Party Animals

Make no mistake, LMFAO are serious about partying. It’s what they do; it’s what they rap about; it’s what they talk about. The larger-than-life L.A. electro-hop duo (DJ/rappers/producers—and uncle/nephew—Redfoo and Sky Blu) even named their debut album and clothing line Party Rock. They’ve made partying a brand and made a career out of that brand. After years on the club circuit, their debut single as LMFAO, “I’m in Miami Bitch,” put them on the map in 2008 and, having teamed-up with the will.i.am Music Group and Interscope Records, their debut full-length hit the Top 40 the following year with extensive touring (including opening arena shows for the Black Eyed Peas last year) as well. In their signature, ’80s-aping no-lens glasses and zebra prints, LMFAO are about to unleash their sophomore club-life soundtrack, Sorry for Party Rocking (due this spring). The garrulous Redfoo chatted to CULTURE about the greatness of dancing, how to get away with rapping about “big kahunas”—and why cannabis is here to stay.

You’ve said that you want LMFAO to be “so big that we can’t even walk down the street.” Why this desire for super-fame?

It’s not easy to get to that level, so I think it’s interesting to see how far you can take it . . . I’ve done a lot of things in my life and that was the last thing that I had not done—I had never got famous. Anybody can make music in their home and put in online and share it with people. It’s not hard to do that—and actually we did that for a long time before we became LMFAO. So it’s more challenging if you can do music and get the No. 1 spot or become so desirable that when you walk down the street people stop—then you’re really doing some stuff that very few people can do.

LMFAO is pretty DIY. You self-produce your music and have your own label. Can a band get as big as you want to that way these days? Or is that where will.i.am and Interscope come in—do you need that “machine”?

We want to be the biggest thing in music, but we want to be ourselves doing it—or slightly exaggerated versions of ourselves. Do you need the machinery? I don’t think you need them because you have the Internet; you have YouTube. Like, we were No. 1 on MySpace with no machinery; we had songs on the radio with no machinery. We chose to partner—because I went to school with will.i.am since the seventh grade and I’ve worked with him and made music with him and grown up with him. And he was there at Interscope and he was like, “Come join our family.” We kind of just gave [Interscope] a fire and they put gasoline on it. It’s extra gasoline, yes, but you can start this fire and spread it yourselves—it just takes a little more time maybe.

You provided opening themes for the Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami and Jersey Shore reality TV shows. Is placement on TV, movies and video games another big door-opener for bands now?

Sure, because it takes pressure off having to be popular just because of radio . . . It’s like having a hit on the radio, but it’s on TV and we actually get paid for it.

You’re lyrics aren’t always PC, but your sense of humor always seems to keep them on the right side of being offensive. How do you deliver lines like “Anna want it bad, she’s got some big kahunas” [from “I’m in Miami Bitch”] without coming across as crass or chauvinistic?

Ha-ha! Because of the energy behind it. People can feel that I’m having fun and it’s not degrading . . . so I just feel like as long as it’s funny and your energy is for the good, you could say anything.

You have a clothing line too. Tell me about that and what it says to the world when someone wears Party Rock attire.

It says, “I love this life; this world is like a party to me. I’m going to wear these clothes and express myself. I like color; I like fashion; I like to have fun; I like to have a laugh.” . . . And it’s basically a smoke-signal to other like-minded people—a “party radar” maybe!

But for all of your larger-than-life image, there are some serious musical skills behind LMFAO. Tell me about how you create your songs.

A lot of the ideas come from real-life situations or dialogue, “Shots” [2009 single, featuring Lil Jon] being a great example. A DJ friend of ours, Eric D-Lux, he always was like, “Let’s take some shots!” . . . He called drunk with an idea: [sings] “Shots! Patron’s on the rocks and I’m ready for some shots!” . . . And we got him in [to the studio] and he recorded that part and then we built the song around that.

How does Sorry for Party Rocking compare to your debut?

I want to get people dancing more. Like right now, a lot of people just throw their hands up and they maybe spray alcohol . . . but I’ve been dancing a lot and I feel like it’s a great thing . . . so the beats are really fine-tuned to dancing and there is some more melody. But it’s the same conceptual thing. We’re talking about the lifestyle of partying, what happens and the relationships. It’s like a sequel to a movie: slightly different plot, but the same character.

Even though you make full use of the Web, you still tour hard. However slick the technology gets, will there always be a place for live performance?

Oh yeah because the energy that you can feel live is just un-matched. You’ll never get that energy from a DVD . . . That’s what I think was the really big thing in making us legit—our show is just more than the album. Our show is the album plus! It’s energy; it’s connecting with people . . . it changes peoples’ lives and people dress up, they wear the no-lens [glasses] and they wear the zebra and it’s like Halloween. What would Halloween be like if you had to watch it on TV?

You’re L.A. through-and-through, both of you being born and bred here, and this city is currently home to a number of dispensaries. What do you make of the decriminalization of cannabis for medical use here in California?

I think that Sky is more medical-savvy than I am—I think he has a card and everything. I never had the card, but I used to medicate. My mom grew up in the hippie thing and we both [Redfoo and Sky Blu] grew up in the [Pacific] Palisades by the beach, so we’re very versed in this subject and this lifestyle. I think it’s cool. I happen to be drinking only, because there are interesting things that happen when you take this herbal medication. I feel it really propels you into the now, into the moment, whereas a lot of my thinking is in the future and a lot of it is running companies and dealing with a lot of people. And I can get real creative on [cannabis], but also my mind can go all over the place so much, and I can go in the moment and I can just stay in the moment forever—but I’m like, wait a second, I’ve got to finish this track! There’s the political issue and who’s making the money out of it. And I think the government finally figured out a way to tax and make money from it and that’s what you’re seeing. I don’t think anything’s changed with the dispensaries—the attitude of people seems the same as it was 10 years ago.

You call your music, label and clothing line “Party Rock.” What role does cannabis play in the “party rock” lifestyle and is cannabis big in your scene and amongst your audience?

I would say drinking is way bigger . . . I don’t really see a lot of smoking. It’s almost a non-issue. But a lot of our songs don’t talk about getting high—we talk more about getting wasted at the club! Some people party this way, some people party that way. As long as it’s good and you’re fun and the energy is positive and you’re celebrating life.

So would you be in favor of the full legalization of cannabis for recreational use?

I don’t know much about the issues and can’t visualize what would happen, but it seems pretty legal to me already . . . People that wanna do it are going to get it. I don’t think it would change much if it was legal. People would still choose, just like they choose with booze and cigarettes, either to do or not to do it.

www.partyrockpeople.com.

A FAMILY AFFAIR

Maybe it’s the genes? LMFAO have made their DayGlo mark in the music world . . . but that shouldn’t come as a surprise since it’s probably in the blood. Redfoo and SkyBlu are the son and nephew, respectively, of Motown record label founder Berry Gordy. Gordy was the man responsible for signing The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Gladys Knight & the Pips and Stevie Wonder.