DJ Rhiannon: DJ & Public Figure
A good friend of ours turned TFF on to a FAB DJ by the name of DJ Rhiannon who's HOTT on the scene and has everyone talking about her new single, Nasty Bitch. She has become one of our favorite femme DJ's and we had the luxury of interviewing her this week. This girl is AWESOME! Enjoy our interview and check out the link below!
The Fab Femme: Tell us a little about yourself. What kind of childhood did you have and when was the first time you remember really connecting with music?
DJ Rhiannon: My sister, parents, and relatives are all British but I was born and raised in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Apparently I was a really restless kid (sorry Mum). When my Mum and sister went shopping they would bring me along in a stroller. As soon as we entered a retail store playing dance music, I threw a fit until they unbuckled me and let me out of the stroller. I then proceeded to entertain the entire staff and clientele by shaking my little butt to the music. I was always a good kid, but I was always a bit of a brat as well. Can you imagine? ;)
TFF: That’s funny. Who were some of your role models early on in life and who do you look up to now as a more established artist?
DJR: I don’t know if I looked up to any particular people early on but I certainly looked up to music. It has always been a very inspirational force in my life. I have gone through many stages- I liked my parents’ jams (Santana, Beatles, Pointer Sisters…) I liked the dance tunes I found in Europe (Bjork, Olive, ATB…) I got into hip hop in elementary school (early Outkast, Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes…) I went through a rock and grunge stage thanks to hormones and highschool (Green Day, Nirvana, Bush…) and when I started buying vinyl in the late 90’s I was into breakbeats and funky house (Deee-Lite, Stanton Warriors, Krafty Kuts…). Nowadays I am all over the map genre-wise. I like almost everything. Music is cultural and I am a total culture buff. My favorite hobby is exploring new cities and discovering what moves their dance floors. DJing is one big social experiment for me. I love it.
A: Tell us about the new projects you’re working on. B: Where did you get the idea for “Nasty Bitch” from and are you happy with the feedback you’ve received so far from the ‘naughty bits’ music video for the song?
[Side note: I’m now officially cutting up your interview questions. Ha, obsessed with writing.]
A: I’m about to film another music video for an unreleased track called “Like A Slut” (somehow I doubt the title surprises you). It’s actually not an in-your-face song like the first two. It’s sensual, soft and bouncy, slightly tribal, and maybe even a bit emotional. Interesting track. Not intended to be a club banger -however I’m sure the remixing warriors will change that! I’m also in the early stages of planning a music video for another unreleased track called “Straitjacket”. That one is going to be fun. Beyond these projects, I’ve written and recorded two more tracks that I’m really excited about releasing. I can’t give away their titles yet but they are definite club-rockers. One is uptempo, fun, flirty, and a little rude (like always). The other is a hot 80 bpm hip hop banger that is guaranteed to drop booties to the ground …maybe even underground.
B: I wrote the chorus/bridge to Nasty Bitch (“Lick my butterfly, spread my wings, eat my bluebird, make it sing, sniff my tulip, nature calls, finger f#ck Niagara Falls”) while I was watching Borgore perform live in LA last December. Like the true lyricist nerd I am, I actually brought a pen and pad of paper with me to the concert. I loved everything about Borgore’s show and felt super inspired so the rhymes just started flowing. Nothing better than a grimy Dubstep beat blasting through a massive sound system to write dirty lyrics to! A few weeks later I wrote the two verses on the spot in the studio. Then straight from the page to the mic we recorded the whole song and voila! “Nasty Bitch” was born.
TFF: Ma’am, you are a RIOT. I love it. This question is from a FabFemme.com reader. Since your name is DJ Rhiannon, is it fair for us to assume that you’re an actual DJ? If so, tell us a little more about that.
DJR: Yes! 12 years strong as a DJ so there is much to tell about that career. My full bio can be found at www.djrhiannon.com but briefly, I started collecting vinyl in 1999 (wait, does that age me? We’ll just say I was a very young enthusiast), I worked three jobs to save up for a pair of Technics turntables in the summer of 2001. I spun nothing but vinyl for about 7 years, until the digital take-over was undeniable. Now I find that spinning CDs with CDJs is the most similar to spinning vinyl because there are no laptops and programs running which can sometimes be unreliable. I’ll rock Serato with turntables at spots that don’t have CDJs -and it’s certainly a quicker and more convenient way to spin- however CDs gives me that “real DJ” street credit because the beat-matching and mixing is 100% aural; there are no visual cues or shortcuts.
I also like to jump around and dance while I DJ so with CDJs I don’t have to worry about nudging the turntable needles off course. Currently I am trotting around the globe rocking dancefloors and loving every second of it. Being able to incorporate live rap performance into my DJ sets has been really fun and the response has been overwhelming. I am really excited to keep building and expanding my live show.
TFF: Growth is a beautiful thing. Name a few artists you would like to collaborate with in the future.
DJR: Diplo. Next question? Haha. I’ve been a huge Diplo fan for years so it would be a dream to create a song with him. In my opinion his flavor is so on-point. “Express Yourself” is still on full-blast in my car. Yummy! In the meantime, I am stoked to be working with Dem Jointz who produced the beats for “Nasty Bitch” and “All The Girls Do It” for me. He is a genius and a gem to work with in the studio. The official Clinton Sparks trap remix of “Nasty Bitch” is coming out shortly and I am suuuper excited for that! We played it at Blok Nightclub in Hollywood this week and it absolutely smashed the club. I’ll most-likely be honoring the track with a music video remix. I’ll also be making a new original track with Sparks’ producing partner DJ Shiny within the next few months. Ultimately I’d be excited to work with any enthusiastic producer with a big sound that’s not afraid to push boundaries.
I’m a huge fan of Major Lazer, Die Antwoord, Borgore, Peaches, Nicki Minaj, Tyga, Lil Wayne, Big Freedia, Drake, Rye Rye, Datsik, Lady Sovereign, Iggy Azalea, Kreayshawn, Azealia Banks, Dirt Nasty, and LMFAO. They are all well-established artists doing their own thing so a collaboration might be unlikely but if I ever managed to link up with one of them I would be thrilled.
TFF: Iggy and Peaches are two of my favorites. Are there any hardships you face being a woman in the music industry?
DJR: It is a very funny thing that. Bottom line, it is not possible to change the fact that I am a women in the music industry. So… I gotta play the game! Fortunately, I love it. I love all the bullshit, controversy, hardships and easyships that go along with being a female entertainer. Lovers, haters, masturbators… Bring it on! I have tons of life experience from traveling to different countries, taking risks, and being extremely independent. I attended university for five years to obtain a Double Major Bachelor of Arts Degree which was beautifully challenging. I moved to LA on my own as a foreign (Canadian) immigrant and battled my way through the industry to get recognized and obtain a work visa. For all of these reasons and more, at this stage in my life I feel incredibly grounded, positive, and ready for the world.
TFF: Last question, where do you hope to see yourself and your career within the next five years?
DJR: I’m not a fan of the five-year plan to be honest. My ultimate goal in life is to be happy and in-the-moment as consistently as possible. If I can do that, I don’t have to worry about the future. Take care of today and tomorrow will come -and it will be fantastic! Those are my mottos. Besides, what I want today might be very different from what I want five years from today so I don’t like to look that far ahead. Right now I am looking forward to upcoming things like my next studio session, my next music video shoot, and my next big show. If I ever feel overwhelmed I turn to meditation or literature by Eckart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, Rhonda Byrne, and Miguel Ruiz. They help me stay grounded, along with my phenomenally supportive friends and family.
MUSIC: WWW.SOUNDCLOUD.COM/DJ-RHIANNONTWITTER: WWW.TWITTER.COM/DJRHIANNONFACEBOOK: WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/VIOLENTLIPSDJRHIANNON