Genr8 got his start in Miami, Florida and has made his way to California to pursue music. This interview has shed some great insight into the career of a DNB dj, producer and lover, as well as professional audio engineer. Read the interview, download the mix (tracklisting at the end of post) and enjoy.

1. You’ve come a long way since your early days DJing in Miami. What has motivated you over the years to continue to push music, particularly drum and bass?

Well I have to be honest and say that most of my motivation to keep at this music was in much part coming from my ego for a long time. I wanted to prove my self to all those I perceived to be haters of what I was doing or where envious. in retrospective, I realize that I might have created much of this in my own head. At the same time I always doubted my abilities so I saw it as a challenge to improve upon them and that kept me always going back to it. At first I chose to join crews for mainly two reasons. One was because I did not want to ruin my reputation by putting out potentially bad music with my name on it. Ironically some of my best tunes to date came from those collabs.

The second was a more positive one in that I really enjoyed having other people to bounce ideas with. It made for a funner experience most the time. DNB is a very competitive and territorial form of music and so I was attracted to that aspect in that it gave me the chance to put my talents to work and feel superior to others. I feel as though most of the people around me kind of had the same affliction and in big part that has led to a scene where most producers do it for egotistical reasons and we have ended up with a big “circle jerk” situation where nothing moves forward as a whole. I also feel that most people that have stepped out of the game bitter cause they can’t follow their passion, and actually have realized all this and decided to not follow in this nonsense and move on with their lives. I, however, was lucky enough to have an audio career that has always allowed me to keep at it as a hobby most of all even though it is my principal passion. I now make music because I want others to feel that rush of positive energy that I get when I’m making it. I have an affinity for it and think it would be unfair to me to not channel that through, I feel its more important than ever to keep pushing the sound in a time when there are many things working against it. We are souljahs! There is no giving up.

2. You’ve had tunes released via the Evol Intent label, Craze’s Cartel Recordings and Dieselboy’s Human imprint. How does it feel to achieve production high enough of caliber to be played by some of the biggest names in the industry?

Back then it was a great accomplishment for me and it def gave me a good insight into the quality of my music back when I doubted it all the time. The blessing of all these people that I highly respected on my music gave me the drive to keep at it. At that point I knew I was at least doing something right, hehe. And since I’m just spillin’ it like it is, I will admit that all these accomplishments gave me a false sence of glorification. In other words my head got big, lol. I now stand humbled by the oportunity to keep working with some great individuals and look forward to working with many others in the future for the benefit of greater contribution to the movement.

3. What do you have coming in the pipelines release wise?

Several things in the works. I’ve got two tunes coming out on Skynet’s Nvision for a digital compilation titled “Edge of Expansion” due out early 2010, I believe there will also be a 12″ sampler for this with one of my tunes along one other tune from the comp. The Big Riddims release will be out in December of this year and it will be my first solo 12″ . I also have several tunes in the works with the Koldfront outfit for their Saints & Sinners label to be released sometime next year. Just finishing up a massive colab with Legion out of Nashville titled “devil with aces”, which is getting some serious consideration from a few heavyweight labels, fingers crossed on that one .

On the dub front I just released a tune in another digital comp on Sub Pressure Records titled Sub Pressure Vol.1, due out any day now. There’s also a 12″ on Basshead’s sister label Black Sheep Beats slated for release next year. I am still working on material for P51 but so far I’ve only been able to make one tune titled “Regressions” that Gridlok had approved of. So it’s in standby until I can hammer out some more P51 worthy music, hehe.

4. You’ve got a tour coming up in December to push your forthcoming Big Riddim release. Where can we plan on seeing you play?

So far it looks like this:

Dec. 12th – Seattle
DEC. 14th – Nashville
Dec. 17th – DC
Dec. 26th – Miami
DEC. 27th – Tampa
Dec. 28th – Orlando
Dec. 29th – NY

I am def still open to take more dates that could work around these.

4. Are you producing anything non-DNB wise?

Yea man def. I got into a little dubstep frenzy last year from wich several tunes where born and are slated for release soon. I also have been delving into traditional house music with a touch of dnb influence with my good friend Laniakea here in Hollywood, and a solid batch of tunes had come out of that which we are still working on finishing and shopping around.

6. Any advice for aspiring producers and engineers?

Well, im an open book. I do sermons for a living so I could sit here and write for ever about what I’ve learned in my journey so far. But I guess just make sure you are doing it for the right reasons and not becasue you wanna be cool and hip and fit in. Do some soul searching and there you will find the gift that will make your stuff different from any one else’s, and I’m not talking about being a total odd ball either, as in dnb its really easy to fall off do to being too different. At that point you become uncompatible with the rest of the popular jams you would be mixing your tunes with. It must stay within certain guidelines in order to stay in that pocket where it still dnb and not some other experimental genre. Also don’t try and make the best tune on earth every time, this will be your downfall. Just make a tune that moves you inside and dont stress over how others will feel about it. Keep pushing the envelope, this music is in large part about forward thinking while at the same time paying homage to your roots.

GENR8 WINTER 09′ PROMO MIX TRACK LIST

Download

1.BLOKHE4D – LOOSE CHANGE
2.PROLIX – THROWDOWN
3.C4C – PHYCHOSIS
4.GENR8 – KONKERDEM
5.NC-17 & KC – BUG SPRAY
6.GENR8 – TREACHEROUS WOMAN
7.BTK & JUMPAT – NO JUSTICE NO PEACE
8.STUNNA & SUBZ – NIGHTSHIFT
9.BTK & RESOUND – BLACK SEAGULLS
10.GENR8 – DOORS OF CHANGE
11.ATLANTIC CONNECTION – ECHO THEORY
12.GEIN FT. KJ SAWKA- BREAK THE ENEMY
13.KRYTERIA – DRIVE BY
14.THE UPBEATS – TOR
15.GRIDLOK – RADAR
16.NC-17 & NUESENCE – THE KEEP
17.BTK – MY SOUL FOR YOUR LOVE
18.A-SIDES – SCORPION
19.GENR8 – DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR
20.SPINOR – SAVAGE
21.GENR8 – STARBORNE