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Rae Sremmurd, Tyga, Ashe, More Added To MTV's SnowGlobe Festival

The musical winter wonderland is held in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Dec. 29–31

GRAMMYs/Dec 20, 2018 - 01:33 am

SnowGlobe Music Festival announced that it will feature Rae Sremmurd, Tyga, Ashe, GoldLink, Kaskade and G-Eazy on top of its previously announced lineup.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">JUST ANNOUNCED  <a href="https://twitter.com/G_Eazy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@G_Eazy</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/kaskade?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kaskade</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/RaeSremmurd?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RaeSremmurd</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/Tyga?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Tyga</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/GoldLink?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GoldLink</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/ashemusic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ashemusic</a> + <a href="https://twitter.com/frankwattsmusic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@frankwattsmusic</a> added to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SG18?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SG18</a> Lineup <br>Limited 3 Day / Single Day Tickets Still Avail -- Get Them Before They&#39;re Gone &gt;&gt; <a href="https://t.co/2G1WKPDsFX">https://t.co/2G1WKPDsFX</a> <a href="https://t.co/f1KGJUNGIm">pic.twitter.com/f1KGJUNGIm</a></p>&mdash; SnowGlobe Festival (@snowglobe) <a href="https://twitter.com/snowglobe/status/1075435615565504512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 19, 2018</a></blockquote>

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MTV's musical winter wonderland, held in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Dec. 29–31, has hip-hop and electronic artists on outdoor stages in one of California's most popular snow resorts.

Diplo, RL Grime, Eric Prydz, Rezz and Above & Beyond along with over 40 additional artists are also confirmed. On top of music, the fest features a "live-action winter sports showcase."

For fans looking to continue the music fun after the second festival date, SnowGlobe will host an after party on Dec. 30 that will feature Ekali and Medasin.

Festival goers who will head to South Lake Tahoe for the first time can check out the video below for the What To Wear do's and don'ts.

<iframe width="620" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4rZHFdhvzwA" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

For more information on the lineup and how to purchase tickets, visit the festival's site here.

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Dillon Francis and Diplo GRAMMY Museum Event 2024
Dillon Francis (left) and Diplo at the GRAMMY Museum on May 15, 2024.

Photo: Courtesy of the Recording Academy™️/photo by Rebecca Sapp, Getty Images

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Dillon Francis & Diplo In Conversation: 5 Things We Learned From The GRAMMY Museum Event

In honor of Dillon Francis' breakthrough hit "Get Low" turning 10 this year, the DJ/producer sat down with one of his longtime dance buds, Diplo, at the GRAMMY Museum. Check out five revelations from the career-spanning (and highly entertaining) chat.

GRAMMYs/May 20, 2024 - 08:30 pm

Dillon Francis and Diplo have respectively built massive careers within dance music — but as they proved on May 15, they may have been just as successful doing stand-up comedy.

The two producers came together at the GRAMMY Museum's Clive Davis Theater for a wisecracking exchange, marking the 10-year anniversary of Francis' breakthrough song with DJ Snake, the platinum-certified "Get Low." It also felt like a celebration of 

their longstanding friendship — which predates "Get Low" — as the conversation was filled with humorous anecdotes, insider stories about key moments in Francis' career, and some of Francis' favorite memories with Diplo.

Since "Get Low," Francis has had a mercurial music trajectory. Though he's released three studio albums and a number of EPs, his landmark mixtapes — 2015's This Mixtape Is Fire and last year's This Mixtape is Fire TOO — are the key highlights. Like many dance acts, collaboration has been at the core of Francis' work, particularly within the electronic community; he's teamed up with the likes of Skrillex, Calvin Harris, Martin Garrix, Kygo, Alison Wonderland, Illenium, Alesso, and even Diplo's trio Major Lazer

More recently, Francis has released collaborations with Ship Wrek, Space Rangers and Sophie Powers, and the moombahton Pero Like EP with Good Times Ahead. The EP includes the bouncy "LA On Acid," whose video — which premiered at the South By Southwest Festival in March — features Diplo in its opening sequencing, along with cameos from Euphoria's Chloe Cherry, Righteous Gemstones' Tony Cavalero and Master of None's Eric Wareheim.

Three days after stopping by the GRAMMY Museum, Francis headed out to Las Vegas to perform at North America's largest electronic dance music festival, Electric Daisy Carnival, on May 18. It was one of many festival appearances for Francis this summer, along with one of several trips to Las Vegas, as he has a residency at the Wynn's XS Nightclub.

Below, take a look at five takeaways from Francis' spirited conversation with Diplo at the GRAMMY Museum.

Francis Met Diplo By Sliding Into His Twitter DMs

The two met in person 16 years ago in Francis' hometown of Los Angeles. Before that, Francis would send Diplo demos for consideration for the latter's record label, Mad Decent. Once Francis realized Diplo had heard his song "Masta Blasta," he slid into Diplo's Twitter DMs — and never left. "I was harassing him so much," Francis quipped. "'Let's please hang out right now. God, please let me come and hang out.'"

Diplo invited him to a bar, and they watched the Phillies (Diplo's team) lose. "It was one of my first blind dates," Diplo said. "I tried to make [Dillon] my ghost producer." 

Shortly after their first meeting, the pair worked together on a dubstep remix for Kelly Rowland's "Motivation" — and the more exposure he had to Francis' production skills, the more convinced Diplo was of his talent. "[Dillon is] too good to be my ghost producer. He's already better than me. We got to do a real record with this guy."

Francis' Superior Social Media Skills Began As A Class Assignment In High School

Francis' comedic online presence is the perfect combination of humor and authenticity, adding another layer to his appeal alongside his music. He traced his savvy skills back to his time at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and a new genres course he took. His teacher considered everything as art, and their creations could be whatever they wanted.

"My friend and I would make comedy videos, basic sketch shows, and we passed the class with flying colors," Francis recalled. "When Vine came around, I did what I did in that class. It was another way of doing stuff I love to do, which is making people laugh."

Diplo then chimed in with a hilariously fitting observation. "You are the Weird Al Yankovic of electronic music," he said. "You had bangers, but you made them funny and you made them accessible to people."

He also commended Francis for opening his eyes to what social media can do for a creator. "You put me onto interaction on social media in different ways," Diplo added. "I don't think any other electronic music DJs were putting their personality out there like you did. You were the first one to do that properly."

Francis' Musical Education Came From Collaboration

As Francis revealed, he dropped out of college after a semester. But as someone who has built his career on collaboration, he's learned everything he needs to know by working with other artists. In fact, he thinks of working with other producers as interning. 

"It's my favorite thing to do," he said. "They're going to learn the way that you produce, you're going learn the way they produce. You can cross-pollinate your ideas and come away with new ways to make music. I feel like it also helps with evolving as an artist."

Diplo agreed, noting that Francis' time as a young producer, interning at studios, learning from producers and gaining relationships in the process was essential to his career. "Not to encourage more people to drop out of college," he joked.

Furious 7 Was A Key Player In The Success Of "Get Low"

Diplo pointed out that "Get Low" had its crossover moment after being included in the soundtrack for Furious 7, the 2015 installment of the Fast and Furious franchise. He asserted that it is special for a producer to have a song in a big movie, as he experienced with M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" (which he co-wrote and co-produced) after it was featured in 2008's Pineapple Express.  

As Francis recalled, "Get Low" was already well-received and being played by the DJ community, with about five million plays on Spotify before Furious 7. But once it was part of Furious 7 — first in the trailer and then in the film — it ramped up significantly (and now has more than 200 million Spotify streams as of press time).

"This is when people were buying music on iTunes," Francis remembers. "From the trailer, it peaked at number 5 or something like that, which is huge for any artist in dance music. We're not usually on that chart. To be right next to Selena Gomez with a song that says, 'Get low when the whistle goes,' is crazy."

He Had A Life-Altering Turning Point At 18

After Diplo concluded his questions, Francis took a few from the audience. In response to one fan about what he would have done differently early in his career, Francis opened up about one of the worst moments in his life — which actually turned into a great learning experience. 

As he explained, at the age of 18, Francis was charged with a DUI (which was eventually downgraded to wet reckless). His parents spent their savings on a lawyer; he lost his car; he lost his license for a year; he did the DUI classes. And all of it put things into perspective.

"That was the first moment where I realized, things can get messed up and lost," he said. "I was like, 'I need to figure out my career. I'm going to go make money and I'm going to pay [my parents] back.' That was a very big driving factor for me."

Now 36, Francis views the incident as one of the best things to ever happen to him — and, in turn, for his path in dance music. "If that didn't happen, I don't think I would be sitting here on the stage today."

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REZZ performs
REZZ performs at Escape Halloween 2023

Photo: Tessa Paisan

interview

REZZ Is Ready To Be Seen On New Album: "It Just Feels More Evolved"

Electronic producer and DJ REZZ has arrived in a new headspace, but a familiar place. Recorded in her hometown of Toronto, her new album, 'CAN YOU SEE ME?,' is the experimental, sonically far-out result of a much more chill outlook.

GRAMMYs/Mar 13, 2024 - 01:43 pm

REZZ thought she was going to die on her last tour.

The prominent electronic producer and DJ born Isabelle Rezazadeh was traveling through North America in support of her 2022 album, Spiral, when all of a sudden, insomnia reared its ugly head. 

She was sleeping two hours a night at most, which caused severe anxiety that prevented her from eating. But she was forced to repeat the cycle of getting on a plane the next day and playing headlining gigs. It was traumatizing. 

"It makes me laugh all the time because the title of the last album was Spiral, and ironically, I spiraled out of my mind that year," REZZ tells GRAMMY.com. "After I experienced such a terrible time, I really have changed." 

Now REZZ is settled into her hometown of Toronto, truly appreciating the little things in life. Getting a good night’s sleep. Taking a hot shower. Eating a solid breakfast. Most of all, she appreciates having time for her craft. "I am much happier being at home and making music," she says. "I feel normal. Every day is just chill."

In this happy and chill headspace, REZZ made her new album, CAN YOU SEE ME?, out March 14 on her label, HypnoVizion Records. Ironically, the record does not sound chill at all.

Where Spiral was more radio-friendly and featured vocals from pop star Dove Cameron, CAN YOU SEE ME? is decidedly experimental. REZZ buries the melodies underneath gruesome sound design and explores a wide variety of BPMs, combining "a lot of my main inspirations. Fusing bass music with industrial sounds. Mixing crazy noises and crazy rhythms," she says. 

"DYSPHORIA" is a stuttering, slow-moving production that flaunts massive low-end frequencies. REZZ takes the tempo even slower and makes the bass even deeper on "CUT ME OUT"; in an experimental move, she goes double-time into a house music break at the end of the track. 

"The inspiration was super high. [CAN YOU SEE ME?] just feels more evolved," she continues. 

GRAMMY.com spoke to REZZ about how her artistry has evolved on CAN YOU SEE ME?, trusting her fans through this evolution, and how she plans to approach touring to maintain her chill state of mind.

The title of this album is CAN YOU SEE ME? Do you feel like you’re finally being seen as an artist?

That title came from the track on my album, "CAN YOU SEE ME?" I do like that interpretation of it, though. It could be perceived as a flex of "Check this production out. Can you see me now?" I’m super down for it to be perceived that way. 

I really like the music on this album. I think it’s really representative of where I’m at currently with my music production. It really capitalizes on the instrumentation. 

I realized that my favorite music I’ve ever made is definitely instrumental music. Sometimes that type of music isn't the most streamed or the most popular. But for me, to my core, my favorite stuff is instrumental, and I think this album is really reflective of that. 

One key difference between this album and your previous releases is that there are no tracks within the 90–100 BPM range. Why is that tempo absent from this album?

There are no mid-tempo songs on this album in terms of what I'm notorious for: the 85, 90, and 100 BPM range. But what I did try to do was execute some of the feelings of my previous instrumental music. The same feeling, but in a different BPM range; that was really refreshing. With that came some new styles for me. 

But I do think that while there's no particular mid-tempo on the project, I truly believe that my fans are going to connect with it super hard. I don't even think they will notice the difference in terms of the BPM. I think people will be like, This definitely still sounds like her, just a little bit different. A little bit heavier. A little bit darker

I plan to create more stuff that's around the 140–150 BPM range. It's a new pace for me. It allows for new ideas and new arrangements.

My favorite artists are the ones who are so fearless. They'll make whatever they want to make, even if it's the weirdest thing you've ever heard in your entire life. That, to me, is a true artist. I want to continue down that path and make whatever I want.

What song on this album do you think will challenge your fans the most?

Out of all of them, I think "Exorcism" will. I'm stoked, though. I made "Exorcism" with this amazing artist named Kavari. She is insane with her sound design.  

The sound design on "Exorcism" is so out there. It's so ear-catching. It's one of those songs that you almost don't know if you hate it or love it. I don't even know if I can call it a song. I don't know what it is. It's like a terror, horror track. 

Kavari already has the support of Aphex Twin. She's amazing; she's the epitome of artistic integrity. She's up and coming, but I really believe in her project. I feel really lucky to have worked with her in her, I suppose, early-blooming career.

What is it like for you to take younger artists under your wing?

It's awesome. It benefits everyone involved, but I don't care how big or small an artist is. It doesn't matter what their monthly listeners are or how popular or famous, or not famous [they are]. It just matters to me if I like their stuff. 

I love working with newer artists because their drive is so sharp. As an artist, when you start your journey, usually you're so fast. You're so quick. You're responsive. My personality is very much like that. I'm very impatient with making music. I love working with other people who are like that as well. 

I find sometimes, when people have been at it for a really long time, there’s a little bit of laziness going on. They've done it all, so they don't have that same hunger and desire to get the song done.

Deadmau5 took you under his wing; he signed some of your first releases and you produced "Hypnocurrency" together in 2021. Now your collaboration has reached new heights with your shared project, REZZMAU5, which has a song on CAN YOU SEE ME? What has it been like to take your working relationship to the next level?

There are no words. It genuinely is so insane to fathom. I know I've said this a million times in so many interviews about him being the reason that I started. But I really think that should never go unnoticed. 

It's the craziest thing when the reason you started doing something is because of someone that you perceive as a legend. You admire their art so much. Then to have a whole project [with them], it’s unbelievable. 

I remember the first show that we played. We headlined Veld Music Festival in Toronto. When I was 16, I attended that festival. I saw [deadmau5] perform there. It was unbelievable. Very inspiring. To then headline that stage in front of 60,000 people. It's just completely shocking. I cried a little bit in my room before I went on stage because I was just so overwhelmed by emotion.

How has your relationship with deadmau5 changed in terms of making music, if it has changed at all? 

He definitely respects me a lot. He doesn't love a lot of electronic music and a lot of electronic music artists. So it feels really special to me to feel his respect. He definitely cares a lot about my opinions when we're working together.

He's very honest with me, too, which is amazing. If I have an idea that he doesn't like for a track to be included in our set, he'll very quickly tell me, "I don't like this. This is trash." But I really respect the honesty. 

How are you going to approach touring for CAN YOU SEE ME? so that issues like insomnia and anxiety don’t arise?

Well, first of all, there isn't actually going to be a whole album tour. That experience was so traumatizing that I changed the trajectory of my touring. I'm not spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on production. I'm not doing any of that. 

I picked select CAN YOU SEE ME? themed shows, and it's going to be sprinkled throughout the year. There's going to be Red Rocks. There's going to be one in Phoenix, Miami, and New York. But these are all spaced out. It's not within one month. 

For someone else, [a larger tour] would have been easy. But for me, it is what it is. You can change a lot about yourself, but some things are not so natural to be changed.

As the Serenity Prayer goes, "Give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

So true. If I had a choice, do I want to love touring all the time? I'd say yes because that would just mean more shows and more success. But I don't have that choice. I prefer to be home. The nature of my being is different. 

It's like forcing an introvert to constantly go to parties every weekend. They don't want to do it. You can't force that. It's going to cause them a lot of damage because they're trying to mold and shape themselves into something that they're not.

It’s impressive that you were able to become more self-aware from that experience.

It’s not always easy to do. Certain circumstances will traumatize you and keep you traumatized for a long time. That's totally understandable. But in my specific case with that experience, I'm so grateful it happened, even though it was single-handedly the worst thing I have ever experienced in my life. 

I felt totally out of control. It felt like something had taken over me that I couldn't fix. Once you experience a situation where your life feels like it’s out of your hands, that's when you get slapped and you realize what's really important. 

So was the new album made after you realized what’s really important?

Absolutely. This album came together very quickly for me. Very effortlessly. There was no strain. There was no stress. There was no overthinking. It was very smooth because my brain had space for it. My brain had the clarity and the vision.

I think that's why I love this album so much, too. It's very representative of where I'm at. It's really high-quality stuff. Being in this headspace has a lot to do with the project and the way it's turned out.

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Musician Camden Cox
Camden Cox

Photo: Jeff Spicer / Stringer / Getty Images

interview

How Singer/Songwriter Camden Cox Brings Lyrical Integrity To Dance Music

The multi-hyphenate has worked with some of dance music’s biggest acts — including John Summit, deadmau5 and Kaskade — and is on a mission to "write from the soul" in a genre where lyrical depth is often underappreciated.

GRAMMYs/Dec 15, 2023 - 04:24 pm

Underneath much of dance music’s beat- and melody-driven landscape is shallow lyrical content — unless Camden Cox is holding the pen. 

The 30-year-old singer/songwriter’s philosophy — write not just from the heart, but also from the soul — is a defining aspect of her fan-first artistic identity.  This deeply personal creative process has also enabled her to transcend the genre’s vacuous, garden-variety lyricism. 

Cox’s voice quivers as she recalls the start of the songwriting session that would spawn John Summit’s "Where You Are," a song that embodies this ethos. "I was going through a breakup and I was wondering if they were thinking about me as much as I was thinking about them. I take myself back to that moment and I get emotional talking about it," she says. "I just love putting emotions into my lyrics — it’s such an incredible feeling."

"Where You Are" is not the only dance/electronic consensus hit to which Cox lent her lyrical muscle this year. The British songstress also co-wrote "Escape," the single with which  Kaskade and deadmau5 debuted their joint project, Kx5, in 2022. Penned by Cox, Hayla (who vocalizes its ruminative lyrics), Eddie Jenkins, and Will Clarke, the song was released on Kx5’s eponymous LP, which has been nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Music Album at the 2024 GRAMMYs. Fellow nominees in the category are Playing Robots Into Heaven from James Blake, the Chemical Brothers' For That Beautiful Feeling, Skrillex's Quest For Fire, and Fred again..'s Actual Life 3 (January 1 - September 9 2022)

Beyond her indomitable collection of writing credits for esteemed producers like Eli & Fur and Dombresky is a repertoire of work that’s entirely her own. Cox's recent work includes a solo single, October’s "Touching Me," and a just-dropped collab with Summit and Mathame called "Hungover" in which Cox is the featured singer.

In an interview with GRAMMY.com, Cox details her refusal to write anything "half-ass," subverting dance’s often tepid interest in lyrics, and how her time behind the decks has informed her approach to singing, songwriting, and DJing.

"Escape" and "Where You Are" were two of the biggest dance records this year. What about these songs caused them to skyrocket?

We followed the same formula. We wrote "Escape," and we had no idea that deadmau5 or Kaskade were going to get their hands on it. It was just a normal, ordinary session. 

We wrote this song, knew it was amazing, and then nothing happened with it for a year or two. Then, all of a sudden, I heard this random demo from deadmau5; he'd done a version of it. Once Kaskade got involved, they revamped the whole song. 

John Summit heard it and absolutely loved it; he was playing it out everywhere and he also did the official remix for it. His team reached out to us and said, "Can you write something similar?"

Deadmau5 has been an incredible influence on you, how did the song find its way to him?

Eddie Jenkins also wrote both of these songs with Hayla, and his management knew deadmau5’s management. He sent the song to deadmau5 and was like, "Hey, this your comeback, I think." It wasn't very deadmau5 [at that point]; it was a lot darker and a lot more progressive. 

I've based my entire sound and influence around that [deadmau5 type of] sound...It was so validating because I spent my entire career, my childhood, and my teens listening to Random Album Title by deadmau5. As a writer, you write what you are inspired by because it's just in your blood, in your mind, in your soul. 

So, it goes to show how much I did listen to Kaskade and deadmau5 to be able to get a song to them, however many years later. 

There will always be a place for beat-driven tunes in dance, but do you also get the sense that people are looking for a little more emotional resonance from dance music now?

Yeah. What I love about these two records is they can be stripped to piano and they're literally like ballads. They're so meaningful and they’re so from the heart. We wrote them with absolute integrity — they’re not just something you throw away. 

When  you do these sessions where the writing just takes more time and effort, it's so worth it when you get the final outcome. I think people love that because you not only can rave to it, but you can cry to it as well.

How do you balance your lyric-forward approach in a genre where lyrics aren’t always as appreciated as they are in other genres?

It's such a tricky one because I've been in sessions where the songwriters have been like, "It doesn't matter what the lyrics are as long as the melody is good," but lyrics are my thing. I love writing lyrics. I always dig deep and take my time. I’ll have rhyming dictionaries open; it's an operation for me. 

Even though lyrics can take a backseat, I don't let that affect the way I write. Even if people don't listen, I'm still going to write it from the soul, because you will get those musical people that want to break it down and hear the story, and they're the people who are really going to appreciate it. If one person can listen and appreciate it, that's good enough for me.

Do you often find yourself pushing back in these situations?

As I've grown in confidence and experience, I push back more and more. Whereas a lot of producers will say "Oh no, this is fine," I'll say, "No, I've heard it before." I've heard it a million times and I want it to mean something to me and to whoever gets to listen. Eventually, they just give in because they know that I'm not going to settle. So, I'll hone in on the lyrics, and then I'll send them a new version with better lyrical content.

You grew up in a very musical home; your dad loved rock and your mom, drum ‘n’ bass. How you made your way to dance music is clear, but what’s kept you here?

It's the one genre I just don't ever get bored of it. It's in my blood; I grew up on drum ‘n’ bass music, so I just love heavy, heavy beats and big basslines. As a little girl, I used to prance around singing along to the Prodigy and stuff like that, so it's in my soul.

I find that dance music is the most timeless genre. Pop is pop, and you’re always going to get songs that stick around for years, but those dance tunes that came out 20, 30 years ago that are absolute classics. In the dance world, when a song hits, it will stay with ravers forever, and I just think there's something really special in that. I listen to dance in my spare time when I'm not even working or writing. All I really listen to is dance. 

You used to start your songs as poems. Tell me how that started; did you read a lot of poetry when you were younger?

I didn't read it, but when I first started writing, I struggled with lyrics. I remember the first song I wrote. I said to my mom, "Can you write me a poem and I'll make it into a song?" And she did. Then I asked my dad, and he did the same thing. I made them into a song, and that unlocked a part of my brain. After that, I just started writing the poetry. 

Now, the melodies usually come before the lyrics, but if I have a sentence or something in my head that I think is really inspiring, I'll write it down. I never go full poems anymore. I go for a quote, for example. I recently found one, something "like remember when this all seemed impossible?" and I had a session with John Summit and I was like, "I wanna write that concept." So, I went in and sang something to those words. There’s no rules, and that’s what I love about it.

You’ve said you’ll often go into the studio and freestyle since the first take is often the best. 

It's my favorite way to write. When I freestyle, I always do it with a handheld mic, because I just feel like I can be a bit freer; I can walk around, I can sit down. The trick is to put autotune on pretty full blast, with loads of nice reverb and delays and compression, so it almost sounds ready when you hear it back. 

It'll all be a bit messy, but then you'll hear it back with the tuning on and you're like, Yeah, that's what I was trying to do. I just love working like that. I find it the most creative and the most productive because you come out with so much stuff and then you just narrow it down until you get the best three sections.

Learning how to DJ has to be transformative when it comes to conceptualizing new songs.

It’s helped me even further. Now being the one in control of the decks and understanding what keeps a crowd has unlocked a whole new world. It's crazy because I thought I knew everything that you could know about dance music — I grew up on it, I write it, I live and breathe it — but there's a whole other perception with DJing, and it's really helped me with my writing.

It's also hard to get a booking as a singer on a dance song. One of the reasons why I wanted to start DJing was because I knew I could probably get some bookings out of it. Two was because I'm writing all these dance songs, and all these DJs are playing them out and no one knows I've written them. I just wanted to get behind the decks and play my portfolio. It's opened up a whole new fan base for me.

Speaking of, you recently wrapped your first residency in Ibiza. How was that?

I go to Ibiza every year anyway, being a dance head, and I've been to all the clubs. I've gone and watched my songs being played out, but I just never envisioned myself doing it. And then this year, all these bookings flooded in because I started DJing. 

I've only been DJing for a year and a half, but because I had already made a bit of a name for myself in the dance world as a singer when people started to realize I was DJing, I was getting bookings a bit easier. I started suddenly seeing my name on some posters and it all became very real. 

I had the time in my life, but I also did find it very exhausting because there's so much traveling. Tour life is actually quite hectic, and it really hit me, but it was also very incredible and such a learning curve. Each gig, you learn something. 

Now that you’re doing the singing, the songwriting, and the DJing, how do you find balance? 

I'm a machine. I think I'm a bit of a workaholic because I just love it so much. I genuinely know how lucky I am that I get to do what I love for a living. But I found the more gigs I did, the more traveling I did, I knew that as much as I wanted to be in the studio — and I was getting offered good sessions — I'd have to turn them down because I knew I'd need a couple of days to recover. 

I did my last show, and it felt so fulfilling. Now, I'm back in the studio, and I built up so much inspiration over the summer because I couldn't write as much as I wanted to, so I was bursting at the seams. I'm going like 100 miles an hour right now, writing five days a week. I'll be doing this until I burn out.

Given that you’ve been writing so frequently, what has the process of shaping your musical identity been like these days?

I feel like I'm starting to find a few identities in my writing. There's a darkness to what I'm writing, but there's a good balance between brightness and darkness, as in this raw emotion that will come out in a really pretty melody. I'm good at finding that balance where you could cry and dance to it. 

Thinking about how this relates to your music, where do you hope to take your artist project next?

Getting nominated for a GRAMMY for something of my own is the dream. Getting nominated as a writer is such a big tick for me. So now, I want to aim for the next level, which is maybe getting nominated for something that I'm singing on, and eventually getting nominated for a GRAMMY for something that is just mine.

I've also got some really exciting collabs coming up. Me and John [Summit] have a song coming out together in two weeks. Right now, I'm establishing myself in London, in the UK a little bit, but it just takes a lot of time. 

Some people have one song and then that's it — they're blowing up in the charts. It's not happened like that for me; I've been working away behind the scenes. I'm just hoping that through some collaborations, I will be introduced to new audiences who will then discover my music, which will allow me to keep releasing.

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(From left) Posdnuos, Common, and Maseo of De La Soul perform during "A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop"

Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

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Here’s All The Performers And Songs Featured At "A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop"

From MC Sha-Rock and MC Lyte, to Luniz and the Lady of Rage, here’s a list of every performance at "A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop." The two-hour special is available on demand on Paramount+.

GRAMMYs/Dec 11, 2023 - 09:22 pm

That’s a wrap for "A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop," a once-in-a-lifetime blowout in honor of one of America’s greatest musical exports to the world. But if you missed the initial broadcast on CBS and Paramount+, never fear: it’s still available on demand on Paramount+.

And if you’d like a preview of the festivities, check out a rundown of every performance at "A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop" — before you revisit it, or experience it for the first time!

LADIES FIRST

With Spinderella as DJ:

Queen Latifah and Monie Love — "Ladies First"

MC Sha-Rock — "It’s The Joint"

Roxanne Shanté — "Roxanne’s Revenge"

J.J. Fad — "Supersonic"

MC Lyte — "Cha Cha Cha"

Remy Ma — "All The Way Up"

Latto — "Put It On Da Floor"

Ensemble Finale — "U.N.I.T.Y."

HIP-HOP SOUTH

Jeezy — "Put On"

T.I. — "What You Know"

Bun B — "Int’l Players Anthem (I Choose You)"

GloRilla — "Tomorrow 2"

Three 6 Mafia — "Stay Fly"

Jermaine Dupri — "Welcome to ATL"

Boosie Badazz — "Wipe Me Down"

Uncle Luke — "Scarred" / I Wanna Rock (Doo Doo Brown)"

PUBLIC ENEMY

"Don’t Believe the Hype"

"Fight the Power / Welcome To The Terrordome"

"Bring The Noise"

WEST COAST

With Battlecat as DJ, and Mustard as hypeman:

Warren G — "Regulate"

The Luniz — "5 On It"

The Lady of Rage — "Afro Puffs"

YG — "Who Do You Love"

Tyga — "Rack City"

Roddy Ricch — "Ballin’"

DJ Quik — "Tonite"

Yo-Yo — "You Can’t Play With My Yo-Yo"

Cypress Hill — "Hand On The Pump" / "How I Could Just Kill A Man"

Too $hort — "Blow The Whistle"

E-40 — "Tell Me When To Go"

INTERNATIONAL

Akon & Styles P — "Mama Africa" / "Locked Up (Remix)"

Blaqbonez — "Like Ice Spice"

Akon — "I Wanna Love You" / "Smack That"

Akon & Jeezy — "Soul Survivor"

LYRICISM

Big Daddy Kane — "Raw"

Black Thought — "Freestyle #087 (Freestyles On Flex)"

Rakim — "My Melody," "I Ain’t No Joke"

CLUB BANGERS

2 Chainz — "Birthday Song"

Gunna — "Hot"

Coi LeRay — "Players"

Nelly — "E.I."

Rick Ross — "Hustlin"/"B.M.F."

Chance The Rapper feat. 2 Chainz — "No Problem"

DJ JAZZY JEFF & THE FRESH PRINCE

"Brand New Funk"

"Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It"

"Welcome To Miami"

Mashup: "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" / "Switch"

"Summertime"

6 Highlights From "A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop": Performances From DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Queen Latifah, Common & More