Interview With J2k of Flosstradamus

MP3:Matt & Kim-Yea Yeah (Flosstradamus Remix Final)

Flosstradamus are playing at the Venue(Club Karma/Redzone) Saturday, June 20th along with DJ Detox, and CJ Townsend..

Flosstradamus are a deejay/remix duo from Chicago that has been doing it big for couple years now. They exist in the weird hybrid Electro/Juke whatever the fuck you call it world that has you playing Lollapalooza one day, and a small club date the next.

I spoke to half of them, J2k aka Young Josh aka Kid Sister’s brother on the phone when I was hanging out at the MilkBar a couple days ago. (J2K is the one with the Slingshot) J2k talked about their worst show, working with De La Soul, the backpack vs. hipster dynamic, and his love for midwest crowd.

what’s good with you?

J2K:Just played Los Angeles last night.

How was it ?

It was cool. The crowd was like 1200 people. It was a blast. It was fun.

Is that your usual turn-out on the West Coast?

It varies. We are playing at a club that holds 600 people in San Diego tonight.

What was your wackest deejay experience?

I wouldn’t say it was the wackest…We were at DJ AM’s club LAX. The people were not into it at all. It was a jiggy crowd. After about Ten minutes some girl told us we sucked. We got booted off the tables. Everyone hated us.

Did you still get paid?

Yeah. Of course. We went back 6 months later and killed it.

Why do you think that it is?

It was a jiggy crowd. They didn’t understand us at first. When we went back they knew what were doing. It had caught up to them. What we were doing was considered cool by then.

Do you always rock the same set? How do you feel out the crowd?

Well, like these West Coast dates. They are familiar with us. We kinda go off things we are known for. We have two sets we build from. We use Serato. But for club dates in new cities, we just start playing and see what works. We have fun with it. And we hopefully get a response. See what works.

What do you guys got coming up?

We just did this mix for Nike with De La Soul. It’s a 45 minute mix. 4 new De La Soul Songs. It was a pretty amazing experience.

Did you work directly with them?

Yeah. They were so cool. They came into the studio. They were really open to suggestions, and understanding. They really heard us out and were open to what we do. They were really cool. Honestly, if a few years ago you told us. Or made a list of artists that we would we be working with. I would have never guessed De La Soul.

Are you a De La Soul fan?

Of course. To be honest I was more into Tribe Called Quest. But my sister got me into Native Tongues early on. All of that.

That’s kind of funny because how much backpackers backlash against “Hipsters”.

Do back packers still exist? I thought they bought street wear and now listen to the Cool Kids?

Hahhahah

No to be real. Initially there was backlash. Then they came to out shows and realized it was fun. There were pretty girls to dance with, and everyone just has a good time. It beat their shows where everyone just mean mugs you and wants to fight all the time. I basically I feel like if they don’t like it. Fuck it. Don’t come to our shows.

Hilarious. Hah perfect. Yeah. I think we are going to end on that note.

You want to the end the interview with me saying don’t come to our shows.?

Well, yeah. Because its funny.(CJ Townsend interrupts me. Wes asked him about the Heineken commercial)

What’s up with the Heineken commercial?

My doppelganger is in a Heineken commercial. People think it me and that I am getting all these free cases of Heineken. I twittered about my doppelganger being in a Heineken commercial. Apparently some people still think it was me. I don’t know if they don’t how to read. Or if there is a problem with Twitter. I think they just don’t know what the word doppelganger means. So people thought I was saying I was in a Heineken commercial. It led to further confusion. But yeah, there is an older, fatter Chinese version of me in a Heineken commercial. But it’s not me.

Shit is going to be rowdy Saturday. We are a little backwards in a good way. But Columbus is live as fuck.

I like these Midwestern dates better sometimes. We are from the Midwest. Also in some of the other cities people are jaded. They have seen every deejay. They aren’t really trying to have fun because things are oversaturated. Everyone doesn’t have a night every night of the week. Places like Columbus appreciate it more. Midwestern people come out to have fucking fun. We just want things to be a blast.