Gutter ballin'

Baltimore club music might be a recent indie craze, but DJ Aaron LaCrate has been devotedly working the genre for years. Now in his late twenties, LaCrate was deejaying Baltimore dance parties at the tender age of ten when the distinctive club sound was just incubating. One of the originators of the gutter style, he’s seen B-more beats rise in popular esteem recently by way of rap acts like Spank Rock and DJs like Rod Lee and Scottie B.

That’s not to say that he’s been left out: LaCrate’s stellar rep earned him the opening slot on London rude girl Lily Allen’s first North American tour—her vinyl 7-inch with his remix of “Smile” fetches $300 on eBay. In the meantime, his mix-tape series, aptly titled Gutter Music, has been making the rounds. The series features tag-team collaborations with other urban-club-music icons like DJs LowBudget and Samir, drawing from the grimiest of a genre that already rests on the lowbrow. Gutter tracks are typified by hyperactively jacked bpms and sexually explicit lyrical samples looped into party anthems. We caught up with LaCrate by e-mail to get the dirt.

When did you first get exposed to Baltimore club music?
As a young DJ in Baltimore around ’88 or ’89. I was ten or 11 years old, already playing out in some of the most gutter areas of Baltimore, carrying 20 crates of records, my own speakers, amps, decks, wires—the works.

Your mixes generally draw from the grimier, dirtier side of B-more club music. Why are you drawn to the gulliest of a gully urban sound?
I was going to clubs during their heyday and playing the music so early on—experiencing that live and real club experience as a child—plus actually growing up on the streets of Baltimore during its most notorious crime era of the ’80s and ’90s. That affected me quite differently than most kids that discovered this sound in the past few years. I’m always trying to re-create that original high. Yes, it’s great party music, but it’s much deeper than that for me.

Tell us about your Gutter Music mix series. How many are there, and what are they like?
The original classic that started it all was B-more Gutter Music. Samir and I are reediting and remixing it for a Gold Label Milkcrate rerelease very soon. There’s also Gutter Music on the Breakbeat Science label, and my newest joint is a special digital-download mix, “More Gutter Fire,” jammed with brand-new gutter exclusives and club crackbangers…that definitely shows the future of the genre. It’s that real, uncut, raw stuff. Samir and I have that magic.

For those unfamiliar, can you describe some of the characteristics of the genre?
It’s that 120 to 130bpm cracked-out, crunked-out club music with chopped vocals: an ill combo of house, hip-hop, and anything else that bangs like a mutha! [It’s] usually what the DJ throws on to get the girls grinding and bouncing—the ultimate party music.

B-more club music has been getting a lot of attention in the indie hipster scene recently. What’s been your take on that explosion of popularity?
It reminds me of how rave was back in ’93 or ’94—definitely the same vibe but with a different dress code and way less drugs.

Some take issue with the expropriation of a predominantly black, urban music genre for hipster consumption. What do you say to those concerns?
I definitely don’t understand anyone who likes music for ironic purposes. I grew up with some real shit and real people. I have always had the utmost respect for any music I am involved in, but that’s a hip-hop code of ethics. If we all lived by that, the world would be a better place.

Aaron LaCrate spins his new mixes at Smart Bar on Friday 11. See listings. The Gutter Radio Vol 1 podcast is free via iTunes.