Pitchfork

Photo by Nilina Mason-Campbell

In most every way, 2006 was a breakout year for Spank Rock. The party-rocking quartet-- comprised of MC Naeem "Spank Rock" Juwan and DJ-producers Alex "Armani XXXchange" Epton, Chris "Rockswell" Devlin, and Ronnie Darko-- brought club rap to the fore of indie consciousness with YoYoYoYoYo, one of the few independently-released albums not made by white guys with guitars that Joe and Jill Indie were talking about last year. Yo was also the only rap album to make the Shortlist Prize's shortlist, and it scooped up a Plug Award in the hip-hop category. Thom Yorke is a fan, while Beck aficionados even caught Spank Rock opening for the mumbling troubadour in 06, as did Björk followers this year. (Armani XXXchange even remixed the Icelandic siren's "Earth Intruders".)

So where to next, Spank Rock? As Juwan told Pitchfork in an interview yesterday, the only direction to go is forward. "We're gonna start making a record," he said. "Round two."

With that in mind, Spank Rock have signed a worldwide deal with Downtown Records (also home to Gnarls Barkley, Art Brut, and Cold War Kids)-- but before the proposed album hits in early 2008, MC Spank Rock will treat us to an EP inspired by 2 Live Crew, tentatively due in late summer.

"It's this project that was presented to me by this kid named Benny-- Benny Blanco he goes by," Juwan disclosed. "He's a really amazing hip-hop producer; he used to intern with Disco D when I was working with Disco D, so we kind of met each other back then.

"He had this idea to create this EP based off of 2 Live Crew samples, and when he told me he was like, 'How'd you like to be a [part of] it?' I was like, 'I dunno man, it might be cheesy'-- but it actually turned out to be really fun and I'm really proud of it."

No word yet whether Juwan will one-up 2LC on the raunch scale, but the overall sound here shouldn't surprise: "It's just like club banger music, party music."

Juwan and Benny Blanco are still putting the final touches on the EP, which may or may not bear the Spank Rock name-- as it doesn't involve the other three members of the group. It does, however, feature a guest spot from Brooklyn's Santogold.

"I think I want to tour for the EP," Juwan continued. "Depending on how people react to it, maybe we'll have to go out and show 'em some love. I think it'll be fun, man, it will be retarded. If it plays out the way I see it it my head it'll be complete mayhem."

He added, amid laughter, "I just want to try to get a catastrophe charge, like 'Naeem's been arrested for causing a catastrophe!' That's my new goal, I'm going to go for it this next time around."

Downtown Records made sense for Spank Rock's catastrophe-causing aspirations, according to Juwan. "I linked up with them because I had a really awesome year last year and a lot of labels kept spinning me and Alex's work-- [Downtown]'s one of the many labels that wanted us to sign. It's also probably been like seven months that we've been going through the process of trying to find a label, [and] they've really been the best one."

The follow-up to YoYoYoYoYo has just begun taking shape. "Now that we have a label behind us that is actually able to support our ideas and push the record properly," Juwan said, "we'll give ourselves a second chance to achieve a little bit more than we achieved last year. But I haven't really started thinking out what our direction is for this second album and Alex is mad busy-- he's doing so much shit, man. So I got to wait for him to pick up some time and then we'll go back at it."

Juwan doesn't see any need to switch up Spank Rock's m.o., but he does wish to improve his writing. "I think I've just got to be a little bit more brazen about certain things, because there are certain things on the first album that were lost-- which addressed things that I think I want to try to give another go-around, but I want to be upfront about it."

The topics in question, according to Juwan: "Life and creativity. I think I was writing and something would happen in the world or something with my family or my friends that I would be scared by or upset about, and I would write about it-- but I think I made it a little bit too abstract for people to really grab a hold of."

At the same time, it's all about balance for the emcee. "I [also] want it to be meaningful in every sort of situation; I want it to be able to be interpreted in every situation, not just about this one specific thing. I want to make music that lasts the test of time and not be about one specific thing that happened. I'm just trying to learn how to do that better-- learn how to be a better writer and get my thoughts a little more clearly than last time."

From the sound of it, a brief respite from party rap culture may be just the thing Juwan needs. "I think this past year I've been so far removed from everything. I've just been in this whirlwind of partying and just paying attention to myself that I don't really have much to write about right now. So I think I just need to get back into regular life again."

Which isn't to say Juwan's turning his back on all the revelry. "I think it's awesome to make fun music and I love partying and I'm happy that it's my job right now," he explained with a laugh. "So I don't think I get stuck in it, but I think sometimes you can just sell yourself short a little bit... Partying is all right, but there's other things you've got to take care of day-to-day, which most people do anyway. It would be rude for me to just talk about how I could party every day."

Juwan's flying to Sweden shortly to work with hip-hop artist Mapei, and the two will perform together at an undisclosed location in Brooklyn on June 24. He also appears on the "Trick for Treat" 12" from Neon Neon-- aka Boom Bip and Super Furry Animals' Gruff Rhys-- alongside Har Mar Superstar. The vinyl lands June 25 on Lex.

And even though Spank Rock's audience has grown considerably-- and so-called club rap now has a global presence-- Juwan isn't concerned about the growing pains.

"I think it's still very cult-like right now...I think people slowly like to gravitate toward a culture that used to be a subculture, but I still think we have a far way to go. Nothing much has changed as far as people coming to our shows except that we can fill a bigger venue now, but it's the same style of people that are coming out."

While Juwan admitted that the co-opting of a growing subculture by the mainstream is "inevitable," he offered, "I think the smarter you become as someone who's a leader of a culture, the more you'll be able to preserve that initial thought behind it."

And ultimately, he intends to always find ways to get back to Spank Rock's roots. He said with a laugh, "I like playing in small venues and house parties; if I could do a house party and change $100 at the door it would be ideal."