by jon bosworth jaxvillain@yahoo.com
"We're going to be there from noon until ten, so I'm going to try to bring as many records of different kinds that I can and represent independent and underground and good music. Stuff that is on the radio and that you already know and already hear and are already sick of, I'm going to leave that at home, but classic rap to funk to soul, we're just gonna cover all of the basics," said Prince Rainier of the Royal Treatment.
In no time flat (two months to be precise), the Royal Treatment DJ crew has taken over Jacksonville's DJ scene. Chaka Zulu, Triclops I, and Prince Rainier provide a wide range of hip-hop, reggae, and classics when they start spinning their vinyl collections for a party. At Summertime in the City they will be holding the event together, keeping the event pumped full of music, even when the live acts are changing up on stage, making it a seamless experience that will keep your ears from being bored for even a second. EU caught up with these three at Burrito Gallery to get a dose of the Royal Treatment.
EU: So in the lineup of the Summertime in the City Festival, what is your role?
TRICLOPS: We're pretty much the main DJs for the whole festival. There will be other people coming in and out, but we'll pretty much be holding it down for the night.
EU: Will you guys be spinning between all the sets?
TRICLOPS: Yeah. We also got guest DJs in. We got DJ Skeez from Kansas City and some DJs from Savannah, but as far as holding it down, you know what I'm saying, we'll be holding it down for the day.
EU: Is the vibe going to be similar to Hip Hop Hell with continuous music, because I know you DJ throughout Hip Hop Hell as the different artists come up and take over, is it going to have that feel?
TRICLOPS: Well, during the daytime it's gonna be a little more funk-oriented, you know with funk and breakdancing and upbeat type stuff and at nighttime just classic rap sets, you know?
EU: Who spins to the break dancing stuff?
CHAKA: Good question. (All Laughing)
TRICLOPS: We're just going to take turns. We don't really plan it out, we just sort of go with the vibe of the gig.
EU: So the lineup, is it going to be Snack Blues and then y'all?
TRICLOPS: Yeah yeah, we'll probably startup. We'll be the first ones to touch the tables for the day and just take it from there. There will probably be mad DJs there.
EU: Generally do you do record selection based on the night and the acts that are happening?
PRINCE: Every time we go out we play a range of things. It's never just one thing, since there's three of us, we all come from different places and have different influences, so when we come together as Royal Treatment, really it's like Voltron transforming, we've got all things considered. I'm rambling. What was the question. (All laughing).
EU: Where does the name Royal Treatment come from?
PRINCE: Interesting. That's a good story. Ian is one hell of a graphic designer on 1996 Microsoft Word, so there was like Helvetica font in all sorts of sizes and that was about it on this yellow Kinko's copied flyer and Chaka was like "hey, are there any of those flyers left over?" I said "No, but don't worry about it because Ian's going to redo it and give it the royal treatment. This is at TSI when we were DJing on a Thursday night, so he's a little drunk already and Chaka's like "What? The royal treatment? Is that like a new party?"
CHAKA: I thought it was someone that was on the flyer. I was like "that's a dope name." Prince agreed with me and we decided we should talk to Ian and try to rename the crew.
PRINCE: So I saw Ian outside coming around the corner and I was like, "let's start a crew," and he was like "D'oh! Royal Treatment. I'll be King Triclops."
TRICLOPS: It's good too because that's become our philosophy. When someone books us they get the Royal Treatment. We bring everything we need, all our Pas and turntables and setup and we really take pride in doing a real good job no matter where we're at, you know what I'm saying? We try to offer the Royal Treatment as a DJ service, you know?
EU: How often do you guys get booked out, outside of the stuff you put together, like Hip Hop Hell?
TRICLOPS: We met doing TSI every week together, so we've always got Thursday, regardless, and now we're starting to get good gigs. We've only been together as a crew for two months now, but we've been completely killing it for those two months. We got wine bar gigs, art shows, block parties, everything available, man. The work's been really coming in, you know? Some paid some not paid, but overall we're having a real good time with it.
PRINCE: We come and we destroy it and people there have a good time and then they know to look out for us next time. We did Hot Wet American Summer at TSI and that was probably the party of the year so far and I'm just glad we were part of that. There were DJs inside and then the regular DJs. Brendan invited us to play and it was not just the hip-hop heads that usually come out to see us, but the hipsters, the skaters, and whoever else came, saw that we can tear a party down. That's it.
CHAKA: Guaranteed to have something for everybody. With all of our different styles of music, someone's going to go away feeling good.
EU: Everything from cheese ball to dance hall?
TRICLOPS: Everything, dude. Between the three of us, there's everything.
PRINCE: For as much as we love classics and everything, you know classics, when we say classics we mean stuff that people already know and love, when we do it, it's like no one has ever done it before. I don't hear this kind of stuff, and I'm ringing my own bell here, but I don't hear the same kind of stuff coming from any other DJs or crews. When we do a party, that's it, it's the Royal Treatment.
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