The Giant Blast recently sat down with former club DJ, present beatmaker DJ Mega-Blaster about his idea to produce video game inspired and sampled beats and remixes, who he would like to work with, and where he plans to go with this project here in this in depth one on one interview. Read all about what he has to say here.......
The Giant
Blast: Why do you call yourself DJ Mega-Blaster?
DJ
Mega-Blaster: It was a name I called
myself way back when I was DJing, kind of like "I blast the hottest music
loud when I spin" type of thing. I
just ran with it, and when I started getting into making beats, I decided to
keep it... I was considering changing it up for the video game theme that I'm
running with now, but someone told me that it may work because the video game
character Mega Man's arm cannon in the Mega Man X series is called the
"Mega Blaster" so I decided to keep rolling with it. That's also why I use the Mega Man X power
suit as my new logo. Although it's
music, I want people to make no mistake that I'm going hard with this video
game theme and video game remixes. To
some it may look "corny" but I say it looks "different" and
something new and different is exactly what this music industry needs.
The Giant
Blast: What inspired you to create video game sample
based music?
DJ Mega-Blaster: I'm just a fan of that old 8-Bit Midi classic
Nintendo sound, plus I'm a video game nerd too. When playing those classic games from the
late 80s and early 90s, I would sometimes just put the game on pause and listen
to the beats. Some of those classic game
beats had better rhythms and patterns than some of the stuff that's on the
radio. So once I started going from a DJ
to making my own mixes and beats I would grab some of those hot classic sounds
and loops and flip it my way with hard hitting drums. For those who aren't really into those games
and can't recognize the sounds they wouldn't know the difference anyway. Good sounding music is still good sounding
music at the end of the day and you can't deny that it's dope.
The Giant Blast: Although you heavily sample video games, and
use video game sounds as the base of your music how would you describe yourself
as a beatmaker?
DJ Mega-Blaster: Dope.
That's all I can say. Just
because I primarily sample video games, don't get it twisted, the drums are
hard hitting, the bass is thumping, and the snares smack hard! Don't take my word for it, just listen to the
sample clips here at
http://www.youtube.com/djmegablaster and there is more to
come! For anyone reading this interview
don't think "oh he samples video games" and write it off as some type
of novelty, cute little, pop sounding bull, because it's far from that. To put it another way, think more along the
lines of late 90's Timbaland and Neptunes sound but with a more current swag to
it with 8-Bit effects.
The Giant Blast: What video games have you sampled so far?
DJ
Mega-Blaster: You would have to be a
real hardcore game nerd to know some of these titles, like The Adventures of
Dino Riki, Blaster Master, The Sword of Valis, Adventure Island 2, etc., but as
for popular titles I've jacked and remixed beats from Castlevania, the Mega Man
series, Duck Tales, The Legend of Zelda and X-Men just to name a few.... but I
will tell you what video game I have NOT sampled, and will not sample and
that's any from the Super Mario Bros. series.
It's been done to death by producers who have tried to dabble in Video
Game sampling. Although I have never
ever sampled Super Mario, I get e-mails from people that have heard the beats
and they all go "yo that's tight, you got that from Super Mario didn't
you??". I think it's because it's a
very popular game series and that's all people know. When I say, nope I flipped that from this
game or that game they aren't familiar with those titles, but like the beat
regardless.
The Giant Blast: What video games do you plan on sampling in the future?
DJ Mega-Blaster: I have some eerie Final Fantasy samples I
looped but haven't done anything with.
Um, let me see... I'm trying to do something with the default dungeon
music from the very first Legend of Zelda, but I just can't bang out the drums
to it the way that I want so I'm going to come back to it later. Maybe something off of Metroid too. I haven't touched it yet.
The Giant Blast: Who have you worked with so far?
DJ Mega-Blaster: Right now I have a track with Celsius911
rhyming to it. I found out about
Celsius911 through The Giant Blast e-mail blasts, and was feeling the
music. So I reached out through The
Giant Blast to have him rhyme over one of the instrumentals. I also have a song with Blaq Planet, the
group that has that new single with Shabba Ranks, & Krumb Snatcha. I have a song in the works with Charles
Bronson that should be out soon. More to
come very soon.
The Giant Blast: Who would you like to work with in the future?
DJ
Mega-Blaster: This list could go on
for days. I'm very interested in just
working with artists that are open to working with me and this type of
sound. A lot of artists don't like to
take risks and think outside of the box artistically, and I feel that having
artists jump on one of my video game remixes will surely challenge them
creatively and lyrically. I would also
like to add that although I am flipping video game sounds and making tracks
that doesn't mean I want the artist to make some type of novelty song about
"video games", I would love for the artist to do them. Like, say for instance if I end up working
with an artist like Blaq Poet... not saying he'll do it, but just as an example
I'd like for Blaq Poet to continue to spit some hard gutter NYC s**t over the
beat although it's a video game track that's being flipped! Or if an R&B singer wants to sing to one
of the joints, I still want 'em to do his or her thing... sing about a topic
they would normally sing about... it's just going to have that 8-Bit
sound. As for actual names I'd like to
do something with Adam Warock, Mega Ran, YT Cracker... you know... guys in that
genre. That Nerdcore style music. Outside of the Nerdcore genre I'd like to do
something with a few underground hip hop artists like Phonte', Action Bronson,
Mayhem Lauren, guys like that. I know they
normally spit over the traditional Boom Bap and grimy samples, but I would love
to have voices like theirs rock over what I do.
I would also like to work with a hungry, up and coming artist or group
and do a collaboration project with this sound.
I would love to do some type of funny, comedy rap album too, but with an
artist or group that can actually spits some hot lyrics. Kind of like The Lonely Island, but with
actual serious skills. Not saying Andy
Samberg and them are wack, but they are mostly comedians. lol. I
have a lot of ideas, anyone reading this interested in putting something
together feel free to contact me at
DJMegaBlasterMusic@yahoo.com
The Giant
Blast: What projects are you working on right now?
DJ
Mega-Blaster: I'm working on two
projects right now. One is an
instrumental project called N.E.S.trumentals,
and the other is a free compilation/ mixtape project with various emcees
spitting to my tracks. I already have
the Celsius911 and Blaq Planet joint on there and there are a few more being
worked on. I plan on releasing the
instrumental project first. It will be
100% free and it will be available on my blog and youtube channel. "The Bleeding Eyes of Dracula" is
the test single to the instrumental project just to get feedback and reactions. It's working so far, especially thanks to The
Giant Blast.
The Giant
Blast: Do you plan on making any beats outside of the
video game sample mold?
DJ
Mega-Blaster: I have, and I can, but
right now I don't mind being stereotyped as "the guy that makes those
video game sounding beats"... especially sense my non video game sounding
beats sound.... too much like what everyone else makes. Once I learn to develop my own sound then
I'll start producing non video game sampled tracks.
The Giant Blast: Who are you listening to in your i-pod or CD player right
now?
DJ
Mega-Blaster: I downloaded that David Banner Sex, Drugs and Video Games mixtape the
other day. I'm feeling that. I'm absolutely loving the collaboration
project between El-P of Company Flow and Killer Mike called R.A.P. Music! I heard the clips in ad on Adult Swim and I
just had to check it out... he is going hard on that "Reagan" track
by the way! I was never really a
hardcore fan of that whole Definitive Jux sound but I'm am seriously f***ing
with the beats El-P did for Killer Mike.
I always keep a Mega Ran joint in rotation too. Just to let everyone know, I found out about Mega
Ran AFTER I did what I did, so I'm not biting him but I am totally glad that
there is someone doing this type of music other than myself. I think this sound can totally blow up and
get love with even the non gamers. Like
I said earlier, good music is good music at the end of the day. The Mega Ran joints I'm banging now is "Astanyx"
and "The Galaxy"... I'm mad that I didn't beat him to this! These joints are hot! I'm also listening to a lot of music from The
Brown Bag Allstars too... The Audible Doctor is a beast! I'm also feeling the music that I see in The
Giant Blast e-mail blast. D.I.V.'s
"Puff Pass" is dooopppeee. I
would also like to collaborate with the King of the Carolina himself Ike Ellis,
he has a great voice! I'm loving that
new single "Shake Ya Body" and
I wonder what he would sound like to one of my tracks.
The Giant
Blast: What made you decide to go with The Giant Blast
to assist with promoting your music?
DJ
Mega-Blaster: I've been downloading
music from The Giant Blast e-mails since as long as I can remember.... always
great stuff! Plus I'd say you all are #1
when it comes to breaking new artists!
I've noticed a pattern that all the featured artists in The Blast tend
to end up getting a huge Internet buzz some type of way and I just wanted that
for myself! So far the results have been
great!
The Giant
Blast: Any shout outs or plugs?
DJ Mega-Blaster: Yeah check out my blog for updates on what
I'm doing!
http://www.djmega-blaster.blogspot.com and my youtube page
http://www.youtube.com/djmegablaster I plan on having new tracks and remixes up
there sometime at the start of next week so keep checking back! Celsius911 and Blaq Planet for taking the
time to drop some hot s**t to my tracks!
To all the artists that gave me drops!
To all the people that want to support something new and different! and to The Giant Blast for helping me come up
with a plan to introduce what I do.
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