Dirty is the new black

The Black Jungle Squad emcee and producer, Jeremiah Jae, is prepping the release of three volumes of his Dirty Collections. You may not have heard of his name before today but be sure he’s been holding it down on his own for a few years now. Today we have the premiere of the first installment and it’s dirty in the best sense of the word. But we’ll let Jeremiah explain that below. We asked the Chicago by way of California artist about his unique sound, the amorphous definition of fun, and more. Hit the jump for the exclusive stream.

Pre-order your digital copy HERE since the 7′ vinyl is already sold out.

What makes this series of EP’s so “dirty?”

The EP’s are selections of unreleased tunes made over the years, and some that didn’t make the new album that I still wanted to put out. The name comes from one of my aliases ‘The Dirty Collector’, which I got from my love for lo-fi music and sampling from different genres. ‘Dirty’ is a good thing to me when applied to music. Ol Dirty Bastard is one my favorite artist of all time and he really gave that name new meanings, which was something I thought about when conceiving a name. I wanted to put together something that sounds grimey, and I think it is just that.

A lot of your music samples tv shows and spoken word. It always makes it seem like I’m watching tv but your music makes for way better commercials. What is your purpose in doing that?

I put different textures and vocals samples in the music for different purposes. I think of music as art you can hear, with each layer making up this sonic painting. I like paintings that incorporate text and collage elements like Charlie Anderson or Jean Michel Basquait. Adding those samples sometimes helps complete the song, in the same way their use of text helps complete the images. There often is a context in the vocal sample I use on a beat, to the lyrics I write.

You describe an artificial kind of fun in “Fun.” What’s your idea of fun?

I think for everyone your idea of fun changes from childhood to teen years and so on. There are a lot of things I don’t find fun anymore and new things I thought I’d never find fun I am. But what’s fun to one person may not be fun to another person. Im pretty open about that idea, but Im not into all that YOLO, turn up stuff. Some people like living on the edge to have fun even if it hurts them or kills them, which “Fun” addresses a bit. I’ve had friends lose their lives doing something they thought was fun for the moment but ended up being negative. My idea of fun is more about the freedom to enjoy an experience in a positive way.

You rap about the sense of sight a lot (third eye, keep your eye on _____, etc.). Do you think that sight is the most important sense? Is there a life lesson behind this pattern?

The way I write raps is like an observer watching from different perspectives. Its like I’m a lens taking in the sights and experience and relaying the words to the listener. There is also the sight of the third eye, which in different spiritual practices means the heightened sense of perception beyond the physical plane. I’m interested in the metaphysical science of the eye and think both are important senses. Its something I like to shed light on and almost subliminally put in raps to make someone double take. The lesson is whatever you perceive it to be.

You have a very unique sound when it comes to beats. It’s a complete beat that flows with your lyrics but from beat to beat it sounds choppy. It’s like looking at a diagram of a human body but with half of it without the skin and under a microscope, so you can see the insides. What is your production process like? Is this a deliberate style you’ve chosen?

I like to start with laying down textures or find something I can build the percussion around. My process changes like every month though. I get inspired by new things and want to try something completely different from what I was just doing. I like to create different styles of music the may not flow well from beat to beat, but that are still connected thru the layers and process of finding complimenting or opposing sounds. I deliberately like to expose the griminess in a beat while at the same time dress it up and make it look nice. So what you get is like a beastly monster with high fashion taste.

Bryan Hahn (@notupstate)