Bob "dj BC" Cronin is an Atlanta-based producer, mash-up artist, beat architect, and Ghostbusters enthusiast. BC is, likely, best know for his releases credited to "The Beastles" (The Beatles + Beastie Boys) who issued the full-length projects between 2004-2013: dj BC Presents The Beastles, Let It Beast, and ILL SUBMARINE. dj BC has released countless projects remixing and mashing up artists as varied as Wu-Tang Clan, JAY-Z vs. Brian Eno, Philip Glass, and De La Soul/Sly & Robbie, and The A.K.A.'s. dj BC's latest genre-blending release, "Ghost Cave, is an album of 12 tight songs, in the styles of Alternative Hip-Hop, Reggae, Electro-Punk, and House. It's a unique Rap album, unlike any you've heard. And the slate of guest talent is out of this world." What's being dubbed as "The Ghost Cave All-Stars" includes contributions from Edo. G/Ed O.G. Big D & The Kids Table frontman David McWane, Fahamu Pecou, Z.Dimention, Okorie "OK Cello" Johnson, Grandpamini, The Doped Up Dollies, Keenon Rush, Tribe One, ATOM, Pimpdaddysupreme, Supercrunk, and more. Ghost Cave's Art Director, Yo Yo Yosef (@yo_yo_yosef) has previously created works of art for dj BC's The Beastles, Big D & The Kids Table, The Doped Up Dollies, Doctor Octagon/Kool Keith, Dropkick Murphys, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and OBEY. dj BC was gracious enough to let The Witzard premiere the second music video from Ghost Cave, "Ghost Cave" featuring "the rumbling Reggae voice" of Trenchtown, Jamaica's very own Z.Dimention. Accompanying our "Ghost Cave" video premiere, you will find a quick, yet extremely thorough, 5-question Q&A conducted with Ghost Cave mastermind, dj BC. Ghost Cave's Ghost Cave is now available from digital retailers through Ghost Cave Records.


Sincerely,

Matt "The Witzard" Horowitz
The Beastles Super-fan/B-boy

I. How would you say your writing, recording, collaborative, etc. processes for Ghost Cave differed from your previous projects as dj BC?

Thanks, Matt. As dj BC, I have largely done mash-up and remix projects. From the album projects, to the singles, to the Christmas music—all of it was [mash-ups] and [remixes]. The Big D & The Kids Table collaborations allowed me to move more in the direction of, actually, programming and creating original music and even working with an emcee (Black ELement) on the Wicked Hardcore Christmas EP, but, in the end, it was still mash-up-style remixes. With this Ghost Cave album, I've moved into the realm of original Hip-Hop, Reggae, and... "Electro-Punk," I guess, I'm calling it. But it's original music.

II. Artists within "The Ghost Cave Family" include David McWane (Big D & The Kids Table,) Edo. G/Ed O.G. The Doped Up Dollies, Lil' Bowie, and Supercrunk. So, how exactly did you go about initially recruiting and incorporating all of these unique artists throughout the album?

Honestly, it was a long process of tracking down talented folks, one by one, who were interested in collaborating, had the time, and were accessible to me. Not everyone I approached was able to do it and some of the folks (Edo, Fahamu Pecou, David McWane, Grandpamini, among others) are so in-demand and so busy working on their own projects, that I'm really grateful that they were so generous with their time and talent. That said, pretty much everyone on the record is a friend. Z.Dimention I know only through The Internet and our collaboration. In retrospect, I was, actually, asking a lot of my collaborators—I expected them to write their own vocal part to go along with a rough instrumental and idea of [a] concept I'd created, which might have been too much to ask, in some cases. It takes a lot of time and focus and a special talent to write lyrics. All told, the album took about two and a half years to make. You need to be patient when working with the schedules of a lot of artists.

III. For someone who has yet to hear Ghost Cave's Ghost Cave album, how might you describe the largely genre-eschewing sound and style heard across this album?

I've been trying to nail it down. It's kind of Retro-Electro-based music with Hip-Hop, Reggae, and Punk Rock vocals. Each of the songs is different.


IV. Now that you've officially joined the ranks of the Same Artist/Album/Song Name Club (ie: Ghost Cave/Ghost Cave/"Ghost Cave") what's your personal favorite artist/album/song all with the same title?

Great question! "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath. First song off the album, Black Sabbath. Can you think of any other ones? I'm drawing a blank...

V. Speaking of "Ghost Cave," how exactly did Ghost Cave's O'Television-directed music video for the album's opening track featuring Z.Dimention come together? Thanks again for asking us to premiere it here at TheWitzard.com!!!

Of course! Thanks for sharing it here! So, I know Evan [O'Television] from his work on the Ill Murray project. I'm a Ghostbusters fan, so I liked that project, it checked several boxes for me! I reached out to say I thought it was cool and it turns out, he is aware of my work and was pumped to collaborate on this video. He'd been gathering this great archival carnival footage and it seemed like a perfect fit with the title, album art, and tone of the music. So, he created a story of a haunted amusement park with a "Ghost Cave" ride, neon from the album cover, ghostly carnival-goers, a ghostly Z.Dimention performing... it really is very special, fun stuff and he did a great job creating a narrative.

VI. Now that Ghost Cave's Ghost Cave has been properly unleashed into the terribly unsuspecting world... what do you have planned to be released or unveiled next, dj BC?

I'll keep dropping singles off Ghost Cave, of course. We, also, have big plans for some other videos off the album. Also: some fresh Christmas music is coming from Ghost Cave this year! Stay tuned! And with a bit of luck... VINYL!