How did you get the name Strawdogz?
Nobody, one of the two members of Strawdogz, has a big DVD collection and one day he was in front of it and saw the title of this not very funny movie from Sam Peckinpah with Dustin Hoffman, Straw Dogs. He thought that it sounds well, and we both agreed on that point. And literally speaking it's a reference from Lao Tseu who said that "Rough is the wise man and the sky and the earth who treat people as straw dogs." The straw dogs were little marionettes made with straw as a scarecrow and dressed with beautiful clothes and jewels during ceremonies in tribute to buddha, and after parties, they were just launch in the fire, and burnt. Not a good destiny but we like the story.
What made you decide to become a producer?
Well, Strawdogz is the combination of Eskazed and Nobody. We know each other since our childhood in Brittany in the west of France. Then we went to Paris to get works. On the side, we were still spending time together, having fun, listening music at home (Eskazed has a great collection of hip hop vinyls, from the Wu Tang- Gangstarr- Beastie Boys to Run the Jewels , Action Bronson or Roots Manuva and many others) or outside, most of the time in reggae-dub soundsystem. For many years Brittany has been a Reggae lovers land. After a few years, we wanted to do something with our shared interest in music. We tried some stuffs and loops in Holistique studio, where Eskazed was already making beats and electronic tracks. So we mixed Hip-Hop, Dub and Electronic music and at the end, we had a pretty good time and we got caught up! Now it's a pleasure for us to meet different artists, singers and musicians from different backgrounds and cultures to create new songs.
What’s the first rap song you ever heard? Describe the moment.
Nobody : I don' t remember if it's the first I heard but, the first I remember, during a France TV show, the Fugees singing "Ready Or Not". Still good. And for a french song, I think it could be the french rap band IAM with the track "Je Danse Le Mia"
Eskazed : Maybe it is the album Hello Nasty by the Beastie Boys when I was a kid. It was on a radio show and it was a real shock. And obviously, like Nobody, some french hip-hop like Fabe or early NTM.
How did “Music Was The Case” come together?
Eskazed met Dope Chic through Yaway last summer and they started to do hip hop tracks. With Strawdogz we had an hip hop instrumental almost ready and we loved Dope's and Yaway's flows. So we did a recording session in Montreuil and here we are! Dope wanted to talk about her experiences during her last year's trip in France. Yaway followed her intuition for this track. Before Dope flew back to US, we wanted to make a video in a very short time so we called Clara Leac and she put it together with a small creative team. At the same time Clara directed another music video featuring Dope, Yaway and Rabichow (rapper from LA) that will be release soon for Eskazed's new solo album
What are your predictions for 2016?
On one hand we are finishing two new tunes. One with Chloe Grupallo who is a friend and also a good sax player, lucky we are! And one with the singer Don Camilo, it will be reggae! On the other hand, we have to work on live set because we have enough tracks produced, and we would like to make people dance on, so, on a du pain sur la planche!
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