Introducing Blu Jemz

Introducing:Blu Jemz

Heard about Blu Jemz a while ago from friends and have been curious for some time. Did some researching about him, noticed this guy knows his music and been doing what he does for a minute. I give props on his work ethic to keep things innovative and enjoyable. Blu Jemz took some time with us have a sit down via the intrawebs to discuss what he is up to these days. He is currently on tour and just came back from Russia. He'll be playing on 8 October for his Beat Machine tour at the Beauty Bar in Austin Tejas among other spots.


What are you doing right now besides typing and reading?

Sitting in the airport listening to people bash Obama behind me and Gadhafi really lay into the general assembly in front of me on CNN. I forgot my headphones and it's really killing me, i never listened to people at the airport before, what assholes. I would buy some over priced headphones from one of those Sony vending machines right now if I could.

Do you currently have any nights in New York right now and what would some expect to hear when walking in?

Right now I'm only doing one monthly part on a consistent basis. Its called Boys On Film and I do it with my friend Lloyd-Ski. We only play 12"s that were made in the 80s, whether it's new wave, rap, house, pop, whatever you have to have the 12" to play it. Before Serato we had all beome these 12" fiends, like all we wanted was to have the original 12" of the song, cause the mix is usually cooler (not always) and the sound quality is a lot better than LPs.

I read that you have a little bit of a hip hop back round somewhere, what have you done in the past and any plans to move forward with any of it?

Yeah I used to be in a group called SBL. Looking back it was some backpack shit, but at the time I never saw it like that. When we finally got the chance to put out records (2000) rap music had become sucky. Like either you could be a "jiggy" raper who talks about nothing or a "backpacker" who talked about how wack jiggy rappers were. All people cared about was battling or $, cash, hoes. We were weirdo's and our music was always kind of cerebral an there just wasnt any room for that any more so we stopped.

Who are the Hardy Boyz and what future plans do you have with them?

Hardy Boyz started as just me and my two friends going home after a party and making a song. We never thought of it as anything more than that. But than of all the music we played for people those were the songs people were reacting to the most. Than turntable lab wanted to put out some Hardy Boyz so here we are working on an album. I would call it New Wave Italo rap.

What production work are you focusing on right now, any plans for some remixes?

I just did a remix for my boy Amp Live's new song which i'm pretty happy with. I do have other shit i'm working on but remixes take me forever so who knows if they will ever get finished

How was Russia?

Moscow was crazy it's like the richest city in Europe or something. I ended up having breakfast in my hotel the first morning only to figure out later that it cost me $40. It was worth it tho because they had caviar and a harp player. In general Moscow was crazy (clubs stay open till 6am) tho and NOT dangerous at all as most think.

What’s the most cinematic party you’ve played at?

I guess when I used to DJ at this really "hip" club in LA called Teddys. Every actor in LA would come thru, but what made it cinematic was just everyone was dressed so slick. Like if you were to watch an upscale party scene in a movie. It was unreal.

Notice that you are going on Tour for the Beat Machine Tour soon in the states. What are the tour stops, who is on it and what’s the concept behind it?

Well I put together this compilation for Scion of different producers who's beats i always was a fan of. Two of the guys on the comp are my good friends (ge-ology and Waajeed) and to me they're a little slept on for there production. So I got a little sponsorship and decided to take them on tour with me. Basically its gonna be like dance parties that are grounded in the beats and electronic sound. Both of them are some of my favorite DJ's and know how to turn dance floors out.

In your free time from music land what do you enjoy partaking in?

Tennis although I haven't played in a while. I like to pretend like one day my friends and I will make a movie so we talk about that all the time.

What are some movies that you are enjoying from now and the past?

I just saw La Dolce Vita recently and that put me into a Fellini phase, that film is just so cool like you don't even have to put quotation marks around the word "cool." I also really like District 9. I thought any movie that puts aliens in Africa can't lose.

Who or what is your favorite monster?

I wanna say Animal from the Muppets, but that doesn't seem right.