RJD2

The West Philly DJ/label CEO was born a rambling man.

by A.D. Amorosi

Neal Santos

Mom and dad kinda nailed it when they named their son Ramble John Krohn 32 years ago.

"That's my artist/liberal/freewheeling parents talking," says RJD2, the West Philly DJ and producer known for his restlessness.

Since his first recordings — 2001's Your Face or Your Kneecaps followed by Dead Ringer in 2002 — he's gone from rugged hip-hop to sampladelic soul to twitchy singer-songwriter stuff. He seems to have circled into a happy medium with his new one, The Colossus. He's self-released, then put out music on respected indie labels such as Definitive Jux and XL, only to take the reins again by opening his own shop, RJ's Electrical Connections. (And then there's the literal rambling, moving from Eugene, Ore., to Columbus, Ohio, before coming here.)

"I've always been a control freak anyway, so this situation just suits me," says RJ of starting Electrical Connections. It was a little scary, at first, basically unplugging from the world of the signed artist. "But I'm over that now. It's nice to not have a little imaginary devil on your shoulder anymore wondering, 'will the label like this song, or not?'"

Call it a quest for self-reliance. The one label he left, Def Jux, famously went on hiatus in February, with its founder and artistic director, EL-P, ceasing all new releases. RJ isn't ready to say much about his relationship there. When it came to buying back the masters to Dead Ringer, 2003's The Horror and 2004's Since We Last Spoke, he just made it happen. "You just go in, get it done — boom," he says.

RJ knows now's not the wisest time to start a record label. But he's going to keep things streamlined, using the imprint primarily as a vehicle for his own records. The overhead stays low to maximize profit and musical output. "I've got no office space, own the studio and the master recordings, and do the brunt of the work myself — it really is just adding another job on top of other jobs I already have," says the recording artist, touring musician and publisher.

His pal Diplo is going a different route with Mad Decent, which has a partnership with the bigger Downtown Records. "He's killing it on the licensing, and the touring, and the freelance work, so he's got a lot of ways to cross-collateralize label costs if he needs to," notes RJ. "My goal as a businessman is to not have to cross-collateralize things. I try to run things like this: If the tour can't sustain itself, don't do it."

When RJ famously sold his track "A Beautiful Mine" to AMC/Lionsgate for the theme song to Mad Men, rather than license it, he knew what he was doing. "I may have been reluctant to sell off the publishing at first, but those guys were into it, and I'm glad they spurred me into it. I wound up with the theme song to one of my favorite shows on television."

The cinematic quality of RJD2's work that drove AMC to his doorstep is directly related to what he sees as his strongest suit: producing. Arranging a song is about creating drama. You hear that on the grand arpeggios and echo-laden rhythms that fill The Colossus — the moody sampled swing of "Let There Be Horns," the contagious cool soul of "Crumbs Off the Table," starring vocalist Aaron Livingston. The album is a Whitman's Sampler of what's to come with RJ's Electrical Connections (including a record in the can with Livingston).

"I'd like to think The Colossus says I've got a pretty devoted interest in soul, electronic music and hip-hop, and that this might tie together the things I've done in the past, at least to have them make a little more sense as coming from one guy," says RJD2. "But who knows? That's all in the eye of the beholder. All you can do is put it out there, hope for the best, and expect the worst, like all things in life."

RJD2 plays Fri., March 5, 8 p.m., $15, with Break Science and Happy Chichester, First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St., 866-468-7619, r5productions.com.