DJ Burn One pushes country rap boundaries with ‘Greenwood’

The DJ-turned-producer talks his sprawling 30-song compilation, featuring Starlito, Scotty ATL, Rittz, Rome Fortune, and more

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  • Aditya Pamidi / @thewaywardminds
  • DJ Burn One



DJ Burn One’s latest compilation, Greenwood, is named after a Virginia-Highland side street near the Majestic Diner. There, inside a blue-green house/studio now pictured on the mixtape’s cover art, he found his footing as a producer and bandleader. As other aspiring artists filtered in from noon to sunrise to record songs, Burn One formed his in-house band, Five Points, with Ricky Fontaine (guitar), Walt Live (keys), and the Professor (bass), to specialize in well-crafted Southern country-rap. However, the sprawling Greenwood isn’t to be mistaken for a greatest hits album. Some songs feature increasingly known emcees with whom Burn One has worked before (Starlito, Scotty ATL, Rittz), whose authoritative drawls help recall Five Points’ inherent, Memphis rap-inspired roots. Others songs feature relative unknowns from Atlanta, and with their lyrics set to spacier expanses than what Burn One has produced before. Many tracks are from 14 projects due out in the next few months.

Over the weekend, Burn One explained how Greenwood, out January 13 on LiveMixtapes, looks to both the past and future.

What did you want to prove with Greenwood?
When we did instrumentals album The Ashtray, nobody really knew that those were my own beats. They didn’t recognize me as a producer. People were still like “Oh, you got beats?” Damn. The A$AP Rocky project was one of the biggest things I’ve done. So a mission statement project — that’s what The Ashtray was. I felt like after that, people recognized me as a producer. I was building this sound, but I didn’t spend as much time putting out the music that we were working on in the past two or three years. GREENWOOD is a peace offering: This is where I’m at and where I’m going. I’ve never dropped a 30-song project before, and I never intend to again.

What influenced that sound?
I’ve been trying to find, not purposefully weird stuff, but simple and open — doing as much as possible with less. There’s this group called Junip. I love Animals. I like Phantogram. I just found out about shoegaze — that shit is crazy. I was always listening to old soul records like Willie Hutch, stuff I grew up on to a certain extent. Now I’m realizing that there is so much music.


To me, Greenwood pushes the boundaries of country rap. Was that deliberate?
Country rap is where it started, and it’s always going to be the end game, but there’s definitely an evolution. I don’t know if that was something we were trying to prove, but with the kind of music we’re making — it is what it is. I watch a lot of these artists sessions. Big and Rich went on there, talking about their approach: You gotta make whatever the hell you want and hope people like it. You can’t make it with any other intent, other than this is what you want to make right now.

Of the songs featured on Greenwood, which are you most proud?
I’d say the iNDEEDFACE record, “Javelin.” It’s indicative of the album Who Killed the Last Dragon, which comes out in two weeks. There’s so many different influences and vibes, I’m waiting to see what the writers say. Some of the stuff we vibed with didn’t come out that way at all.

iNDEEDFACE, Scotty ATL, and Rittz have the most appearances. I’m most proud of those guys, because they came up with me to a certain extent. I’ve always felt partial to the underdogs. People are like “Why don’t you go work with Gucci Mane again?” Because that’s not a challenge. We’ve already done that. If he came to me with work, we can do that, but I’m not going to chase this man down. I’ve got other artists who are hungry. I’ve always prided myself on finding those artists. There are probably a bunch of people that you haven’t heard of at all, like “Who the fuck is Couleen LaGon?”

You’ve helped mold the current hip-hop climate, from discovering artists like Gucci to showing how a mixtape can be treated like an album. How do you see yourself fitting in now?
I honestly have no idea. I tried sending something to Complex two months ago, and they were like “We haven’t covered him in two years.” I was like “I’m over with.” I feel like I carry cachet because of what I’ve done and what I continue to do. Really, this year is about reestablishing that and going to the next level, whatever that may be.

I’m trying to work with more vocalists. I enjoy rap, I love it, it’s great, but it can’t be my be-all and end-all. It’s not accepting enough. I always try to tell artists, you cannot sound fresh over a played track. You can be rapping the most realest shit or the newest flow, but if the music sounds played people are going to skip it. You’re going to sound like you’re on an old Waka Flocka Flame record or an old Rick Ross record. I’m about moving forward, and the only people I want to have around are people who are willing to go there.

Greenwood’s featured artists are those people.
Absolutely. SL Jones’ new album, I think it’s coming out in February. We produced the whole thing. We went into it listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers and Incubus. That’s one where you’re going to hear no country rap tunes. That didn’t mean that Jones didn’t want my style, but for this type of project he wanted something a little different. We’re about to shoot a video for a record off there, so you’ll get a taste for what’s in store soon.

I’m getting over song formulas. Genres, nobody cares. The generation I come from, everybody likes everything. The rednecks who were trying to fight black kids in school were riding out bumping Tupac. The black kids were listening to Coldplay. I haven’t heard anybody say “Oh, I only listen to country” or “I only listen to rap” for a long time. I know some of the most gangsta dudes who love Elton John. That’s where we’re at in the world, and I want my music to reflect that.