A rising force in the world of underground electronic music, Chicago-based DJ and producer Rü has been cultivating his talent over the past couple of years and making himself a name to remember. Using his drive to deliver explorative hard-hitting rave music, he’s launched his own label Super Legit Records, and event production company Super Legit Productions in an effort to showcase the art, music, and wonder that inspires him. Returning to the release radar, Chicago-based up-and-comer rü makes an emphatic return delivering a masterful six-track EP. Following his mid-year release Happy AF / Homeless, the emerging producer shows his production capabilities on his latest body of work, Blue/ Green, out now via Super Legit Records. DMCWORLD checks in with the main man…
Hi rü – welcome to DMCWORLD Magazine, how are you doing?
Hi, DMCWORLD Magazine, I’m doing great. Super stoked to talk to you!
Congratulations on your latest release ‘Blue/ Green’ what was the inspiration behind the EP?
Thanks! For this record I was really into early 90s rave music. Underworld, Orbital, Criminal Minds, Edge of Motion, 4hero, DMS. I’ve always kinda loved that music but this was the first time I kinda let myself go with it.
How long did it take to put the EP together from start to finish?
Sooooo long. The music itself only took a few months, but I’m running a DIY operation over here and COVID happened so everything took way longer to get it out. I started the latest of these songs in January of 2020.
How would you describe your sound?
I happily classify the music on this record as ‘endearingly bastardized rave music’. I don’t remember who said that, but I like that description.
How do you find inspiration for your releases?
I either sit down and twist knobs until I find a cool noise, or I’ll just be out in the world, innocently living my life and then I’ll hear something that I wanna sample. In the pre-covid times, a few of my friends got so used to me being like “yo what’s that from” or “did you hear that” that they just started sending me stuff. My friend Adam sent me this parking buzzer thing a while ago and I’m still looking for a good place to put it. I love it when the homies send me stuff.
Other than that, I just listen to dj mixes or go “record digging”. It’s in quotes because I don’t go to stores as often as I’d like to because I’m lazy. And also everytime I go into Gramaphone I end up spending either way too much time digging or way too much money.
Who is your dream collaboration?
I wanna make early rave music with Diplo. Why Diplo? I don’t know man, the dude just seems super easy to work with and doesn’t seem afraid of making weird shit.
There are tons of people I wanna work with tho- Four Tet, Jamie XX, Dj Deeon, Dj Godfather, Dj Funk, Muqata’a, Salem, BLVCK Ceiling, Derrick Carter, Aathee, Cocktail Party Effect, Ramadanman/Pearson Sound, I hate models, Poivre…
Do you have any tracks lined up?
I’m always working on tunes. I’ve got like 6 cookin in the kitchen right now and I’m sure at least one of them is gonna prove to be a good one. I work on a lot of songs at once so that when I get frustrated, I can just move between them. It normally takes me a few weeks to finish a song because I like obsessing about dumb stuff and I take a lot of breaks.
Who is your biggest inspiration?
Hard to say. I mean, overall I’ve always looked up to Diplo because he takes a lot of risks, he goes everywhere and just does stuff. I love how he grew Mad Decent and it’s always fun to watch him dj.
Lately though, I’ve been really inspired by the people around me. My friend Adrian Stein is this installation artist in Chicago who put together this giant crazy installation called Quantum Mirror and just the magnitude of that installation really kicked a lot of my friends and I into gear during COVID. My other friend Zac Hall has been getting to work with Chance the Rapper as an art director so I kinda just feel like… all the homies are makin moves so I gotta keep up, ya know? We feed off each other.
What can we expect to see from you?
As soon as I’m sure it’s safe to throw parties again, you’ll be seeing some fucking SUPER LEGIT Super Legit parties. In the meantime, I’m gonna try to keep to a steady release schedule and just keep making music.
Where can we keep up to date with you?
Follow me on Spotify /Apple Music / Soundcloud
Follow my label and event production company on facebook and instagram
