I want it to be I’m still happy with it so far. Baltimore is a tough city to do something like this for. We have major plans for Luv Shine and some other events later this year and next year. None will include a dress code, old school music or 25 and over age limits. There is enough of that in this city.

5.Do you DJ? If so why haven’t you at the Luv Shine parties?

Yes, I DJ but I can’t afford myself (ha ha). I along with the other half of Soul Providers, Ian, have a monthly residency in Amsterdam and another one in DC, FIVE. We play all over Europe lately Ian has been holding it down on the DJ tip due to my health problems. I will play one of my parties alone and so will Ian alone and so will Soul Providers. I really want to play but the crowd is not where I need to be yet. I don’t think the crowd would get our style yet. I like to play hard banging deep techno beats all night. I like dark tribal drums and really big buildups and long break downs. I also like deep house, nice vocals and songs with a lot of instrumentation. Ian has his own flavor too. Soul Providers together is for big room events so Luv Shine is not at that point yet. We usually play for a couple of thousand people each gig but still enjoy the intimacy of a smaller spot like Sonar or FIVE. Sonar holds about 400 tops and FIVE down in DC holds about 600 and that’s a nice spot too. I hear DJ’s and clubbers say “I like it soulful like you used to play” I’m like what the hell does that mean? I used to play breaks and techno when I started playing dance music. It was Hip Hop and Reggae b4 that. Most people in Baltimore never even heard Ian and I play unless they went to Club Midnite in late97-early98 when he and I did the Friday nights. Just because I don’t play a bunch of slow, 125 BPM, deep house music all night doesn’t mean I’m not soulful. I have many styles and I got mad flavor. I refuse to ignore all the styles of music I like. I’m a DJ and I play music period.

7.Do you or Élan Records have any upcoming events or projects that you want to share?

Soul Providers are doing a live recording at FIVE Feb 15th for our CD “One Night” to be released in spring. Check out www.elan-records.com for more info and updates. That will be the night before the next “Luv Shine” on Feb 16th www.luvshine.com . Alos “Let The Sunshine In” is in stores and is BLAZING. This is the 1st Soul Providers produced record since 2001. It’s selling like crazy. It will also be on the CD this spring

 

8.  Finally, what do you think about the "the powers that be" locally and abroad and how it affects the House music scene?

Well this is the end of this interview. I would like to thank you for your interest in me and thanks to the people that read about me, soul providers and citi life. Black Books Café, you guys have a lot of love for what you believe in, that’s important. I hope more people in the house scene demand the music they love to be played on the radio MTV and in the clubs. If your voice is not heard on this matter corporate America will think no one is interested. It’s time to show and prove. In Baltimore/DC alone you have a lot of world wide famous people in the industry. The lovely Ms. ULTRA NATÉ, Deep Dish, Saeed and Palash, Soul Providers, Basement Boys crew we all have gold selling records but the radio stations don’t care ,you know why? Cause you haven’t called stations and demanded you hear it on the radio. The only time I see an Ultra or Deep Dish video is when I’m in Europe and that’s cool but damn, I would like to see some hometown support. Sometimes I’ll talk to people and they say “Well no body knows you cause your not on 92Q and you don’t play at choices ” I’m like so what, Choices, 92PUU and ALL their DJ’s suck as I said earlier. People have looked me right in the face and said that my style of music is weak and if I want to make some money I better play some Baltimore club music. Usually I just laugh because I know I can reach in my pocket and cash their check with the money I spent on lunch that day. Cocky but true. Then you have the other people that are “keeping it real”. This is what someone told me in Music liberated about a year ago. “You’re too hip hopped out with you expensive clothes trying to be Puffy or something” You charge all that money to DJ, DJing is about spreading a vibe and people digging the music love. He went on to tell me I wasn’t keeping it real blah blah blah. So after all that my reply was FUCK YOU. I ain't keeping shit real (many people already know about this story so I’ll give the quick version) I’m trying to get paid, when I get 7 or 8 thousand or more for DJing , record advance , remix or what ever I worked for it. I show up to a event and there is 40,000 people screaming Soul Providers so loud I can’t even cue up my intro and start playing… I deserve that loot. Pay my ass. There is money to be made in this y'all, stop letting people get over on you with that “keeping it real” bullshit. Getting money and having fun is the story of my life that’s what I’m about. I’ll leave yall with this to help it all out:

People: Call the radio stations, MTV and all those other corporate machines and demand house music. Stop crying about everything and do something about it. I haven't been to the Dox on a Saturday in a few years nor am I interested but I have to say this. I hear people bitching and complaining about the change in the programming of the Dox, what the fuck did you expect???? That place aint a charity event, they need to make money. The young hip hop gay kids took over because yall let them. The low numbers didn’t support that front room financially. I remember Basement Boy had this violinist Francesco come from Italy and perform “The Violin” (I love that song) it was like 100 people there in the front and like a million in the back. This little young queen jumped on the stage and started doing that vogue shit while the show was going on, then jumped back off stage real quick, TOTAL DISRESPECT to the performer. It was so sad to me. If it was JaRule or one of those weak ass radio DJ’s they wouldn’t have dared did that. You know why? Cause yall let them. If that kid would have done that while a rapper or R+B singer was performing the crowd would have beat his ass for fucking up the show. No need on me doing it cause I know no one had my back. So I will say stop fucking crying all the goddamn time and do something about the way shit is.
Famous James Brown quote: Zipideeedi bityd majktus lata zak,
TRANSLATION: Everybody over there, get on up, get into it, get involved!!!!!!!!
Make websites, give parties, expose friends to the music and don’t be ashamed of it. Show you love for house culture. Raise hell about it. Expose your kids and their friends when you’re in the car or in the house. Once you hear a good house song you can’t fight it. No matter how hard you try. Muhammad (PBU) and Jesus (PBU) didn’t get all them converts by sitting in a cave wishing everyone was down with their groove. They got the word from up top and spread it throughout the world. Present the music and the vibe will do the rest TRUST ME.

DJ’s: stop selling weak ass CD’s give them away. My man Biskit has good garage& gospel house CD’s worth buying Old school too (like I said I do like classics). Spen and KW Griff make great CD’s worth buying too although I don’t have any myself from them 3 hint hint (just joking) Also DJ’s put some effort in your record selection. Don’t just keep buying old stuff. There are tons of new songs in stores every day.

Club Promoters: Watch out, your nights have been weak so either step it up or get ready to be taken over by Citi Life. Besides my party ”Luv Shine” the only other real house party is Good Vibrations. It’s the only other house party I can endorse. I love everything about Good Vibrations and I know it will stay around for a long time. They know how to promote. We talk to each other to make sure our parties don’t conflict with one another so both parties can be great. You can look at Good Vibration as the official after party to Luv Shine if they are on the same night. I can’t touch Buzz or Ultraworld but they are completely different types of events anyway.

Radio stations: one thing Payola is illegal.

Once again thanks for taking time to read about me. If any one has a question, problem or comment about anything I said hit me on jason@elan-records.com and to be added to the Citi Life or Luv Shine event list hit us on info@citi-life.com please send ANY suggestions to us to make Luv Shine better. This interview is a reflection of Jason not Soul Providers, Elan Records. I hope to hear from you all soon. THANK YOU
 

Black Books Cafe' post comments:

All the comments and views given are not a reflection of the beliefs we hold at the Black Books Cafe but we can, without hesitation, tell you that a lot of what Jason expressed is shared by us.  Also we've done other interviews and spoken candidly to a lot of Baltimore House industry insiders and they share similar views.  Check out a couple of tracks from the Soul Providers and Élan Records below.

"Let the Sunshine in"

"After the storm"