For the benefit of new readers, I posted the following in 2008. They may be helpful if you are preparing questions to ask a company during an interview.
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"Resume" lady cartoon
(200) Questions job candidates may ask your company
AND
Extensive list of questions to ask interviewers
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I hope they make the interview process less stressful. Good luck!
Aaron LaCrate, a big-time DJ/hip-hop mogul, is an SU Alum.
Each Monday, 20 Watts is poised to feature a new exclusive artist interview! Here we present our WORDS OF THE WEEK!
PREVIEW: Aaron LaCrate’s MySpace and his website.
AUDIO HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
From the age of 10, Aaron LaCrate has been a prolific music talent from the streets of Baltimore and went onto launching his record label and clothing line, while also collaborating with Jay-Z, Lily Allen, The Cool Kids, Gorillaz and Mark Ronson–oh, and I did mention he went to Syracuse University? He’s been a secret famous alum until now, and the stories of his DJ days at SU are eerily familiar and fascinating. After rising to the top of the underground DJ/hip-hop scene, the fellow orange wanted to reach out to share his story.
20 Watts: Talk a little bit about being a young DJ in Baltimore when you were a kid…
Aaron LaCarte: It was great. It was nothing like it is now. There were no DJs back then, there were these electronic stores that sold records, stereo equipment and car stereos, so for me I had to assemble a mobile sound system. I had to go to the Goodwills and the flea markets, whichever way, I had the two different turn tables. It was really exciting back then because it was uncharted territory. There was no way to learn how to mix, no way to learn how to do anything, but to go on your own journey and find people that would like you enough to share that information with you. It was almost a very subculture thing. It was a testament to your personality and your character to how far you would get, in a lot of ways.
20W: You’re a ‘Cuse alum. What major were you, which year did you graduate and what kind of impact did Syracuse have on you? Also, what was the SU music scene like back then?
AL: I graduated in ‘97 and I was a speech-com major and a music industry minor. It had a huge effect on me because I was able to spread my wings there. It came at the perfect time because I got started with DJing when I was 9 years-old, so by the time I was 18 years-old, I had already moved into DJing in D.C. When I got up there [at SU], it started all over again. In Baltimore there’s nothing, I was DJing house parties, a few clubs, but there was still very little of a music scene in Baltimore. Growing up in Baltimore, being a hip-hop/graffiti kid, I was obsessed with New York. To be upstate with a bunch of kids from Manhattan in 1993, it was a great time to be up there. It was a great time for hip-hop.
20W: So back then, SU was really hip-hop heavy?
AL: Hip-hop was still very much an underground thing. It was a lot less mainstream than it is now. It was a little underworld of people on South Campus. I don’t know how it is now. There were the Schine parties and of course house parties.
20W: Where was your favorite place to perform?
AL: I had two radio shows. I had a show on WAER called “The Milkcrate Show.” That eventually grew into a whole bunch of other things. I used to really doing the south campus parties. They would have a garbage can with a trash bag filled with jungle juice. I don’t know what it was, pure grain alcohol and something else. I’d come in with my turntables and set it up on the kitchen counter. I liked that a lot. I also did a few fraternity/sorority parties. I was all over the place; I was usually opening up for whatever band came into town, like De La Soul or A Tribe Called Quest or Wyclef, I’d be the opening DJ. There was a big club called “The Spot”, which was one of the big night clubs on Gennessee St. There was always a Thursday night party where all the athletes went to, and I was in a lot of classes with those guys. [Donovan] McNabb would come and host some of the parties, so as a DJ, you got to meet all the coolest people on the campus.
20W: You have a record label and a clothing line. Did you foresee yourself being this kind if entrepreneur?
AL: Kinda, yeah. I was making t-shirts when I first started Djing, and my parents opened up a skateboard shop in our basement around 1988. We just basically sold skateboards out of the basement of our house. It was just the environment I grew up in–Djing, skateboarding and graffiti. It wasn’t all separate. A lot of kids go through it separately, but I stayed in all of it for quite some time. Eventually I started making my own mix CDs and selling t-shirts at shows I was DJing when I was 19 years-old. I had three or four lines before I graduated. I had to reinvent myself three or four times before I graduated college. If you look back on music careers and what its like to be in the entertainment business, you’re constantly reinventing, you’re constantly entertaining, so it was something I was destined to do since I was kid.
20W: It’s odd that SU has so many famous alumni, and yet I had never even heard of you until a couple days ago. It seems odd, doesn’t it?
AL: I’m just always going and going. I never even established contact. I never even let anyone at Syracuse to know what I was doing. I just ran into a girl in New York who works for Dr. Jay’s online retail, and she was like “you should make contact and tell them what you’re up to,” because she had just read my bio at the time. I’ve been doing a lot of big mainstream kind of things, but I’m still underground. I do it for the right reasons, I’m not doing it for the glory. I hope people are paying attention but you never really know.
20W: We just covered a show recently where MNDR performed with YACHT at Hamilton College. I know you’ve collaborated with her recently. What do you like about her?
AL: She comes from the underground music world–that’s her background. She built all of her own synths and all of her own drum machines, and I think she’s just a super original girl. She’s very similar to myself. She’s been out there, and she’s been doing it for the fun for a very long time. The momentum has built naturally and now she’s at this point where she’s confident and comfortable with who she is creatively. I’ve worked with her in the studio and I’ve been supporting her ever since she came to New York. I don’t know how much help she’s going to need very soon.
20W: What do you have coming up? Any new exciting projects?
AL: I just released the first HBO: The Wire clothing line, which is pretty exciting. There’s also a girl from Baltimore I just signed called Midstreams, a real strong-willed female MC. I just finished up her mix CD, which I’m really proud of. It’s going to up the floodgates for more of my production style, her as an artist, and the city of Baltimore–putting it on a creative level with a lot of other famous cities. Then I have my album coming out this year called Ignorant Heart. That’s going to feature MNDR, The Cool Kids, Mr. Vegas, and a number of new artists.
–Jett Wells
This just in….
I just want to say thank you to Diana Beard for this unexpected and delightful write up on her blog at DianaCouture.com. There are so many wonderful and creative people on Etsy , and it truly is a community. Many thanks, Diana. Peace out!
Marg (enjoying community and feeling humble) Catch the Diana Couture Interview!
So it’s been a good long while away from the blog and I wasn’t sure I’d continue with this project. But I’ve been reading, learning, and stumbling upon so much fascinating, inspiring stuff, that I feel I just have to share. Being home for the holidays sure was fun – there are two photos in this post from my time over there, just to add some visual fun.
Back in action here corresponds to being back in the classroom again. The new semester started two weeks ago and is off to a running start (expect some knowledge organization and interactive design related posts, as those are the course I’m taking). Three semesters into the LIS program, I’ve noticed one theme that the older generation of professors seem to always come back to – the death of the library and the profession in general. These kind of doomsday proclamations are fairly commonplace these days in industries/professions/communities traditionally tied to older media. But I refuse to buy into the doom and gloom. There must be new ways to keep information work relevant to people’s lives!
Periodic table of wonder: Part of the Griffeth Observatory in Los Angeles's exhibition on the stuff the universe is made of.
Not to long ago there was an interview in Library Journal between Jessamyn West and Jaron Lanier. In the interview Lanier talks about his criticisms of web2.0 and the changing role of the library in face of new media trends. I think Lanier does a good job at being realistic while describing his own re-envisioning of the library’s place in society. He challenges us to ask ourselves important questions:
If I were a librarian now, I would attempt to conceive of the library from an experiential point of view. I would say, “What is the experience that is missing from the agora, from the world out there, from the private home? What is the experience that’s missing that we need in order to be human, in order to think, in order to consider?”
His offered solution is great for its simplicity:
My own take on it would be that information availability in some sort of raw form is not a problem anymore, because of the Internet. It is for some people, as you well know; not everyone has Internet access or equal Internet access. Acknowledging all of that and just speaking in a very crude way that ignores [the digital divide] for a moment…if somebody has broadband at home, if they’re affluent, it doesn’t mean they have all they need. They still, in many cases, lack the time and space really to think in their lives. And, gradually, libraries will take on the role in civilization of providing that space. I don’t think the home will provide it anymore.
You can read the rest of the conversation between West and Lanier here, if you’re interested. As LIS students and professionals, we should all think about futures of libraries, but we shouldn’t let ourselves flounder in too much negative thinking. Both West and Lanier seem like good resources for some outside-of-the-box perspectives and forward thinking.
Musical ‘Hong Gil Dong’ of a national hero back over 500 years ago a group will be portrait by Super Junior members Yesung and Sungmin from the Republic of Korea on 2010 New Year’s first. “Right, I don’t want to lose this opportunity.” They said.
Yesung said, “The casting is very good. I have made new friends, and I always work hard.” He stated.
“In year 2010, I want to find things you can do a lot of variety and always wished I’d have a job,” He added, full of hope.
Sungmin said, “I will never lose hope, and will always stay healthy. The disease outbreak in 2009 gave a lot of sick people. But this year, we will give you a healthy smile.”
Source: 경제투데이, English Translation by Diana Timbol@sj-world.net
Keira Knightley’s pictures from the upcoming Elle are out, and my god she looks amazing like, I mean I know she’s pretty, but these pictures made me see her in a PRETIER light. more pics below. (click to enlarge)
