#ProducersCorner – Dunn Cruel

Prolific DJ, producer and Cruel Section head honcho, Dunn Cruel has been a mainstay in Cape Town’s Hip Hop and House scene for a few years now. A strong-willed creative with an unquestionably undefiable sound, he has crafted a lane that not only has he seen success in, but also the artists signed to his growing record label. On the back of yet another release, Red Bull sat down with him to discuss his journey thus far, and what more is still to come.

You recently released Peach Diesel, and Chrome Slugs less than a month later, how has the reception been?

The response has been quite dope, it’s probably the biggest EP I’ve released. It’s the first time I’ve released a project that’s been received at a national level, largely due to the label that I dropped it on, Stay True Sounds. My name has become larger, on a national scale. I’m super grateful for that.

What was the sound you were going for when putting Chrome Slugs together?

I was going for old school electro sh*t, like Deadmau5 back in the day. I was thinking about how it could sound if it was done today but in a deep house way… That’s what I was trying to go for. I was trying to create what I would look for if I wanted to listen to a deep house track. My vision was to produce something I think is cool and what I’d want a track to sound like. My usual train of thought.

You released Blueberry Petrol and Peach Diesel, you also have other seemingly car references in your music. What’s the meaning behind it?

That’s an interesting question. They’re actually not car references; I’m not interested in cars at all. Majority of my songs are named after weed strains. Titles like “Orange Ghost” and “Sour Diesel Factory” back in the day, and “Blueberry Petrol” more recently, are weed strains. I’m not sure if they’re actual, real strains, I know Sour Diesel is, but they’re basically what I would name different strains if I was still into weed. I just think that weed names are f***ing cool.

You have been more than vocal on the current state of the Cape Town music scene. What do you think has to be done for it to thrive?

I think I’ve always been vocal about Cape Town’s music scene because it’s been such a struggling factor. Every time we get somewhere – like the early teens of this decade we were striving and getting somewhere more inclusive, very dynamic, we had a variety of sounds and people but the music kind of died out. That was the birth of disco, techno the dark trap era, and I went more into trap than anything.

I’ve been vocal for a while. I feel like we, as coloured people, tend to not help one another. Let me not say we, because I’ve always been helping people, Cruel Section was designed to help people. Generally speaking, we get a little bit of fame and we don’t help people. Whereas someone like Youngsta and his whole team are about helping people. You need a place to record? Do you need some advice? Come through. He’s probably the biggest artist out of our community and he’s been the most helpful. If you want to learn, you’re welcome to learn from him. He has an open-door policy.

You seem to have an affinity for Asian inspired typography, where does this stem from?

I’m just inspired by Tokyo as a whole. Their fashion, food & Hip Hop is very inspiring and I resonate with it. I definitely would love to live out there for a couple of years one day. If there was ever a city that I’m truly inspired by, then I’d definitely say Tokyo.