Has there been a flushing of the toilet for major record companies in the current digital wave?
the Electrifying Mojo would play music to Detroit nightly on his Midnight Funk Association broadcast. We never knew what Mojo looked like, or the way the people looked who made the music he played. We could only hear and imagine. UR learned from that mystery that some sounds are so powerful and soulful that they need no face. It takes an artist with an amazing aura to stand in front of the speakers and you still hear the music. Most individuals don’t have that ability. We as a team choose not to compete with the sound.
The technology of the digital era has eliminated the major label’s grip on what the possibilities of music can be and who can listen to what. Next, radio stations will be replaced by satellite and Internet stations, finally killing the major labels last stranglehold on sound. Listeners will have a wider and more diverse selection available to hear, allowing the virus access. Advances in technology frees.
When you and Jeff put records out, did you have an idea of how they would be embraced overseas?
Do you think it’s important to talk about the history of UR?
No, we didn’t. But we definitely always had a global plan of attack based on experiments done first in Detroit and evolving technologies like the fax machine. My travels obviously have been a blessing in some ways and a curse in others. I can still see how unsuccessful UR has been in bringing high-tech dreams to our own low-tech realities here in Detroit. There is still a lot of work to do.
I would prefer if the people found out about us by stepping on a land mine that we have planted in the past sonically at some undetermined time in the future. And for those not born yet to step on the ones being planted now.
What is the power of vinyl?
You’re an avid baseball player and coach. What do record labels like UR and baseball teams share in common?
The power of vinyl is unexplainable, but I liken it to comic books. Strangely, nobody wants a digital comic book. The physical pages have magic. I have lost many artists to the streets that have made their transitions early. The vinyl records these people made are moments of their now-gone lives. In my opinion, their best moments and parts of their actual spirits are in that wax. I’ve seen eerily many times when DJs sometimes call them back from the dead for one more dance. For me, good DJs connect the spiritual tribal world to the living world. It’s a huge responsibility too often taken lightly. I think our DJs are aware of this element and are capable of making that happen.
A baseball team depends on the veteran players to teach the young new players, such is the case in UR. All rookies got schooled by me or Jeff in the art of making tracks, editing tracks, mixing tracks, or DJing. Sometimes tempers flare and situations can get tense. And truthfully, I don’t give a fuck about people’s tempers. My job is to put out the person’s absolute best effort in case they die soon. That’s the way I look at the shit… Your ass could be dead next week; how do you want people to remember you? Overall, I think we have released many of these artists’ best moments in sound. That is one of the reasons for our longevity—our constant investment in new and upcoming inner-city talent. It keeps it all fresh, hungry, and intensely competitive.
You have long said that artists should fall back and let music speak for them. Why?
Back in the mid-’70s, a great Detroit radio personality named
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