djBC gives the rundown on Bootie ATL

• Adam Dukes

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Boston native Bob Cronin, better known as his alias djBC, has been causing quite the stir in the record mashup community for quite sometime. His self-produced albums have been played in nightclubs all over the world, including cities such as Athens, Paris, and NYC. Cronin is now serving as the resident DJ for the new mashup night sensation, Bootie ATL. The latest release entitled Fluent in Moe comes from Bob in the form of the pairing of soulful hip-hop and swingin ska music, and it packs quite the punch.

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You’ve been involved in the mashup scene for the past 10 years now, which is a genre that has been blowing up heavily in recent years. Do you feel as if this is the height of popularity for mash-ups, or is this something that will be around in contemporary music for years to come?

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The thing about mashups is- they are a genre, but they are also a way of listening to music. I suppose you could say there have been a few “waves” already in terms of the current movement, The London “MTV Mash” and Boomselection and Bastard wave (late 1990s, early 2000s), the Bootie and GYBO wave (starting around 2003), and the current wave where younger mashers who have grown up on this stuff are now taking to the laptops and blowing it up. But sample based music has been around since the 1950’s, at the very least. I think all sorts of art is just going to continue to be self-referential, sampled, and mashed, in every sense, as we move forward. It’s just another way we process and create art now. As long as there is new music and media to mix, kids will do it. They have the tools, and with the web, they have an audience. It’s pretty cool - no one needs to be a passive consumer anymore. We are all rock stars.

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Let’s talk about your most recent release, Fluent in Moe, which takes the ska punk rockers Big D and the Kids Table and pairs them up with the spitfire paced rhymes of hip-hop artist Moe Pope, along with some incredible guest rappers. What makes this record stand out from your previous releases?

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Once I started cutting it together, I was frankly astonished at how much emotion, style and impact came out of Moe’s rhymes when paired with the organic horn-driven soul and ska of Big D. This is probably the best record I have ever made, and that includes The Beastles stuff. It’s a genre clash conceptually, but the songs blend perfectly into their own space without sounding at all schizophrenic. The sound is natural and “Fluent in Moe” works as a complete album. And it’s an honor to work on an official release featuring artists like Edo G and Dana Colley (Morphine). Joe Gittleman from The Mighty Mighty Bosstones even plays bass on one track. And it’s legal, so I won’t be sued or served a C&D (Cease and Desist).

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Since you know these musicians so well personally, did this affect how you mashed up their work? For instance, did they give you specific suggestions of what they wanted it to sound like, or was it all left up to you?

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On these projects (this is actually the third official mashup record I have produced for Big D), Dave McWane and I always consult closely on the mixes in process. Usually he’s on tour, and I send him drafts via email, he sends me suggestions, sometimes he finds other samples I can use or has ideas for how to arrange the parts. Moe also had some suggestions for the placement of his vocals. There are usually between 4 and 10 drafts, versions or mixes of each song before we arrive at a final cut. But in the end, Big D and The Kids Table always gives me a ‘last word” on the mix.

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Tell me a little about your history with the Bootie events. What has your transition from Bootie Boston to Bootie Atlanta been like?