Mad Mike interview
Posted Feb 20 2007
Where do you see the biggest problems/challenges and the most promising developments in your community? How is the situation in Detroit?We need our city and manufacturing leaders to travel overseas and
to realize what Mass Transit means to a city. We don’t have it and we have land locked communities, with land locked thoughts and values. There is no interaction unless you have the luxury of a car which a lot of people can’t afford. The situation is grey.While Techno and House still struggle in the USA, there is a big network of independent HipHop-Labels, where Indie-Labels shift up to a million copies without support from the Majors. Is there anything you can learn from those local independent scenes?
Techno & House struggle today because in the late 80`s when the U.K. discovered it? Many brothers believed that this "discovery" would help them in the US markets they were having some moderate "underground" success in. They believed that with The U.K. and Europe’s support this would give them the same promotional budgets Rap artists were getting here from Major labels in the states and that they would be able to "Make it Big" and eventually be signed to a major record label. Due to well documented historical reasons me and Jeff were skeptical.
Unfortunately what they didn’t know was that European Record Companies not only lacked the interest but they also lacked the muscle and experience to compete in the urban US market. So consequently companies who for a few thousand dollars would license the music with "WORLD RIGHTS" chose to not even try selling into our communities and still don’t to this day.
Instead they repackaged the sh** and sold hundreds of thousands of records into the U.K. & Europe only! An easy sell market we had already established! Totally neglecting the states! Of course the artists and DJ’s were financially benefited by increased demands for their performances across Europe and some as individuals have done well. But the dream of electrifying the inner city with hi-tech, sci-fi thoughts and dreams was negated and we haven’t recovered since.
There has never been any attempt by any of Detroit’s European licensors over the whole 20 year period to secure ANY radio time from a major station here in Detroit! Not even for Ritchie Hawtin!
I have often been accused of being difficult with European Record Companies as being racist or not liking white people. The truth is I would simply ask for something that would give back to our community from these people. A simple reciprocal deal ... something like for small companies a donation to a local charity or something. Maybe for a bigger company I would ask for US distribution and promotion of this music in urban communities and college radio. Some made the donations but all too often I would be faced with a common European question: "Those people don’t listen to Techno Music they only listen to Rap don’t they?" It was and is still one of the most difficult aspects of making this music. It’s as if we are smart enough to make this music but too f***ing dumb to listen to it.
Hip Hop never abandoned its original audience. It spoke to the hood first and it stays in the hood and expanded outward later which is beautiful! Detroit Techno and Chicago House never had time to root themselves as deeply into all the US cities. They were diverted to Europe at the height of their inner city influence. I can distinctly remember on Jeff Mills "WJLB Wizard Show" all three of those musics existed side by side. A style still carried on by Detroit’s mixshow jocks and Cabaret DJ’s to this day.
Many other factors also contributed. Booking agencies had a big hand in the transformation of this music! As more and more of our most talented PRODUCERS left Detroit to DJ abroad for the big money being offered. Less and less records were being produced. More and more was being learned about how to produce the sounds, beats and rhythms of techno first hand as many naive and friendly producers displayed their craft at clubs, studios and magazines to future competition that would soon coin them "Old School" or collaborate with them in hopes of jump starting their own careers. Booking Agency’s with no concern for these producers record labels musical output or their employee’s often booked these guys one year in advance! Leaving them "zero" time to produce music and more time for the world to catch up and study Detroit. Very few other than Jeff Mills, Ritchie Hawtin and Carl Craig have demonstrated the discipline for such schedules! And I know all three of those guys and they run the show ... not the agents!
And to be fair you can’t just blame the agencies there was a tremendous lack of insight on behalf of a lot of the producers and artists for allowing themselves to be manipulated this way. For me its especially painful to see people who are Sonic Pioneers reduced to mere entertainers and now struggling to survive waiting for some agent to send them a check when they used to write their own!
The lesson is: Detroit and Urban America’s loss was the world’s gain. The question is will we get anything in return? Maybe now when you ask why Techno and House are struggling in the USA you will have a clearer picture. It’s the same reason many places in Africa are struggling. Their sh** has been exported every f***ing where and they get guns in return! And guaranteed as soon as the product or minerals are gone … guess what?
We need hi-tech Dreams and thoughts in the hood even more now than ever because the technology gap is widening! I often wonder if any European artists hear me? Will they be as brave as their forefathers and try to establish their so called "advanced music" into the hood? How advanced can it be if only one small group of people understand and enjoy it? To truly put your music to the test, see if people in varying environments think it’s as good. Like the great Euro electronic bands of the 70`s & 80`s did! Hopefully some will try or maybe they will all accept the stereotype "Oh they don’t listen to techno music"? I’m certainly glad the Detroit pioneers didn’t listen to the old bullsh** stereotypes twenty years ago "Oh they don’t like music with too many beats in it" and "They can’t dance anyway" we would have all lost if they did.
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