Who is DJ Craze? Well, he’s the record-holding three-year consecutive World DMC Champion and popularly known as one of the world’s best DJs, but underneath all that he’s pretty much just an all around nice guy. ITM had the pleasure of shooting the breeze with DJ Craze as he was chillin’ at home, enjoying the last of Miami’s winter sunshine before jetting off on a two week tour of Asia. We talked about his childhood, his self-diagnosed ‘musical ADD,’ and his new label project, among other things.

Many call Craze’s story one of rags to riches. Born in war-torn Nicaragua, he escaped to Miami with his family at the tender age of 3. Growing up, he was always a quiet child, causing his mother to do what mothers do best – worry.

“When I was younger she was always worried about me, because I was kind of quiet and just stayed in my room listening to music a lot of the time. So she asked me what I wanted to do, and gave me time off after high school just to decide on what I wanted to do. I told her, ‘I wanna be the best, baddest turntablist in the world!’ So she was like, ‘Alright, just keep saying that, keep saying that out loud.’ I’m 32 now, and when I watch something like The Secret or read the book or something like that, it totally makes sense; my mom was already teaching me that way back when.’”

His dream of becoming the best and baddest in the world came true in 1998, when Craze beat previous champion A-Trak (who most recently rocked Australia on the Parklife tour last year) to win the World DMC Championship at the age of 20. His dream came true all over again when he returned to win the world title a second time in 1999. Then, in a record-breaking third year sweep, DJ Craze became the only solo DJ to win three consecutive championships in 2000. To this day, no other DJ has managed to beat his record. He was either being modest or mysterious when I asked him his secret to success.

“There’s no secret – I just really had fun and was really committed. I was really hungry for it, and I think anyone can do whatever the hell they want to do when they’re hungry enough for it. I mean, turntablism was my life 24-7, so I’d better have won that shit!”

Staying busy on the production side of things, Craze is currently working alongside Kill The Noise on their Slow Roast project, a music label for “…all my boys to put out all good music that allows artists to be real free and do whatever the hell they want to do… no rules, just give us good music and we’ll put you out there. We want to break some ground, do some good tunes, pop champagne and buy boats!”

The label will feature all kinds of electronic music from Craze’s boys Kill The Noise, Senor Stereo and Planet & Fitch; some dubstep, some electro, some disco house and a little bit of techno. Although Craze doesn’t know what kind of music he’ll be putting out under the label himself – he can’t even say what kind of music he’ll be making next year, next month, or even tomorrow.

“I switch up my style every year, so I don’t know what I’m going to be putting out! Yeah, I think I have ADD or something. I catch myself doing it, I catch myself getting into one style of music and playing the hell out of that one style for like two months, and then I switch it all of a sudden and people are like ‘Wow, what the hell are you playing now?!’ That’s the fun thing about it. I have to follow what I like and hopefully bring out some new music to the people; hopefully they will like it, too. If they don’t, then screw them – just kidding!”

Asking then, what kind of an experience Australians are in for on the Good Vibrations Festival tour, seemed like a bit of a silly question to ask such an easily distracted DJ, but Craze assured me that no matter what, he would bring more than enough electricity to the stage. “I love Australia; I’ve played a few different festivals but I’ve never played Good Vibes before. The crowds can expect to hear a little bit of everything – a lot of different stuff – but all done with a lot of energy! I’m coming up with some new routines right now that I’ll hopefully have ready by then for all of the turntablist fans. I’ve just been talking to DJ Z Trip, and we might do a little tag team thing on four decks which would be cool.”

And even the three time world champion got stars in his eyes when he saw all of the other names besides his own on the Good Vibes lineup.

“I’m a big hip hop fan; Busta Rhymes, Salt n Pepa, Naughty By Nature… hell yeah! When I saw the line-up I was like, ‘That’s gonna be dope!’ Those are all are heroes of mine; a lot of the talent on the line-up are heroes of mine – it’s going to be cool to kick it with them. Hopefully I can catch everyone I want to catch.”

For all your Good Vibrations needs, check out ITM’s Festival Page for loads of news, interviews and more. National dates below…

Sat 13 Feb – Centennial Park, Sydney
Sun 14 Feb – Claremont Showground, Perth
Sat 20 Feb – Parklands Showgrounds, Gold Coast
Sun 21 Feb – The Nursery, Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne