DJ Mustard: "Calvin Harris is Hard as Shit, Tho"

I was driving around town recently, skipping through the radio to see what the rest of the music world was up to, and I heard three different tracks in a row produced by DJ Mustard on three different stations. The guy owns hip hop right now. The 24 year old Angeleno has been on a tear with a slew of hits since 2011's "Rack City." Everything from 2Chainz's "I'm Different" to Young Jeezy's "R.I.P" to Kid Ink's "Show Me" bears his signature style: minimalist synth tones and laid-back club vibes.

Last weekend, he brought hip hop to HARD Summer, taking the new audience in his stride and working a packed crowd through his collection of hits. It was a big deal to Mustard, who started off DJing at his uncle's backyard barbecues and high school basketball games. "It's was fun, man, a lot of energy," he tells THUMP. "I mean, it was like a dream. I went to this festival last year and I was like 'man I wanna play at one of these.' "

"The girls are wild, man," he says of the weekend. "They have their own world they live in." His surprise at the pastied masses aside, this was not Mustard's first rodeo. "Yeah, I've been to a rave before. I don't have that much experience, but I have enough to know what's good." And he has some friends on this side of the music world. "I hung out with Diplo, played a bunch of shows with Skrillex. Cashmere Cat, I did some beats with him. A-Trak actually came to my set yesterday and was chillin' with me on stage. I wanted to see Disclosure, but they want on the same time as me."

An interesting aspect of Mustard's foray into the world electronic are the latent similarities his music shares with deeper house. It sounds like a stretch, but stick a 4x4 beat behind "Show Me," for example, and that's some poolside house vibes. That's not where the dance/hip-hop cultural crossover ends – There's a common theory that hip hop's embrace of MDMA has been part of the reason it has become thematically less aggressive over the past decade. "Yeah, I guess you could say that," Mustard responds. "Everyone's tryna have a good time. They don't wanna fight no more. Gangsta rap was like, hardcore, but we're in a new era right now, a new time. It ain't like how it used to be. Increasing the peace! I don't like negativity, I don't like bullshit. I think increasing the peace is better. I don't wanna be fighting people. I think that's whack."

And in case you're wondering, Mustard already knows who his dream EDM collaborator is: "Probably Calvin Harris, nah, Zedd! Calvin Harris is hard as shit, though."

If you're westward and tryna get some more condiment in your life, Mustard will be at Mack Sennett Studios in Los Angeles this weekend, a free Brisk Bodega show, put on by our editorial cousins over at Noisey. Check it out.

More on hip-hop and dance:
Hip-Hop and Live Acts, Destructo's New Focus
Trillectro Fest Put Hip-Hop and EDM on a Collision Course
"Now is the Time": Salva Wants to Make Pop Music

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