It's been over two years since Mark Ronson - prolific producer, musician, DJ and part-time male model - gifted us with his last LP, 'Record Collection'. You just know he's itching to drop the next one.
“I'm just starting work on it now so it'd be foolish to comment,” he says, before foolishly commenting: “I think working on this last Bruno Mars record... the way we made that record was that Bruno has this tiny studio in LA, so basically I had an MPC, two synths and a LinnDrum in a closet and just started to make tracks, the way I did when I started. So I have to say, if anything, [the next record] feels the most like working on my first record, because it's just me in a basement by myself. But that could completely change a week from now.
“I do have to say that I find myself getting most excited by hip hop at this time. I feel like there is a good, healthy resurgence of that music, and a lot of very interesting, progressive stuff, and some good commercial hip hop out there for the first time in a long time.”
Readers familiar only with Ronson's more recent output might not be aware that his return to hip hop is, well, kind of a big deal. He first made a name for himself as a New York hip hop DJ in the '90s, and his first album - 'Here Comes The Fuzz', released way back in 2003 when Ronson cultivated a very different image - is something of an underrated gem from that era. To hear him tell it, though, it was inevitable that he'd move away from the genre for a while.
“I just think [hip hop] was something I was listening to and playing in nightclubs five nights a week for such a long time,” he explains, “and at the same time the quality of the music seemed to suffer. It became very formulaic. You know, I was lucky enough to start DJing in New York in the mid '90s, when you had Wu Tang, Dre, Snoop, early Jay-Z stuff. It was a very interesting time, because the most commercially popular stuff was also, arguably, the best quality stuff.
“That doesn't really happen that often in certain genres of music, you know? When that happens, you have what people always call a 'Golden Era'. I came through that, so maybe I was a little bit jaded, but now... yeah, now I feel like it's kind of good again.
“I like this new kid named Stalley on the MMG label. I like Wale, obviously. Meek Mill. The 'Fucking Problem' track with Drake, Kendrick Lamar, 2 Chainz and A$AP Rocky. A$AP is great. I like Joey Bada$$. I don't know, there's just a lot of stuff that reminds me of the excitement I felt when I was playing this music in clubs for the first time at the age of 20.”
It's not inconceivable that Ronson could recruit all of those MCs to appear on his next album, given the calibre of the guests on his first three records. Still, he's quick to dismiss the notion that he's the best connected man in music.
“I would think someone like Puff Daddy or Jay-Z would be much more connected than I am,” he bristles. “I mean, I have a circle of artists, people that I'm close with and that I work with. But I don't really understand this perception that I'm 'the best connected man in music'. I mean, you look at the line-up on a Timbaland album, and it's a thousand times more glittery than mine. The people that are on my records are people that are up and coming, like MNDR.
“I mean, obviously there are also people like Q-Tip and Ghostface Killah, because I have a heritage and a history of DJing in New York hip hop clubs for 18 years, so I have the respect of those people as well. But for the most part, I mean, the people that were on 'Version' - Santigold, Lily Allen, Daniel Merriweather, Amy Winehouse - none of them were really successful at the time. They could have just been anybody.”
One collaborator that Ronson keeps coming back to is Andrew Wyatt, best known as the frontman of Miike Snow. The two co-wrote 'Somebody To Love Me', one of the standout tracks on 'Record Collection', and have since written for other artists (Wyatt will also appear at Summafieldayze with Ronson). But their relationship goes back much further than that.
“Andrew and I have been friends for eight or nine years,” Ronson remembers. “Andrew's always been incredibly talented, but I just remember he would always have that song that nearly made it onto the Janet Jackson album, and I would have a similar thing. But Andrew finally blew up when Miike Snow blew up, and I guess I had 'Version' and 'Back To Black' around the same time.
“It's one of those things where you're just really excited to see one of your friends do well, and be recognised for his talents. It happened at the same time for both of us, which made it even more serendipitous, in a way. I don't know. He's just one of my closest friends, he's one of my favourite songwriters, one of my favourite singers, so the fact that I get to work with him... it's something I feel fortunate about.”
Whether he's 'the best connected man in music' or not, it's clear Ronson is used to working with elite talent. It's natural to wonder, then, if there's anybody out there he's in awe of.
“I have to spend around 18 hours of every day with music, so if there's someone whose music I like so much that on a Sunday, when I have my four free hours, I want to put their music on, that's somebody who's somehow impacted my life. It doesn't matter if it's Stevie Wonder or some fucking 20 year old kid in his bedroom making beats I happen to like.
“When I meet those people, yeah, I still get awestruck... but it's not the celebrity that impresses, it's the talent.”
Mark Ronson’S DJ SET FEAT. ANDREW WYATT FROM MIIKE SNOW AND SPANK ROCK HAPPENS AT Summafieldayze at Doug Jennings Park (The Spit) on Saturday January 5.
