Mo Funk

Dan Prince·
Features

Interview by Rob Chadwick

You are a resident in Ibiza – how has the island changed in your time there?

Musically, my first experience of Ibiza was at the end of the minimal movement around 2007, so Cocoon and DC-10 was everything. I’ve been coming to ibiza since EDM first exploded too, so all the nonsense that came with it, some for the good (worldwide exposure of the scene) and most for the bad (VIP tables, terrible music, terrible DJs and the general tackiness of EDM. On a positive though, the absolute elite DJs from the house and techno world come here on the regular, with passion, so for a music lover, there is no place better.

How does hip hop go down on the island? It’s not traditionally a sound associated with it…

Well I’ve been happily throwing down the hip-hop sounds for a while out here, from Pacha Global Room with my man Mucho Muchacho, getting my first taste as a newbie to Ibiza at Soul City in San An…and a new favourite, Swag. All those spots are a lot of fun and proves that not everyone wants to come to Ibiza just to hear house and techno. So for the people that know about those places and enjoy hip-hop as an alternative, then yeah, Ibiza has always been very receptive to hip-hop, its a universal sound now. So it doesn’t surprise me at all.

How does modern hip hop compare with classic hop hop? Which do you prefer and why?

Modern hip-hop? Thats not really me, I don’t feel it as much as my life in the 90’s. Its just the way I grew up – the late 80’s and 90’s is all me, all day. Sure, Future, Drizzy, Kendrick etc. all bump in the club, but my heart is in the true era. It just felt more soulful and genuine back in the earlier eras. I’ll listen to everyone of the new cats and give them some time, but no one really hits a home run on a legend level. No one had me hooked like Snoop or Pac or Quik or Big Pun or Nas or countless other legends, I look at my music on my i-Phone and it’s all classics, new stuff gets a listen and 90% of the time gets deleted, soz!

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What is your DJ style would you say? Does it always evolve or have you found your own niche?

The term #RealDjing describes me, 100%. I do this for the love, people have forgotten the difference between DJing and ACTUALLY DJing – to create something of your own, to be unique and to have the craft DOWN. I absolutely love to DJ and pushing the art of it further. My niche would be that: feel-good-summertime-make-you-wanna-dance-now style. I’m here to be the next DJs DJ, you feel me!?

And what will you plan for the Applebum party, anything special, what should people expect?

Obviously there are some pretty special parties coming up that I’m stoked to be apart of, so time and prep goes into warming up for legends, those sorts of things require prep time. So for example: DJ Premier, I’ll keep it classic 90’s and head nod jams, for Jazzy Jeff you have to keep it feel good and party, for Blackstreet I’ll keep it jiggy and the sounds of that classic 90’s Rnb era etc etc – you plan those kinds of things because its not every day you get to perform with heroes.

What else you got coming up/are you looking forward to?

This Summer, as well as Tuesdays at Applebum, catch me at :

Carl Cox at Space (Aug 2nd/ Aug 23rd/ Sep 6th) 
Glitterbox at Space (Jul 29th / Aug 25th)
Sundays at Space (Jul 31/ Aug 14th / Sep 25th)
and every Saturday at Cafe Del Mar! 

New music as FWD MOTION coming very soon too, first track appears on a new mix for Glitterbox below! 

https://soundcloud.com/mofunkthedj/the-sound-of-glitterbox-2016-mofunk

Mo Funk plays Applebum at Sankeys Ibiza this summer – www.sankesyibiza.info.