Clinton Sparks is going to change the game one track at a time.
Clinton Sparks has been in the game for quite some time, but now the DJ is ready to assume the full duties of an artist. After dropping his fourth installment of My Awesome Mixtape, the Massachusetts DJ is set to release a new album this spring that will unveil his singing abilities to the world.
With artists like Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, RiFF RaFF and Macklemore on the playbill, Spark’s eclectic body of work Disco Ball & Chain mixes hip-hop, rock, EDM and punk rock all into one album. Sparks is anticipated to take the position of the DJ to a completely different level. The first single “Gold Rush” with 2 Chainz, Macklemore + D.A is already available on iTunes. His new track with RiFF RaFF “Stay With You Tonight” along with the self-directed visual is also available now. Disco Ball & Chain drops this Spring via Photo Finish/Island Def Jam.
Check out what Clinton Sparks had to say about the new project.
The Source: You released your last project My Awesome Mixtape 4 not too long. Tell me about bringing everyone together for that.
Clinton Sparks: It’s something that’s nothing new to me. It’s kind of how my projects have always been. I’ve always stretched the boundaries of sound and experimented with different genres and mashing them together and then getting different artists on stuff you wouldn’t typically hear them on or have them say things you wouldn’t typically hear them say. So it was more of an electronic, trap, EDM world mixed with 2 Chainz and Rick Ross and people like that with records you wouldn’t typically hear them on. I even had Hulk Hogan do the intro. Just a piece of it is like watching a Quentin Tarentino movie, you’d never understand the whole thing just by listening to a piece of it. There’s a lot going on and it’s very intricate.
So what kind of work went into that project in particular?
It would be kind of hard for me to say. It would be for the listeners, you know their opinion. You know I took drum from here, snare from here, a loop from there, replayed this song over here, I had 2 Chainz do a rap on this part right here, it’s just an on-going non-stop cypher of sounds that seems like it never stops. It’s like what I’m always doing, you know, cross-pollenating sounds and making things that nobody would ever think of putting together.
With artists like RiFF RaFF, how do you feel about their presence on your project?
Well, I do have a track that’s out with RiFF RaFF off my new album. I’d say he’s amazing at what he does. I love his personality, I love what he represents and I think he’s great. That’s why I did a record on his album and he’s on a record on my album, The video is like The Sopranos. It’s my first single where it’s me as the star, being the vocal artist singing, writing and producing with a featured artist co-starring with me as opposed to like just me, Big Sean, and Mike Posner. It’s equal. This is the first record off my album where its like here’s Clinton Sparks as a vocal artist, either you like it or you don’t. I even wrote and directed the video. You’re getting everything, you’re seeing my mind.
What you do have in store for your album Disco Ball & Chain coming this Spring?
Well I have that (RiFF RaFF) record then another record that will come after that. We’re shooting that video in January. It’s much like my mixtapes for anyone that’s a real fan of mine, that has followed me throughout my career, It’s mashing worlds together. It’s mixing the clash with De La Soul, with Queen, Wu-Tang. It’s like taking elements of everything that makes up Clinton Sparks, who I am. I am a hip-hop head, I am a rock kid, I am a pop man. I make this kind of music. I play this kind of music. I listen to this kind of music. That’s why I can put out a mixtape with Mike Posner and Fall Out Boy and then introduce a band like Chester French, who have artists like Kardinal Official on kind of a Beatles style beat. So that’s how my album will be. It’s very original. It’s very new and fresh and it doesn’t sound like anything that’s happening right now, yet when I say that it still feels like it should be happening right now. It’s easy to digest. It’s nothing new to the left like, “what is this shit?” It’s not hard to swallow. It’s fresh shit.
Do you plan to mix any EDM into the album?
There’s rock elements, hip-hop elements, pop elements, punk rock elements. It’s not me manufacturing a sound. It’s just what comes naturally to me now. Yea, there are EDM elements as well. Even the first single with me and RiFF RaFF, it’s got a very punk-rock foundation and then it has hip-hop/trap elements in the hook. And then it has an EDM build up from going into the hook. It’s like who puts punk rock, hip-hop and EDM elements all in one song? It sounds fresh as fuck.
Considering where you’re going with the album, how do you feel that it will impact the game as a whole?
I hope it helps with ushering in a new way of people stretching boundaries. With people doing things that aren’t typical or traditional in hip-hop and rock. Like a rock band now can add some other elements into it. “Oh yeah it’s like that Clinton Sparks shit”. That’s what I’m really trying to do. I’m trying to develop my sound so that when other people make similar shit, they can be like “Oh they’re on that Clinton Sparks kind of vibe”.
You’re taking more of a vocal direction when it comes to this album. How do you feel that will come into play?
It’s me as a full-fledged artist, singing. It’s not just another level; it’s a different level. DJ’s are awesome at what they do, they’re the shit. Now I’m going do something different from what they do. I don’t like doing what people have done already. I mean, that’s the only reason why I make the music I make because I don’t want to follow trends like fuck format. There is no genre in my mind.
Tony Centeno (@_tonyMC)
Photo Credit: Dana Tarr
