Tempo: mental

>> Pase Rock picks up the pace

INESCAPABLE: Pase Rock

by NARCEL X

MC, DJ, producer Pase Rock, a Cincinnati native now based in NYC, sports every music aficionado’s dream titles under his belt. He’s a record label owner (Fully Fitted), co-founder of one of the culture’s most renowned festivals, Scribble Jam, and successful international artist—he earned his stripes with Five Deez, released the solo LP Bullshit As Usual in Japan, turned heads with his track “Lindsay Lohan’s Revenge” and made his mark as hype man for Baltimore’s breakout unit Spank Rock. In short, he’s quick enough on the draw to keep up with the accelerated action of Spank, Blank and co. at this weekend’s birthday bash for Peer Pressure’s DL Jones.

Mirror: How did you get involved in the Cincinnati music scene?

Pase Rock: After I graduated from high school, I moved back into the city from the suburbs to go to college and do music with my group, Five Deez. Just through the university environment, there were a lot of guys around doing music. This was 1995, so the vibe back then was real good and interesting. We were all trying to push things as far as we could. A lot of these guys are still around and making good music too. Guys like Boom Bip, Mr. Dibbs, Dose One, Mood, Hi-Tek…

M: A lot of people end up boxed in when trying different things, but you’ve revamped yourself several times in your career. How would you define what you do?

PR: Everything has already been done. We’re not doing anything new, it’s just a new approach, an update of old-school hip hop. The new Jungle Brothers or whatever. Between me and Naeem [Juwan, aka MC Spank Rock], we have different styles, but I think they work well together. I’m a little more hip hop in the traditional sense than he is. Me and my crew had been trying to speed up the tempo in hip hop music for like four or five years, but my peers at the time were looking at us sideways, like, ‘Y’all are crazy with that fast shit.’ We didn’t care, we were doing our thing. I think the new audience has the potential to be large. I think what we’re doing is the new pop music.

M: What did the experience of touring with Spank Rock give you? The progression from being hype man to centre-stage MC must have felt natural.

PR: The number one thing it gave me was fun! Other than that, just being exposed to all of his fans and his audience—a lot of Spank Rock fans aren’t familiar with me or my music, so that was beneficial for sure. It all happened real naturally, so it was great. The East Coast party scene is the shit. I don’t want to be anywhere else other than New York right now.

M: What’s “Lindsay Lohan’s Revenge” about?

PR: It’s about Lindsay Lohan’s pussy, and the cult of personality and celebrity... basically, Los Angeles

M: Has she heard it?

PR: She can’t escape it. One DJ in particular told me he plays it for her every time he sees her at his club. I actually played it in her face at a party in Hollywood. She loves it. She even had it on her MySpace page as her chosen song.

With MC Spank Rock, Amanda Blank,
A-Rock and Hatchmatik at SAT on
Friday, March 30, 10 p.m., $15