A Sit Down With DJ Flosstradamus

One of the most iconic names in trap music, Flosstradamus boast of a cult like following. After sparking the birth of a dance music movement following the release of their massive remix of Major Lazer’s ‘Original Don‘, the bass-heavy project has dropped some of the genre’s most memorable classics. Now solely led by Curtis Cameruci, Flosstradamus continues to move from strength to strength with his stellar production work and truly turnt live performances. With another promising year on the horizon, we caught up with Curt to talk about the future of trap music, his plans for 2018 and much more!

 

“For us, we’re always being influenced by whatever’s happening around us and we keep an open mind so it’s really important for us to keep an ear to the ground and also keep an open mind about all the music that comes our direction because it all ends up eventually sort of influencing what we wind up making.”

 

So you have a couple hit EPs under your belt and your first full-length album is in progress. How will the new album compare with your previous tracks?

Well, we started developing tracks recently for rappers. We’re making demos for musicians to produce songs for their albums, and then Mikey Rocks from the Cool Kids passed on a track that we produced for him, so that ended up being “Total Recall,” which we put out as a preview for our fans. It was the first of the year, we were like “2012, here you go, have a free song.” It did well for us. It was a style that we’ve been developing, mixing Southern trash drums and a harder style, aggressive house samples.

When it comes to producing, are you guys on the same page or do you bump heads? Go with the flow and agree?

We both have different styles, so we will bring two separate things to the table. Usually he will start something and I’ll finish it, or vise-versa.

How would you describe the “trap” genre?

I would say it’s Southern hip-hop-influenced dance music. We take a lot of the elements of big house music, big club music, and we take a lot of influence from southern hip-hop music, combine those together, give it a little shake, and that’s what it is.

In what ways do you think your sound and look has changed over the course of Flosstradamus, if at all?

We went from being two DJs using four turntables and two mixers, rocking small clubs playing sets of other peoples music, to an act who has found their own original sound. The funny thing is our original sound is a production version of our DJ sets. Ever since 2005 when we started, we were always mixing electronic music, and southern rap. Now we do the same thing, only when we play our live sets, we’re playing mostly our own music off Ableton, and we’re doing it to 5000 people instead of 50… and we’re doing it in hoodies!

Do you have any pre-show food rituals or habits?

We have learned the hard way over the years not to go so heavy with the pre-show meal. We try to keep it light—like with sushi, salad, vermicelli. Or else we will be snoozing on stage.

Any pros and cons of working as a DJ duo versus being independent artists?

The pros are that we get to inspire each other and push each other and influence each other. Like he’ll send me some new music, almost a new genre or something, and it totally blows my mind, and then we’ll incorporate it into what we’re doing. But the cons are that as DJs you can get stuck in your own head and you want this this way, like, “This is the way it is,” and you have to think about someone else. At the end of the day, I might want to play “Cotton-Eyed Joe” in a set, and he probably doesn’t want to play “Cotton-Eyed Joe,” and I’ll leave it out of the set for that.

Flosstradamus continues to remain as one of the most defining names within the trap music game. How would you like describe your decade long journey within the industry that has seen trap music become one of dance music’s most loved genres?

I`m very fortunate to be doing what I love for a living! I have always loved hip hop and dance music. I`m happy to be able to combine both of them and experiment with new sounds and vibes.

What do you plan accomplish in 2018? Any upcoming projects on the horizon?

I’m starting off the new year releasing a new song every month. My first one is a song called 2 Much featuring 24 hrs.

Questions? Comments? We want to know:@djfollower