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Chromeo & Spank Rock :: Tales of madness, mayhem and matching outfits with dance music's rappiest new wavers

By URB

05/31/07 :: URB 147

Few folks spend more time in the club than Spank Rock MC Naeem Juwan and Chromeo’s Dave 1 and Pee Thug. All those hours have culminated in Spank Rock laying down one of the hottest live shows in hip-hop—hipster or otherwise—while Chromeo’s second album of party jams is ready to drop this summer. URB got the guys on a three-way call from Philly, Montreal and Paris to tell some tales of nights out, past and present.

URB: When was the most recent night you guys went out?
Dave: Pee still goes out a bit. In Montreal, he’ll go out and catch whoever is coming to town. I’m in Paris, and I’ll go out if we have some friends DJing. You know a lot of it has been just us DJing and doing shows. That’s kind of what becomes going out.
Naeem: I go [out] all the time, but it is nice to get paid to go out. You know my mom had me in the club; she gave birth to me inside the club. It’s like my home.

URB: Your mom gave birth to you in a club!? That’s pretty fucking out there.
Naeem: It’s Baltimore, but whatever.

URB: Have you guys ever seen something like that?
Dave: I’ve seen people create babies in the club, but not give birth.
Pee: That’s a little bit intense.

URB: Everyone’s seen people making babies in the club but me?
Dave: Ever been to a rave!? In Montreal, they had these big raves, and my little brother [A-Trak] used to DJ. There was a girl giving this guy head, and there was a circle around them—a break-dancing circle. The guy was wearing no shirt.

URB: Naeem, did they have that in Baltimore?
Naeem: I heard there is a huge rave scene in Baltimore but I wasn’t familiar. I was checking hip-hop and Baltimore club music. It was like a ghetto rave, I guess. Like rave without the ridiculous outfits, without the E.

URB: When did you start going?
Naeem: They used to have a high school night and then the 18-and-over nights and the 25-and-older nights.

URB: They broke it down that hard on age?
Naeem: They really did, man. I guess from poor parenting in Baltimore, the parents were still going to the clubs. They didn’t want to see their 14-year-old daughter on the dance floor.
Dave: That’s how Montreal was because you could legally go out when you were 18, so by 16, everyone was going out. Pee and I used to have color-coordinated matching outfits, and we’d have dance routines and stuff. It makes us seem really old, but when we were going out, it was like acid jazz.

URB: Once you started working, did the dynamic of going out change?
Naeem: It gets better because people start giving you all your drugs and alcohol for free. So you don’t have to save up to go to a party. Plus, they let you get away with more shit. People are very forgiving when they know who you are.