EP. 21: MANU IS BACK FROM IBIZA, ADAM PORT'S CRAZY 360 SHOW & MORE

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Transcript

0:04

Okay, is your mic on? Testing, testing. One, two, three. Have you updated your background yet, Wesley? How are we looking? How are we looking in Toronto? You know what, man? We're not doing too bad. You know, where this is uh like a I call it a demo. You know, I can see some some improvements. Appreciate the the effort. Yeah, we got it. We see it. So we're work in progress over here. We got a few more items coming from Amazon tomorrow morning. So for next week, it'll be better. But I that's why that's why we missed last week, man. Because Mana said your background's not ready. Cut it, so I had to do something, bro. You're covering for me, man. I like that. I like that. That's a good partner right there. You're covering for me. No, listen, guys. Last week I was recovering from a bender in Ibiza. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm gonna keep it, I'm I'm gonna be 100. I went to Ibiza mid-May, and it was the most fun I've had in a while. But you know, what goes up must come down. And yeah, coming down was bad. I was out for a full week recovering, trying to remember who I was, find energy, and yeah, so I got back Sunday, and only by Thursday, Friday I started to feel like myself and get back in the gym. And yeah, it was it was rough. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Damn bad, really, man. So rough, and it's ibita, man. I think you go there, you're excited, you're we've been looking forward to the strip for for a whole year, and then it finally came, and you have a great time. But of course, you've got to remember your age. You know, I'm not 25, 35, so I was reminded. I was reminded. I'm starting to get to that age now, so I'm 30 this year, and yeah, partying just doesn't really work the way it used to. It's punishing, man. It's like and now I have to be strategic about it. Like, okay, Friday and not a Saturday night, so I have two days, so by Monday I'm not a fucking, you know. Gotta be strategic. Walk us through the itinerary in Ibiza, bro. So what what did you get up to? So we went for a bachelor party, what we call a stag here in the UK. And the idea was just to have fun, enjoy the villa. I mean, we rented an amazing villa. So we enjoyed that space, but every single night we went out. The first three nights we did Pasha back to back to back. So first night was Frankie Rizzardo. Wow. Which I've never seen Pasha so packed. Like you couldn't move. Hottest ticket in town for sure. Frankie Rizzardo. You know, Abifa opening parties, opening month. That easily for me, the hottest party that I that I saw when I was there. So that was what was that, Tuesday night? Yeah, Tuesday night we got in. Wednesday went back again for Blondish. Also great night, great music. And Thursday went back again for Shimza. Then Friday night we had a house party just from like people we met on the island, so we invited everyone over, just chilled out. It was cool. But it's the island, man. Ibiza, you just go crazy if you're there for two, three days. I feel like you can't do more than three, four days of like going out every night because it catches up to you, and as you as you saw with me, the recovery is tough. Recovering is tough, tough, extremely tough. So so of all the sets that you went to at Pasha, which one do you think like was your favorite? The craziest set atmosphere. Frank Rizzardo by far, like it can't even compare it. Can't even compare it. Shimza set, of course, just because of my taste, I enjoyed the most, listening to the most. Also, a good friend of mine is a big Shimza fan, so getting him in the booth backstage, we took a photo with Shimza, all of that. You know, just seeing that, that was also cool. Got to meet Blondish, that was nice. Listen, the whole trip, the whole trip was was amazing. I think if you've never done Ibiza and you know you're gonna do it for the first time, go all in, just do everything, experience it. When you come back, you realize you need a break because it's so much, it's taxing on the body, on the pockets, like it's so expensive. I got lucky enough that you know my friends could afford a few things, but it's so expensive. Like if you do it by yourself and it's not a big group, yeah. It can be it can be costly, but it's fun, man. It's fun. People are very welcoming, friendly. You can meet anyone from everywhere. I mean, I met people from LA, France, Portugal, Austria, you know, and you're just vibing. So it's it's that type of energy. It's it's good. You've got to experience it. Yeah, I'm like, you know, I think we've spoken about this before, but as somebody who's been so involved in the music industry for so long now, content especially, you know, starting out, I still haven't made it out there. And everybody's like, what's wrong with you, man? Like, I don't know how you haven't been. So I think September, I think September at high, that's gonna be the one, man. I gotta go. September at high. Shout out to Francis, and yeah, we could we can talk about his opening party last night if you want. Yeah. June 1st, right? Yeah, June 1st. Monday's at high with Francis. I think he had did he have Liver K in Banco? I think so. I think so, yeah. I mean, like, we talk about Francis a lot on this podcast, but like I feel like for him, the opening night of his residency, High Biza, I think that's like he's reached the top, man. You know, like how can you go any higher than that? I don't know. I don't know. Where do you go from there? Well, it's it's the same as you know, there's always perception of of greener grass and how you know what's what is satisfaction? That that is that is what we're talking about here, and as humans, as people, it's easily never to be satisfied and always go for more. That's just natural. Yeah. But from the outside looking in, that is the top. That is the top to have a residency at Ibiza, even if it's a smaller venue, you've made it, right? To have it at high. I mean, number so so so high's whole brand is like being number one club in the world, right? That's their brand, that's their marketing. Is it actually the number one club in the world? I don't know. I mean, I haven't been there. But you know, just just to be able to achieve that and create your lineup over so many weekends. I'm looking at the lineup right now. So opening week was yeah, him, obviously, Anane and Louis Vega. Maybe they're playing club room, but then we had Liverkey, Vanko, Jawora, and PT all on the lineup for just the day one. And then next Monday we got Francis, Moblack, and Agoria. Jan Blom. I always butcher this name. Blomquis, yeah. Rami B2B with Tomer. Yeah. So that's pretty sick, fam. The lineup is tough. The lineup is tough. Francis has curated a good lineup, and it's it's a stacked lineup. Like, and it's it's there's a lot of people on that lineup, you know, myself included, but there's there's a lot of artists that are getting their debut in Ibiza at high, and it's because of Francis. Yeah. Gotta give it to him, gotta give it to him, and he's not just doing the night event, right? He also has things around it, so he's got the Soleil FC football activation engagement thing that he's doing before the game, after that. Yeah, there's also like a DJ set at Cafe Mambo. Like, he's doing he's working a lot on the Monday on the island. So to do that, and then for last night, when I went on the social media just to see what was going on, it looked like a vibe in there. Like, you know, typical Soleil events, soleil energy that no one else can do. Yeah, but this is the thing, like you've gotta have your own IP, you've got to have your own offering. Francis has got it down now. It's very, it's also like the whole the whole Soleil football thing, as I I didn't think about it until now, it's like it very much ties in with the World Cup fever that's going on. So I'm I'm wondering if there's gonna be like a Soleil World Cup something. Hey man, listen. Could be anything. If if there's one artist to have any World Cup activation or any World Cup connection energy, it's Francis. Like he his sound is World Cup sound, you know. Shakira's got a lot of music around around you know out there. Yeah, Shimza, but for me, Francis is like this kind of staple artists for like Afrohouse World Cup sound. Like that's that's that's the guy, and that's his lane, I think. I I honestly think if the World Cup wasn't in North America, I don't know if have you heard the World Cup song yet? Isn't it the one with Shakir and uh Burnaboy? No, there's like an official song and it's like this like really American, like I wouldn't call it country music, but it's just like such an American sound. But I think that if the World Cup was in Europe or somewhere else, we would definitely have had a real Afro House DJ that would be on like the official soundtrack. Well, I think maybe I've just missed it, but I haven't really been hit by the World Cup song Fever. I haven't seen much virality around it, I haven't seen marketing, you know. YouTube ads, I feel like now this is where you get most of the kind of energy around this type of stuff, is YouTube ads. I haven't seen anything on on there. Yeah, but it's because like in Toronto, obviously, this is one of the host cities of the World Cup. So World Cup fever here is like really kicking off, man. There's all these installations, you know, they extended the stadium, they did all these things, so you know, I'm I'm in the thick of it at the moment, which is pretty simple. Are you getting a ticket? Yeah, Ghana, Panama, bro. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've got to tell you. How much? How much? I'll buy it off of you. How much? How much? How much? So one of the cheapest tickets of the World Cup actually 590 Canadian dollars, so that's about two nine. That's reasonable. Resale. But if you look at if you look at tickets like in Boston or New York and stuff, though, those tickets are like thousands of dollars. So it's just for this one game in Toronto that's like pretty cheap. There's a few others. Black stars. Okay. If you want to go for a Canada game, it's like $2,000, $2,000 double gap. But yeah, Black Stars, my friend. Black Stars, Black Stars. Now that's sick, that's sick. So when when when is that game? Is it in June or I think it's 16th of June, yeah. Something like that. That's amazing. That's amazing. Man, it's it's it's crazy that the World Cup is so close and so near. Yeah. Bro, that's mad. That's actually time flies, man. Time flies. I think when when the last World Cup, which I guess was delayed because of COVID. Yeah. 2021, right? Oh no, 2023. Was it 23? No, 2022. No, bro, because it was delayed. It would have been 2022, but they had to move it because of COVID. This is what I'm saying, like that was I think it was 23, mate. Because it was in December. Yeah, okay, so it was end of the year, November, December, 2022. Right. Insane. Insane. But yeah, listen. Francis, shout out to him, Mr. Killing It. Opening Night High. He's there every single Monday in Ibiza. I'm gonna be there playing in September. Wesley's gonna come down, guys. If you know you wanna come through, let me know. I can't promise guest list or backstage, anything like that, but we can definitely have a good time. You know, Manu in Ibiza is a menace, so we're gonna have a good time. Right. Right. One more one more topic of Ibiza before we we move on to something else. Another residency that kicked off on the 29th of May was Major League at Chino. It actually looked pretty sick, man. Their creations. I gotta I gotta I gotta give it to them. I gotta I gotta applaud them for that. So they had they had obviously them, Moblack, Kasango, and Elisa Alisa. So that was that was the first lineup. The second lineup was so coming this Friday, Kiddy Amore B2B Kiddie Manjaro, and Demica's playing as well. Do you think next year are we gonna have more or less Afro House residencies? I think I'm asking this question because Afro House was hotter. We talk about this on this podcast every single time. Yeah, it was hotter six months ago. Yeah. When when the residencies were selected, it was like hot, and then it went like this. What do you think? What do you think? Where's your mind there? And I'm not trying to you know take a dig at anyone, but what's your prediction for 2027 Ibiza residencies? Look, look, my gut says there's gonna be less, unfortunately. I think there's gonna be less after house residencies on the island. I think it's dependent on how these guys' residencies actually go. I think Francis will be back, Coffee will be back, major league DJs, I think might not be back. We'll see. Shimza's residency, I think will be back. But they're all such big names. Like that's those are like the big the four biggest names in Afrohouse music, and you could argue even outside of Afrohouse music, right? All four of those guys are like, you know, paving the way. They've been around for a while. So who else loses their residency? Are we only talking about those four, or there is there someone else? I think Blondish is gonna be back. Did you mention Blondish? Blondish, no, I didn't mention Blondish. I think she's definitely gonna be back at Pasha. I don't consider Blondish Afro House, man. Not anymore. Maybe, maybe like two years ago. Yeah, but I mean a lot of people are in that in that kind of two feet. Two feet on different different genres. I think that I think okay, I've my honest prediction is one of them loses their residency out of the four I mentioned. I don't think Blondish loses, but I think one of those four guys will be. That's the word influential. Yeah. Bro, people go up to her with her hairstyle, right? They want to look like her, they have tattoos of Blondish. I did not realize how influential Blondish is, and I get it, like she is that personality, she has that, she's like, I think one of the coolest people walking on this planet. Like, she's like, you know, when I met her briefly, I was like, yeah, you can just see, like, she's got aura, she's got the energy, yeah, she's got that thing. But you know, even when I was backstage and I'm meeting people and they're like, Oh, I love Blondish, like I've got a crash on her, and it's females telling me this, like she's got that that effect, and I didn't realize how crazy it is. Like, she's one of those, but she's got fans. She does have fans. I mean, I've looked I've never really resonated with her brand, but I know that she's a powerful figure in the music space. She's also like a really into crypto, which I respect obviously naturally. So during that whole peak time, she was partnering with like you know, Solana and like all those kind of things, NFT projects, crazy things back in the day. But Blondish is cool, man. One thing I really admire about Blondish is we don't talk about them enough, but Abracadabra is a is a beast of a label, man. They put out heaters. Yeah, that catalogue that catalog is actually a scary catalogue. That is a scary catalogue. I think I think, and this is a message to all the artists listening, being yourself, and I I need to take this advice on too. It's like just be weird, man. Be weird on your social media, be weird on your fucking profiles. Yeah. I mean, I've I've been thinking this internally with myself because I'm like, alright, things are in place, but Mano needs to drive a lot of it. Yeah. I'm like, bro, just just just stop thinking, just fucking do. And you look at people like like a blondish with with these massive followings, not just on social media, but in real life too. Blondish, Diplo, Maz, Maz is one that I think does this really well too. Yes, that really connects with people, and it's like, bro, just just just that it's such such a value currency. Who do you who do you think I don't want to use the word weird, but who do you think of like in Afro House and House music have the most like unique unique personalities are a big part of their brand? We mentioned Blondish, Blondish, Maz. I think Mojak it's almost like who would you who would you watch the vlogs of Blondish 100%, Maz 100%? I would watch their vlogs. I would watch Mojak. Yeah, Mochak's a good one. I think Peggy Goo is not doesn't have a weird personality, but she definitely has her own like aura that people are obsessed with. And like the Peggy Goo model is very good to look at, of course. Yeah, Peggy, yeah, obviously that sells as well. The thing about Peggy Goo, and and she does do vlogs, right? I'm not sure if you've watched any, but the vlogs have this very polished, aspirational look, right? Everything is like looks very exclusive, and and you know, it's that very high-class DJ lifestyle. Yeah. She's cool. She's it's cool, like you need that, you need that. But I think in terms of Afro House, Ban Schapper, if Bon Shopper started doing vlogs, like proper, proper vlogs, you know, and just be a bit more not crazy, but you know what I mean. Like just post random shit. Yeah, Ban Shopper is a good one, man. I think it's good. One guy's content I really enjoy. Lesser known, but Fuzak out of Kenya, dude, he has he's the best, one of the best TikTokers, I think, at the moment, man. Just naturally funny. Yeah, he's good. Fuzak is a funny guy. There's more names, man. There's more names. I think uh I was gonna mention Virujin. Virujin, yeah. Virujin's good personality. I think that who else? Who else has got it? Ajna. Ajna is a fucking funny guy, man. Really? Oh mate, Asna. Throw some vlogs out in there, like he's just got it. But yeah, it's it's it's such a overlooked part of branding, just just being clumsy and and I don't give a fuck, I'm gonna post it anyway. Yeah, those those that that content usually performs the best. I agree, man. And like I had this conversation a while ago, but I remember talking to someone about they were just like, Oh, I don't know if I want to post my life, like people don't care, like you know, and I'm like, Yeah, but okay, you're scrolling Instagram, and you see like some some people some people I used to like go to high school with, or for example, or uni, and like they'll post, like they're trying to do like I don't know, fashion. The girlies are doing fashion, or a friend of mine is now doing like wealth management coaching, stuff like that. And like I know because I've tried content and I haven't stuck to it, but I've tried it's like It's scary the first time you put something out. It's like scary, right? But you as the consumer, when you see something like that, you're like, oh, you just think like, oh, okay, this guy's trying this. Cool. And then you you probably don't think about it ever again, right? You scroll past and like within 30 seconds you've forgotten. Yeah, it's usually it's usually the people closest to you that might think it's cringy, but the people that you're actually trying to reach. Yeah. More than like more than you know, more than likely they're gonna like it. They're actually gonna support that piece of content. Yeah, I think it we're more concerned about friends, family, people closest to us, and and that, but yeah, that's not the audience. That's a good point. That's a good point, yeah. That's not the audience at all. But yeah, man, Ibiza, off to a good start. What's the next topic, mate? What's the next topic? I think the what we wanted to talk about today was like what do you do as an artist when you're so involved in an industry, and then that genre is either changing or dying or you know, evolving into something less popular or just completely different, right? Like, what is your approach? Right? So you've you've released a handful of songs now, man, that have done pretty well. So, like, what what would you think is like your approach? Everything we've talked about on the podcast now, 21 episodes in, I don't even know where we're at. But like, what do you think? Like, as your next step, you know, as a as a purist first, but then as a businessman second, right? Right. Yeah, I mean, I think I think it's it's difficult right now in 2026 because so much is changing, especially in Afro House. But you've gotta you've gotta remind yourself why you're doing the music, right? If you're doing music because of fame, when fame doesn't come, you're gonna give up because you're not passionate about the art, you're not passionate about the process, you don't really invest time, uh, energy into that. So I think in these types of situations when the sound is changing, trends are changing, promoters want to book different sounds, it's important to still love the process and still love the art. But at the same time, like if things aren't working, try different things, collab with people, ask questions, be busy, don't just be stagnant and wait for things to happen. Yeah, and as you alluded to, like, I'm in a similar spot now where last year I released what four tracks, four or five, this year two. Now a bit of a slow period where I'm just trying to understand, like, all right, let's figure out the brand, let's refine the brand a bit more. You know, what do we want to be known as, manu? Obviously, people know me for the reactions and the content and club record, etc. etc. That's a great foundation because already I can promote music, but now if I want to be an artist that is known for Afrohouse, but again, the sound is changing and and you could go in different directions. You need to take your time, right? Take your time, figure out what is your sound, and we say this a lot, but once you have your sound and people know you for that, if you do other things, I think it's fine. Yeah. Because because I feel like once you've created something, it's hard for people to say that you've sold out or that you've that you're not creative and you're not original, because you provided something that that is yours, you know what I mean? And I took it took a long, long route to to answer that question. But so I think I think it's a really it's a difficult question to to answer because there's so many I think it's a conversation that's probably had every single day, right? Between up-and-coming producers, you know, either with someone else or in your head, like if you're creative, you make music, not just in in in Afrohouse, but generally across the board, is how do you like what do you do? What's your sound? And like if you've been doing the same thing for a while, like there's a lot of artists who have been around since I've been around, and before me, who are still making the same same type of music. I love the music, but they're still not on the world stage touring, even on like a B-list tour tour schedule, but they're still at it. Right. I think that it's difficult to not be tempted to make something else, not only from a professional point of view, but just creatively as well, right? Like, you know, you're messing around with a sample pack, you hear a sa you hear a sample, you're like already working on a project, but you're looking for something, and then you hear something else in that sample pack, and you're like, ooh, I could do something with this, but it's different, right? It'll be like, you know, more housey or more deep house, whatever you want to do. But those guys, like I think sticking to your lane and your one sound, I think it's important, but I'm also of the of the belief that if you can make music and you can make good music, why do you have to keep making the same thing over and over? Why don't like maybe that's more a question for you? So if you can do a really good Afrotech tune, but you know you could also do like a really sick disco or like a deep house track too, how does that affect your brand as an artist if you're if you're able to release kind of like a wide variety of different music? What happens, right? I don't know, man. I think we live in a in an era now where people can do what they want. Yeah. But brand brand is almost like more important than the actual product in terms of musical products. I think brand now has trumped everything, whether it's social media, whether it's how you tell your story as an artist. How you tell that story, you know, if that is aligned with the artist and the image that people have in mind of you, it's almost like you can almost trig them into releasing whatever music that you that you want. Yeah. It's an extremely difficult thing to do to kind of have this alignment with the brand and your output musically. But I feel like this is where we are now. Like if you have a super strong brand, like someone like John Summit, for example, I know he's very like you know, tech house EDM space, but if you wanted to make a song with Chris Brown, Justin Bieber, that again, it would still be in the electronic space. But you know what I mean? Like it could be yeah, I get what you're saying. I think I think reach a certain level you can do whatever. The brand is so strong, you can kind of do do different things, and not to say you can only do it at a certain level. Again, it all comes down to the brand. If you know how to tell that story. Yeah. I think a really good example of that is Diplo, right? Because he releases like such a wide variety of music, and then you got Major Laser, which is his own, like I think Major Laser definitely has a sound and an attitude, but then you you take like his individual projects over the course of his career. I mean, he's collaborated with you know Blackpink and you know, um a lot more on the electronic EDM side too, and now he's just a producer, he's not like an electronic. But it's also like if you look at I think it's important also if you are making different types of music, say, you know, so we have Wesley as a producer. He started off as Afro House, Afro House, Afro Tech, and now he's making house music. I think before you make that switch to house music, you need to kind of reel in your audience as to your next house music production. Be like, I don't know, you're in the studio, you're just testing some house tracks, you're listening to house music, or you're working with some house artists, so that at least you start to tell that story, you start to sell it, and people start to comprehend it before fully dropping a house track that is completely disaligned. You know what I mean? So, and this is what Diplo does. Yeah, he doesn't just go from I don't know, Major Laser to Hu Gail, you know, he'll show a story of him and Jugael hanging out, he'll tease something, you know. So you can kind of do it that way, which makes sense. I think I think that is where we are now, where it's like Afra House, you know, not as hot. I think it's still fine, but not as hot. You're gonna see people like Shimza hanging out with whoever, yeah. And that already, what that's doing in your brain, subconsciously, you're like, okay, Shimza's slowly doing this. And then, you know, when when the song comes out, it doesn't feel as abrupt or misconnected. I think I think the another interesting example that comes to mind is Carnage to Gordo. So he was like, you know, rap music, producer, trap music. That's a good example. And then I mean Gordo now, Gordo, I think is just a producer, obviously, because he does you know, Drake stuff, and then he does tech house, and then he does all this kind of like crazy stuff. But he has a brand, right? But I think recently I just remembered it. Did you see the murder, murder on the beat thing? Maybe. Remind me. You know, murder on the beat, and it's not nice. You know that guy? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So just this past week, I think he he put out a house music track. Yeah, but we're not surprised by this, man. Are we surprised that people are gravitating toward house music? Like murder on the beat, he could just isn't isn't that a I saw Prosper drop that track a few times. Yeah, so it's yeah, there you go. I it's Murder on the Beat and Prosper. Yeah, it's it's a Prosper Collab, right? Exactly. Prosper collab. Why why would a Murder on the Beat start just be a DJ? DJ producer pretty much the same thing nowadays, right? So there's so much money. If your Murder on the B start dropping tracks like that, press a few buttons, play. Like this is this is the industry now, this is the market, this is what people want. 50 Cent. He's doing a DJ set at Pasha. No way, is he actually? Yeah, he's doing a DJ set at Pasha. 50 Cent is gonna be at Pasha, I think in a few weeks or very soon, very soon, 50 Cent is gonna be at Pasha performing. Like house music, electronic music is the biggest thing. Bro, I am very curious how that's gonna go. I mean, I just from his selection what he's gonna play. That's interesting. Bro, I'm sure like nothing is off limits now. Yeah. When I when I saw that French Montana Hoo Girl track, which again, that wasn't that surprising. Yeah. But if you're Drake, Drake did did house music on on the previous album. This is this is the opportunity now for a lot of rap artists, hip-hop, whatever artist you are. Yeah. People people just love DJs and house music, and it's a great space. Like it's crazy. It's not it's not our podcast or you know, to have this conversation, but you know, I'm of the opinion that rap has died. I think the rap rap hip-hop is kind of come and gone. Say what you want. But uh, it's not what it used to be, so I guess it does make sense that people are gravitating toward business. It's not what it used to be, mate. And I was listening to a podcast about this, and it was like it's changed so much that you've got a select few of like the Drake's Kendricks at the super, super top, right? But then the difference between them and like a little baby or 21 Savage is huge. It's almost like going from like number one to number 11, or number one to like number 20. You know, there's there's no one, two, three, four, five, you know, there's nothing in between. That's how big the the difference is. But with that same uh analogy that I just used, house music would be somewhere in that middle. Yeah. And I think as well, the thing, like the thing with house music, I've always said is like there's so many layers of tiers at the moment, right? The the A tier is like super high, and even like you know, the Francis and those kind of guys, like they're still not at like the AA tier, because you know, you take like the the top, like probably like a Fred again. I don't know. That's that's you know, that's like arena level, and then you have really big clubs, and then you have the A-list small clubs, and you have the B-list small clubs, and then you know, your your tour Southern Africa or your tour North America, and then it just goes like you know what I mean. So there's just there's so many layers and opportunity in the touring game. Of course, very competitive naturally, because you know, I can go buy a controller, you know, today. I got Ableton on my laptop, and by the end of the day, I'm a DJ producer. You know what I mean? So it's like, you know, I think also back in the day with rap, you need a studio, you need a producer, you need an engineer, you need like a whole team, right? But yeah, even now with AI. AI too, yeah. You can make you can make you can make a rap song. Prompts in the vocal whenever you want. But going back to the question for the dis this discussion, let me turn it back to you. So you just released the track. Afra house track. It's doing okay. But the market, would you say this is the sound that the market wants? Do you not care what what what is your view on the sound you released last week? Look, I really like the track. It's very personal to me in the sense that I spoke about this last time, but it's a bridge between my two, I guess, childhood upbringings. South African being the house side, the vocal, which I wrote the lyrics for. Um the lyrics for the for the for the track, too, is an Afrobeat inspired vocal, and it's about Lagos, Nigeria, right? So for me, I don't care. I love it. It speaks to me, it's personal. On a macro level for the market, do I did I know it? Do it, did I think it's gonna be the biggest track, or you know, did I have a chance of it being the biggest track? I would have said no if you had asked me pre-release, right? I'm pleased with the numbers, got some good playlist ads, but I know deep down that it's it's kind of niche, and I think even just for Afro House, you know, it's an Afro House release within the Afro House sound, it's not catered toward what is you know most popular or streaming, it's different. So so I knew that. But going forward, I'm I'm at the beginning of my artist, you know, phase of my life where I'm releasing music, and my approach to start is like I just want to make music I like that I can put out, and if it resonates, it resonates. If it doesn't, it doesn't, right? And I think that's the advice that what a lot of people say, and this goes back to the conversation about blondish and maz and mochak and those guys, is like they're just themselves, right? Personality, content, but then I think your music also needs to follow that theme of just being yourself, and you know, you should like I think there's an audience for everyone, right? Absolutely, 100%. No, I think it's a it's a it's a good conversation to touch on. Yeah. Because I think the the beatport Afro House currency isn't as strong as it was, right? So although you might be beatpour top 100 and Afro House, those sales numbers aren't the same as the house, as the melodic house, as the indie, very different cell numbers. So as someone who, you know, say, as an example, you're an artist that's trying to get management, you're trying to get more bookings, you're trying to play the game, and playing the game is not just music that I like and I want to release. How do you position yourself in a way that attracts attention from promoters, managers, etc., etc.? Because now people want to hear talk to you. Now people want to hear it's a great question. I mean, I I don't have the answer to that. If somebody had asked me on the street and said, hey man, do you have any advice? I would say there's still a market for your kind of music, right? If we're talking about Afro House, tech, you know, gum or whatever, go and have conversations or try to get into conversations where that market exists, right? So hit up some people on Instagram, you know, lower level producers, DJs, what are you up to? Can we collab? What are you doing? Can you introduce me? Who do you know? I know this. And just try to build a network with people where your sound will resonate. And it might not be where you live. You might have to, you know, cross-border. But we got the internet, man. It's been around for ages. So try try and do something like that. You know, don't just spray and pray. Or, you know, oh, I hope my reel does well, or I hope it's streamless. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. I think I don't think we have an answer, but I think the the important thing to do is almost like just cut out the noise. Yes, of course, you're gonna pay attention because everyone's on their phones and people keep track of everything and and they stay updated. Yeah. But just just make music, make tracks, stay busy, and then once you truly feel strongly about something, send it out. If you get support and you get more confident, you know, really work through that process. I think I think that's there's not an answer there, but it's almost like a long tail answer. Like it's almost like there's a process to it, which has always worked, right? Stay make tracks, stay in the studio, stay humble. When you feel good about something, send it out. If you get good support, boom. You know, it and that and that doesn't relate to any genre or any specific sound. It's just stay in it, pay attention to stuff, but don't let it affect you too much. And yeah, yeah, there you there you have it, guys. Moving on to something else I want to talk a little bit about because I think it's so impressive, man, is the 360 experience that Adam Port is doing, right? So we saw it most recently in Serbia, right? Yeah. So I don't actually understand how that works. If you have eight CDJs, how do you think it works? Let's talk it out. How do you think it works? So I think I think it's like it's a live, obviously you're you're mixing live beat matching. So you have, you know how like your CDJs, your four CDJs are synced, you can see, you know, you see the the lines and you you beat match. But I'm assuming that that beat match, it goes back to old school where you're listening on the other side, you you listen, and then you're bringing the song in up on the other side, bringing it down on the other side, and then there's not that sync, so to speak, that your that your CDG is your CDJs would have like in a four-deck setup. I think I think it is. I think it's it doesn't matter if one's CDJ is down the street, if one's there, as long as they're connected, you can still see the sync, right? So you think like all eight are but then how does Yeah, because then it's just eight channels, eight, but if they're still synced through an Ethernet hub, right? That's what you need, and then you they're all just synced up. Yeah. Unless, and then listen, he's a experienced DJ. Maybe he's just going by ear, but I'm sure they've optimized it to a level where no unsyncing or no you know missed beat matching can happen. I wonder. I think I think I think it's pretty sick. I mean, like I think it's about time. No, I love it, I love it. Because it it nullifies the backstage culture, it nullifies that fucking those negative moments. And listen, I love being backstage, like I like it, I get it, but at a lot of kind of music events, it's been an issue. But it looks so sick as well, man. It looks fucking crazy, you know, to have that. People are just vibing, he's up there doing his thing. Unreal man, unreal. And and always kind of music, bro. Always kind of music doing something different. And we only talk about the three guys, but I would love to speak to the team behind and yeah. Not even understand how these things come about, but they need their flowers too, man. They need production team, kind of music, production team. Fucking killers, they're crazy. They need they need their flowers because they they get it right. Yeah, they do. They do. And I mean, like, I think it's I think it's uh maybe it's more a question I could ask you. Do you think that it was time for kind of music or at least within the realm of kind of music to s to be f to need to do something different? Like, do you think it was a a question of that, or it was like, yeah, I just think this is dope? I think with kind of music, a lot of the times they're always gonna sell out and they are successful. Yeah. But there was a there was a risk of kind of this churn and repeat and the experience being not being prioritized, which you could see when you went on TikTok after a show and negative comments and things like that, right? Where yeah, fans felt like they were not taken care of and the the experience wasn't there. So you can be smart about that. You get rid of backstage, you get rid of certain things that allow for a totally different experience, like a 360, right? If you have a 360 that no one else does, that conversation alone is gonna just X out you know certain comments and certain conversations, right? Because it's 360, you're gonna be like, oh man, this is crazy. This I've never experienced this. So when you've never experienced something, you can't say that it's bad. That's a good point. That's a really good point. I think as well, like something that pisses me off. I I love kind of music. I mean, like, you know, Afro House and all the shit that people say in our space, whatever, man. But I think they're some of the coolest artists of our time. I hope they stick around for a long time. But you know, when I see comments like this music puts me to sleep, and like those kind of things, I feel like people nowadays it's just like it's a trend to hate on them as well, right? It's not like warranted most of the time. I think they're just fucking bored, man. No, I think I think it's not even about I don't even think it's about the music that they play, it's more the crowd. I mean, we talked about this before. I think it's the crowd at Connie Music. You know, in in our space, I might be wrong about this, but the conversation about phones being at events and phones being a problem. Really accelerated with kind of music, I feel. Might be I might be wrong. I agree. No phones, parties, all this stuff. Like that, that's that was a huge conversation in you know in the past two, three, four years because of kind of music. I think. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I I think I think I'm I'm I'm I stand correct here. Yeah. And that's the crowd, that's the crowd's fault. That's not kind of music's fault. Like kind of music can do nothing about everybody being on their phone and and and and recording. But it still happens, whether it's kind of music or other artists, like people are going to be on their phones and they record. When I went to Frankie Risardo two weeks ago at Pasha, everybody's on their phones. Yeah. And I mean, and it it happens like, you know, there's a fucking street performer, you know, you know, small scale, and it it's fucking sick, right? And then you don't just stand there and watch now, you you take out your phone and you're like, yo, this is I gotta do it. Let's let's let's this is gonna put you in the spot. Right. Okay. So he's done a 360. No phones parties. What other disruptive ideas in the DJ event space could people explore? Oh my god. Something like disruptive, something disruptive. And I'm sure like most things have been done, but what what maybe what do we need to see more of? I like I like the 360. The 360 thing is sick. I like something I like that I haven't experienced it, but I think is a cool concept. Is the it's similar to the 360 experience, but where it's two DJs kind of facing off on each other, and it's like a DJ battle, right? So you got like that guy over there has his four decks, that guy over there has his four decks, and I guess they're synced. I've seen videos, I think that's a cool idea I'd like to see more of, and then instead of like a B2B, it it is kind of a B2B, but it's like it's a face-off, you know what I mean? Face off, yeah, yeah, yeah. Any ideas? A versus I can't I can't think of many, man. I feel like yeah. The 360 was was one thing that I was always like, why don't why don't we just do that? Why don't you just put the DJ the decks in the middle? Yeah, and it's like revolving and it's just you know a 360 experience. That that's always something that I thought about. Which is cool. I feel like most things have been done, man. What else is there? B2B, face off, 360. If I went to an event today, what would just wow me? I think I think from my side, like I'm still impressed by certain like sit stage design elements that you see in like pop culture performances. You know, like controversial as he is, I think Kanye West's current stage design with the with the earth, you know, the LED, I think that's insane. You know, so beyond just a screen with visuals, I I'd want to see some more thought into just stage design production beyond you know, a sign or like visuals, lighting. I think there's space for that. I mean, the music exists in nightclubs for the most part, so how much can you do? Space budget. But I think there's way more to be explored on that side. No, for sure. And and it's gonna be a simple idea, right? The the the best ideas are simple 360. Yeah, simple. Face off is interesting, face of you know, similar to the versus, right? I'm not sure if you used the words the versus the ha the rap, hip-hop versus yeah, that's a good one, actually. But no, I think I think, yeah, let's let's let's simmer on on on that one. Before we go, man, before we go, all right. We talk about genres and how the industry is changing a lot on this podcast. So I'm gonna name ten genres for you. Okay. Right? There's the ranking of 10. So you got 10 spots to rank these. Okay. I'm just gonna randomly name the genres and you have to accurately industry popularity, right? Yeah, yeah. Industry popularity. Okay, gotcha. Current state of the industry, rank these genres, right? No particular order as they come into you, but you have to accurately rank them. Yeah. Okay, first one. Disco, new disco. Up and coming six. Deep house. Fell off nine. Melodic house techno. Three of house four I'm on piano. House two, that's good too. Drum and bass. Man. Who listens to drum and bass, man? Indie dance. Five. Tech house. I give tech house one. I think right now, number one. Lastly, dance pop. Ooh. What do I got? I think. So it's the only one I have left is seven, right? I guess seven. Shit. Nice, nice, nice. Guys, that was episode 21. Everyone is a DJ. Thank you for tuning in as always. Please don't forget you can get our merch, Club Record merch, on our website, clubrecord.com. Please like, subscribe, leave a rating, and see you back next week, Tuesday. I know we were late by a date this week. Apologies for that. Next week we'll be on time. Thanks for your patience. Thanks for listening.