Shifting Gears - Riding shot-gun with Z-TRIP

written by Ursula Williams

Catapulting musicology light-years beyond today’s modern mediocrity, DJ/Producer Z-Trip is what’s next. So fresh and original, the sound of Z-Trip’s creations are refreshing and exciting, and... new. When is the last time you heard a funky new sound? Music snobs and elitists everywhere are grateful and breathing a sigh of relief at just the prospect of something different.

Amped up on this album, we hooked up with Z-Trip to get the real spiel on his artistry, source of creativity, music philosophy, and the industry’s future prophesy.

Z-Trip is a music purist/traditionalist in some ways, but a radical at the same time. He insists and defends the beautiful yet difficult task of remaining loyal to using samples, but it’s his choice of samples, collaborations, and writing perspective that elevates him out of the confines of the collective hip-hop ‘underground’.

Z: “I use samples because they’re real and emotional, and I like to use beat-based samples that people can dance to. I could’ve used samples from obscure songs, but I wanted to recreate what I do live. What I think is exciting about DJing is that element of motion, and I wanted to capture that.”

The album is out now, but it took about a year and half to get it there, mainly because of the excruciating, nauseating process of getting those samples cleared. What took so long?

Z: “There’s presently no system in place for acquiring the rights to mix two works together. It’s hard enough to get one work cleared, but it becomes a mess when three music industry elements have to get involved; the label, the publishing company, and the artist must all clear it. And the whole process just begins to rob the creativity factor out of the project. Luckily, doors begin to open up for an artist’s record rather than for just a DJ. The industry is more responsive and receptive if the song is going on an album instead of some DJ’s mixtape.”

*Note to true music enthusiasts: This guy is the real deal. He KNOWS music, understands it, feels it. History, theory, composition, and appreciation, Z-Trip’s a humble genius.

You’re a vinyl/sample-based artist, so in a producer’s fantasy dream-world with access to any master reel in history, which would you choose?

Z: “Ahh Man! Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti, definitely! If I had my way with the reel to Physical Graffiti, I’d make the most bad-ass thing anyone’s ever heard! I’d probably just give it a more modernized feeling. But they’re doing to well artistically & financially to work with a guy like me.”

Who else would you like to work with in the future?

Z: “I’d love to work with Green Day, James Brown, The Deftones, Tool. It’s not just ‘rock-rap’ thing that I’m into. I truly love all kinds of music, and hopefully with a little more success, I’ll be able to sit down with these people.”
Are you at all worried that because your work is entirely new, different, and requires a little imagination, that you won’t break through into the industry machine for commercial success?

Z: “No, I’m not concerned with breaking into the industry machine, because people with that as their focus tend to lose sight and slip up, their music changes. Hip-hop has been plagued with ‘gotta get on radio, gotta get on radio’. Let radio come to you. Artists who write music with that as their end goal, they somehow lose integrity.”

“It’s funny that you mentioned ‘commercial’, because with hit music, lines get blurred between commercial and non-commercial. It’s like there’s radio music and non-radio music, and what happens is truly good, quality music rises up and finds its way to radio. NWA had no radio play; they were banned from radio, but had a massive following because people were looking for good music, people sought them out. NWA weren’t commercial but had commercial success.”
“So, I’m not worried about getting on radio; from the heart and soul, good music will find its way to radio”

Shifting Gears reflects many people’s varied, comprehensive musical interests. Fans today like everything from classic rock, to funk, to dance, to hip-hop, and you’ve now broken those boundaries meshing things together. Today, it’s almost ‘anything goes’. But where do we go from here? What now can possibly be different? Is the music revolution over?
Z: “That’s an interesting question. I don’t think the revolution is over, but what I think will happen is that the process will change. What I hope will happen is that real musicianship and genuine talent will rise up - real artists rather than strictly computer DJs and producers. Because technology makes it easy, and right now anybody can be a producer. Everyone’s got programs on their computer to make it a one-step process, but I look forward to people learning the instrument, the craft. I think it’s inevitable that we’ll have a return to genuine artists giving live performances, the element of experiencing live quality music.”

While much of Shifting Gears, particularly towards the beginning, is up-tempo, danceable, hyped party stuff (‘All About the Music’ feat. Whipper Whip & ‘The Get Down’ feat. Lyrics Born), the latter tracks get progressively darker, serious, and emotional (‘Walking Dead’ feat. Chester Bennington & ‘Shock and Awe’ feat. Chuck D.). What’s happening there? Where’s that coming from?

Z: “The album’s a journey, like my own, like most music fans in general. We all grew up, matured, and have experienced things like break-ups and we all fell on hard times, like Grandmaster Caz, who never got credit for Rapper’s Delight. I’m Shifting Gears, and those songs are a change-up to content that’s real and personal. I like to make what’s real to me, what moves me. The album does reflect a sort of journey of our life experiences, but like in life, the last song, part two of ‘Revolution’ is like a cleansing, almost like a baptizing.

With that said, a smile breaks on Z-Trip’s lips and a little sparkle glimmers in his eye. An avant-garde inspired. How will he next re-invent the hip-hop community?

He just recently remixed ‘I Want You Back’ by the Jackson 5 for a compilation, MOTOWN REMIXED, a tribute album to the label and its artists. He’s also featured on SCRATCH: ALL THE WAY LIVE, a DVD to follow-up the previously released SCRATCH - THE MOVIE.

Friends, do not sleep on Z-Trip. He’s shifting this hip-hop gear into overdrive, and if you can’t keep up, you will be left in the dust.