Clinton Sparks is a Grammy nominated DJ, producer, songwriter and recording artist. He’s produced songs such as Pitbull’s Shut It Down and Bloody Mary on Lady Gaga’s Born This Way. In January, he’ll be finishing up his Disco Ball & Chain album featuring Rick Ross, Macklemore, Flo-rida, etc. Basically, he has a lot going on. Way more than me. *Sigh*
Big fan of you and your insane career. However, you are literally all over the place. A world renowned DJ, a host, a producer, an artist, a singer ETC ETC but January/Feb of 2013 what is your main focus?
Well in January I will be completing my Disco Chain & Ball album featuring Rick Ross, Macklemore, Travie McCoy,Flo-Rida, etc. I will also release the remixes to my single “Watch You” Feat: Pitbull, I’ll be shooting the pilot to my television show and on Valentines day, I will be releasing MyAwesomeMixtape4 with Features ranging from Rick Ross, 2 Chainz to Snoop, Mac Miller,Jim Jones, Waka Flaka & Timeflies to original new records w/ Me & Mike Posner, Me & Bun B and more.
You are from Boston, Do you spend time there during the holidays? If so, from now until New Year’s what do you do?
This is the first year in many that I will actually be home. I’m usually for some reason always booked in Asia somewhere which is awesome but its going to be cool to be home in Boston this Xmas. I will have an awesome New Years Eve party in Atlantic City though at Providence inside the Tropicana.
Does Boston have anything cool that is part of your annual holiday routine?
I’ll be having 2 parties while I’m home in Boston. Ill be at Bijou on Xmas night Raging & then DJing/performing on December 30th with DJBk at Emerald. I just bought new classic stand up arcade games for my house so ill be playing a lot of games. ;)
Ok, so you are all about the mixtapes, the cool covers, the videos. Please tell us the back story on Just a Friend. How it came about and how you were able to bring Travie on.
Well, I am a product of all styles of music although I came up making and playing predominantly hip hop music. When I was making my album, I wanted to add elements that you would know what my roots are which is of course, hip hop. Once I was done, I called Travie & begged him to listen to a record I had for us. After begging and getting him to listen, he finally called me back and said, “Thank you for having me be a part of this record, I think its a hit.” Then I said, “phew, he liked it.”
So, you are actually singing the on this right? Is this a direction you are going to be taking now?
Yes, I am singing on my whole album. Its mostly me with some big time features doing guest verses but I have a gang of records out now that are me singing from “Sucks to be You” w/ LMFAO & JoJo to “Favorite DJ” w/ Jermaine Dupri & DJ Class to songs wtih me rapping like “Ambiguous” with Big Sean & Mike Posner. Being an artist was always the plan. I became a DJ to promote my music. Being a DJ just happened to work out. ;)
What else would you like to tell The Blemish’s audience about what you have in the works, what to expect with this new mixtape, 2013 objectives, etc?
Well MyAwesomeMixtape series is the only place where you’ll hear different genres collide from Rick Ross & Afrojack to Ludacris & Calvin Harris to Big Sean & David Guetta. I’ve kinda always been a hybrid of many styles and it now seems to be appreciated more especially since the lines of genres and formats have become more blurred. I am excited about the release of my Disco Ball & Chain album and hope people like it. I will also be doing a lot more with Karmaloop.com & Ciroc as well as touring and performing. I love meeting new people on the road. Come up and say hi. I also release funny videos and songs for free on my website, Clintonsparks.com – Get Familiar!
You can find Clinton Sparks on Twitter @clintonsparks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi7hYIltWUI&feature=player_embedded
cool interview