Dj Roc / Crack Capone

Planet Mu

DJ Roc, known to his mother as Clarence Johnson, was born and raised on the Southside of Chicago, known locally as the Low End. The "crack" in The Crack Capone refers to his style of production. Like an underground chemist, DJ Roc produces variant strains of Juke music, "crack" alluding to the synapse-snapping, potentially ankle-cracking manipulation of rhythms, and the sampling, hijacking and ultra-rhythmic micro-editing of the dominant forms of contemporary African-American underground and popular music into a style born and raised on the streets of Chicago. One of the most popular and respected DJs on the Chicago Juke scene, DJ Roc grew up listening to house music and was inspired to make people dance. In 2001, he began producing Juke via an introduction by DJ Darkchild to the production program Fruityloops. By throwing parties and playing his own tracks, Roc's popularity grew exponentially. He was instrumental in the formation of a group of DJs and party promoters called Bosses of the Circle which caught the attention of Chicago Juke legend DJ Slugo, who helped DJ Roc make his first mix CDs. It was his three-volume series of Juke City mix albums that broke his productions nationally and internationally. Over the course of The Crack Capone's 20 tracks, DJ Roc shows off his sparse, high-speed manipulations of rhythm, space and sound--from dancehall-style tracks such as opener "One Blood" or "Kill Da Bitch" to tracks with a heavy techno influence like "Make Crack Like Dis." Others mix smooth soul with double-speed tempos ("I Can't Control the Feeling"), or simply demonstrate more of a classic Juke ("Get Buck Jones" and "DJ Roc Symphony"). The Crack Capone is a massive album full of brilliant production and original ideas.

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