United by the same vision and drive, the Rub DJs are the perfect
formula created through three different mixing styles. With their
wide range of music, from 60s funk and soul to new house and club,
they have established their name around the world through their hard
work and dedication.
Formed in July 2002, this DJ crew is comprised of DJ Ayres, DJ Cosmo
Baker, and DJ Eleven. Their diverse techniques are naturally combined
with or without a planned structure on stage or at the studio creating
mixtapes. “It’s like a system of checks and balances,
where if one dude is playing too weird, or too predictable, when
the next guy is up, he will bring back towards the middle,” says
DJ Ayres, founder of the group who is characterized by his smooth
and fluid sets. “I usually do pretty long blends, especially
compared to most hip-hop DJs in New York, because when I started
learning how to mix, I was doing hip-hop, house, 80’s, disco,
reggae, and all types of shit.”
DJ Cosmo Baker, who was the last member to join the group, says
he is a great equalizer. “If one of the guys wants to go to
left field and another wants to play a little too conservative, I
end up smoothing the transition between the two out.” As a
house and hip hop DJ, he combines techniques from both playing styles. “I’m
from Philly and we have a very distinctive style of mixing. It’s
very dynamic.”
In his mixes, DJ Eleven creates very interesting transitions. “When
I’m DJing a party, I play records very, very fast, and am always
going for the crowd’s jugular. On mixtapes, I take a different
approach and try to mix cleanly.” Some of the mixtapes, he
had released are Best of the Bay, The Best of M.O.P., J.A.Goods,
and Ebony and Ivory.
While creating mixtapes, the Rub DJs work to find the fine line
between music that is engaging but still a little deep, so it's not
played out to the listener, but also not so esoteric that people
lose interest. The Rub DJs mixtape collection includes the
live-recorded series CDs at Southpaw, The Rub, their biggest seller
so far, It’s the Motherfucking Remix series (1,2.1,2.2, and
2), and the west coast tour CD, The Rub: Back to Cali. According
to the Rub DJs, It’s the Motherfucking Remix: Volume 1 was
groundbreaking as a CD that was all blends, but not on some ironic “mashup
shit”. “It really sparked things for us as far as putting
our first records out as The Rub, and got us a lot of attention. To
an extent it also pigeonholed us as "Mash-Up" dudes to
some, but fuck it, I think we've finally dispelled that 2 years later,” DJ
Ayres says.
For them, the mixtape game plays a very important role in their
career. With all of their releases, “they are constantly in
people's ears, and as soon as one starts to get a little old we're
hitting you with another one,” DJ Ayres says. “It keeps
our bills paid too!”
Recently, the Rub DJs were in tour through Europe promoting their
newest mixtape, European Tour. This new disc features classic old-school
rap, funk, and disco with new hip-hop, hyphy, Baltimore club, and
reggae. “A lot of hip-hop crowds in the US like what’s
on the radio, or BET, and in Europe they are a bit more up for anything.
On the other hand, in a lot of European countries, they haven’t
been listening to hip-hop as long as we have in the US, so they don’t
know as much of the music, and what is ‘classic’ to them
is a lot newer than what is ‘classic’ to us,” says
DJ Ayres. However, he mentions that in some countries like England,
Germany, and Sweden, they are intensely into music, and will know
more about obscure stuff that you could never play to a big room
in the US.
All this success the Rub DJs enjoy is a hard mission to accomplish,
especially when there are so many DJs stepping on your toes to play
their mixes in the hottest clubs and parties, and have the best-selling
mixtapes. “I know a lot of DJs in the city who have more skills,
or more presence on the mic, or more energy than me — DJs who
may never get the opportunity I got through The Rub,” DJ Ayres
says. For him, the biggest challenge he faced throughout his career
was the transition of being an anonymous DJ to a very popular one.
But it’s not only about beating the competition; learning
how to the read the crowd is an essential task for a DJ. The Rub
DJs plan their sets at the club depending on the audience’s
mood. “You have to think of the arc of the night, and give
it some peaks and valleys, energy-wise, so the crowd goes for a trip
with you and doesn’t burn out. In New York, parties
last 6 hours, so that means about every hour and a half we will bring
it down to a slow burn for a little while, play some stuff for the
ladies, or some slow reggae or classics. We rotate the dance floor
some, to give people a chance to catch their breath, buy a drink,” says
DJ Ayres.
Likewise, according to DJ Eleven, it’s important to stay focused
on what’s moving the crowd. “Some of that is finding
the common denominator in a room full of people and some is letting
my ego go so that regardless of whether I like a song, I can play
it if I know it’ll work.”
In addition, DJ Eleven, who also works as a consultant for a label
in California called Skyblaze, explains that making contacts in the
industry and establishing good relationships with them is another
way to get to control crowds all over the world. “Shaking hands & kissing
babies six nights a week is a big part of it,” he adds.
Another obstacle in this industry is staying ahead of the curve
when everything changes so quickly due to technological advancements,
according to DJ Cosmo Baker. “With the Internet, a vast array
of music is readily available. So if everybody and their cousins
have access to the same records, it kind of neutralizes the magic
of playing it to a degree, and one is challenged to find new and
different creative ways to play them.” Also, it’s sometimes
a challenge to stay challenged. “When you have been involved
with some monumental events and occasions, it’s important to
not become desensitized. Not to say that I am, but sometimes you
have to be careful to not let the line between art/performance and
work get blurred.”
It’s the effort they invest to polish their craft, the prime
ingredient of their success. “I'm real focused and I'm
a workaholic. All I do for a living is DJ, so if I can't
at least do a CD a month then I feel like I'm not doing my job. I
would do more if I felt like I could get the packaging done and sell
enough, but for now I've kind of hit a saturation point where I can
do about one CD a month and a record every two or three months,
and the sales are still good, ” says DJ Ayres.
Being part of a DJ crew has helped them take their career to another
level. “As a team, we’re very like-minded when it comes
to music and business, and having two other people to rely on for
help, contacts, and to split work has helped us all immeasurably.
I’ve always enjoyed working with other people, and in Cosmo
and Ayres I found partners I respect, enjoy working with, and have
a great time with,” DJ Eleven says.
The Rub boys have performed over 30 cities in the US and Canada,
alongside Public Enemy, Fat Joe, Snoop Dogg, Red Hot Chili Peppers,
Slick Rick, Hollertronix, Mark Ronson, A-Trak, DJ Premier, The Donnas,
Death Cab for Cutie, and Grandmaster Flash, to name a few.
Currently, the Rub DJs are working on a mixtape series of Best Of
genres, such as house and reggae. “It's going to be all party
shit but a step deeper, so not like ‘Dancehall 101’ but
more like all the stuff you hear at a party that you don't know who
sings it,” says DJ Ayres.
The Rub DJs’ goal is to keep doing what they are doing, but
bigger. Releasing mixtapes, keep spinning “The Rub” party,
and visiting new countries while on tour are all to-dos in their
agenda. |
