A member of Claude VonStroke‘s flock, San Francisco’s J. Phlip debuted on the Dirtybird label in 2008 with her single ‘Rumble Rumble’. After being selected as one of URB‘s “Next 100” in 2009, things have been falling into place for her (no wonder that’s the title of her 2009 single for Nightlight). Last month, she turned up remixing Claude VonStroke’s ‘The Greasy Beat’ alongside Robag Wruhme [a] and dOP. J. Phlip is flipping lids everywhere she turns up.
How did you get started DJing and producing? Did you ever feel that being a woman made it harder for you to get booked, get signed, or get respect?
I started DJing my freshman year of college. After graduating at the very top of my class in high school and enrolling in the College of Engineering at University of Illinois, I seriously thought I was going to be a math and physics genius! I was following the path of any typical smarty-pants kid… but I guess I wasn’t the typical smartypants kid. I loved the parties and the nightlife – I always had. I especially loved to get lost on a dancefloor, and I loved the music, the lights, the dark, the freedom. I bought some belt-drive decks and made friends with a bunch of hip-hop DJ kids, and then the house music “ravers”, I started cocktailing at a lounge club downtown, and one thing led to another to another – and I realized that the music drove me much more than anything else.
Being a woman probably made it easier to get booked initially. I was a rarity for sure! Getting signed had to do with writing a track and getting it into the hands of someone with a label that wanted it. That had nothing to do with being a woman. Although I would imagine that labels owners might take an interest in signing a woman – because women producers are so rare – they might think of it as a selling point. Regardless, if people think your music sucks they aren’t going to buy it just because you’re a girl.
Respect – now that has probably been more difficult to get as a woman. The dudes wanna hate on you because they’re jealous, and they want to attribute your success to your gender. The girls want to hate because girls like to hate on girls. It’s hard to explain, but I feel like I have to prove myself to certain folks more than a guy would. People want to question your motives, your skills, how you got there, whether or not you are a sell out, if you write your own music! That one really gets me. When my name is on a track with, let’s say, Claude, I am equally responsible for writing that track! He didn’t write it and put my name on it. Anyhoo, girls sell out sometimes and so do guys. What it boils down to is if you work hard and stay true to what you do, the people that really matter are going to see that and give you the utmost respect.
It’s no secret that electronic dance music has typically been a boys’ club. What’s your opinion? Do you think that things are changing?
I hope not, I love being a part of the boys club! Woohooooo! Just kidding – well, a lot of women are running the show behind the scenes. I’m seeing more and more women on dope lineups – right up there with the dudes. But there still aren’t very many female producers. Are there more women out there who want to sit for hours and hours and make bass and beats and spend their money on Ableton and a synth rather than a sexy new pair of jeans and those dope new Givenchy platform wedges? I guess we’ll have to wait and see!
Do you think that house/techno is more or less accommodating to female artists than other musical genres?
I have no idea, all musical genres should be equally accommodating to male and female and extraterrestrial artists.
I’ve heard some people—men and women both—praise female DJs for creating a different vibe than male DJs do. Do you think that female DJs/musicians bring a different sensibility than men? Or is it totally up to the individual?
Ok, this is a tough one! I had so sit and think about this one for a while – and ask myself some situational questions. If a male DJ got up and played the exact same set as me, would it be the same vibe? No.
If a different female DJ got up and played the exact same set as me, would it be the same vibe? No. The music takes priority in creating the vibe – the individual is also partly responsible for creating the vibe. Whether they are male or female might also affect that some. I like to use my gender to create humor sometimes - like when I play the track that goes, “Paging Mister Jack… Mister Mee-off please report to the DJ booth” or “There’s some hoes in this house”, it has a totally different sense of humor than when a dude plays it. Unfortunately, there aren’t many tracks like that – oh, new track idea!
What advice would you give to girls/women that want to start DJing or producing?
Please don’t take half-naked press shots if you want to be taken seriously – unless you’re a badass like Lil’ Kim. I don’t care how hot you are, I don’t want to see your headphones being used as a bra. Have style, show it off, and work your sex appeal if you want to and if you have it – but be careful with how you do it. People want to judge – let your music speak! Once your music has something to say, everything else will follow. Work really hard and don’t forget why you started - and have fun all the time!
What inspires you creatively?
My friends! Other music of all different genres. The stars.
When and where was the best set you’ve ever played? What made it so special?
Ah man, there have been so many killer sets - too many amazing ones to pick just one. And for me it doesn’t matter if there are 20 people freaking out on the dancefloor or 1000. Those are the sets when the music acts as the catalyst and it reacts properly with all the other elements, like the dancefloor and the soundsystem and the lights and colors and the club or and the time of night and all of the other tiny reactors floating around the room. It creates this massive energy, similar to when someone falls in love for the first time. When you get an entire room to feel like that it is really special. More special than the sauce that G. Love puts on his Big Macs.
If you could change one thing about the electronic music scene, what would it be?
Stupid, fake fools at the afterparties that want to know who you know or who you’re with or what you have to offer. I notice it is more present in places with larger scenes, like here in SF – where people have been in the scene for a really long time. They act like they own it and they don’t want to share, or something. Some of them haven’t even been a part of the electronic scene for all that long, but they still think they own it! They can be very unwelcoming – maybe they’ve got an ego for one reason or another – maybe they’ve been in the scene for too long and gotten twisted up in drugs or something – whatever the reason may be, they got their heads on backwards! Most people are part of the scene because they love the music and they love the other amazing folks in our scene. I don’t get why these other folks get so threatened and try turn it into a popularity contest that’s ten times worse than in high school. Those types of fools really bother me. They can just go poof!
Finally, how do you feel about the word “Djane”?
How do you feel about the word DJick, DJoe, DJoeSchmo, DJerkface? I don’t like it, unless your name is really Jane. Oh, and Superjane is ok in my book too. Those girls are all superdope!