DJ Roc, known to his mother as Clarence Johnson, was born and raised on the Southside of Chicago better known as the low end.
The crack in ‘Crack Capone’ refers to his style of production. Like an underground chemist, DJ Roc produces variant strains of Chicago Juke music, the ‘crack’ referring to the synapse snapping, potentially ankle cracking manipulation of rhythms and the sampling, hijacking and ultra-rhythmic micro-editing of black American pop’s dominant forms into a style that’s been developed and tested on the streets of Chicago.
One of the most popular and respected DJ’s on the Chicago Juke scene, DJ Roc grew up listening to house music and was inspired to make people dance, especially in the up and coming footwork scene. In 2001 he started to produce Juke via an introduction to the production programme fruityloops by his friend DJ Darkchild. Around 2004 he became more confident with his track making and became very popular in his local area by throwing parties, playing his own tracks and making personal tracks for people to footwork to. From this he co-formed a group of DJs and party promoters called ‘Bosses of the Circle’ and built up his fanbase, garnering interest from the likes of Chicago Juke legend DJ Slugo who helped him make his first mix cds. This first CD grew into 3 volumes of the ‘Juke City’ mix albums and got support from the various footwork cliques in the city and attention for his production nationally and internationally.
Over the course of the album’s 20 tracks, DJ Roc shows off his brilliant high-speed sparse manipulations of rhythm, space and sound; as in the dancehall influenced tracks such as opener ‘One Blood’ or ‘Kill Da Bitch’ to tracks which mix a heavy techno influence like ‘Make Crack Like Dis‘ or mix it with Hip hop samples like ‘King Of The Circle. Then there are tracks that mix smooth soul with double-speed like ‘I Can’t Control The Feeling’, to tracks which have more of a classic Juke feel like ‘ Get Buck Jones’ and ‘DJ Roc Symphony’. The album is full of brilliant production and original ideas.
01 One Blood
02 Let’s Get It Started
03 They Can’t Fuck Wit Me
04 Phantom Call
05 King Of The Circle
06 I Make Her Say
07 I Can’t Control The Feeling
08 Fuck Dat
09 Make Crack Like Dis
10 Take His Ass Out
11 DJ Roc Symphony
12 Lost Without U
13 Girl Wen U Dance
14 Ball Em Up
15 I Don’t Like The Look Of It
16 Get Buck Jones
17 Gun Smoke
18 Kill Da Bitch
19 Shot Down
20 Break It Down
