BY EMILY CRAWFORD

In print | Published September 4, 2008

Until this Tuesday, the identity of the “special guest” opening for Broken Social Scene at this fall’s Large Scale Event had been a secret, albeit a poorly kept one. The loss of the element of surprise, however hardly detracted from students’ enthusiasm for hip-hop DJ RJD2, who will be kicking off the show at 8 p.m. this Saturday. I was able to ask RJD2 a few questions about the essentials — food and music — in a brief interview this past week. Here’s what he had to say.

Emily Crawford: Your newest album, “The Third Hand,” has been described as an extremely transitional album when compared to your earlier work. Do you agree? How is this album different?
RJD2: I would agree; it is different. But I mean, I would like to think all my albums are pretty different from the others. Other than the drums, this one definitely uses samples a lot less compared to the others.
EC: What influenced you in branching out from your usual style? Was it a conscious decision?
RJD2: Um, I guess it’s hard to call it a decision; it’s more natural than that. What’s normal is for people to change, tastes in music to change. I guess I would call it conscious, but not a planned or premeditated choice.
EC: Will you be playing much from “The Third Hand” this weekend?
RJD2: Not really, I think most of it will probably be pulled from my first two records. I won’t have my band with me, and a lot of the instrumentals in the new album would be impossible to recreate by myself.
EC: Which do you more prefer, playing college shows or shows at more public venues?
RJD2: Right now, I prefer college shows. I prefer the attitudes of the people who come; they’re more excited. In general, I also just like smaller, more intimate shows more.
EC: Who are your favorite musical artists? Who has influenced your music?
RJD2: In general, Stevie Wonder is my all-time favorite. Other than that it’s hard to say … it changes a lot.
EC: Okay, random question: What’d you eat for breakfast this morning?
RJD2: (laughs) Let’s see… I had some kind of peanut buttery, crunchy cereal. Yeah, you know, that peanut butter crunch stuff.
EC: And what do you think you’ll have for dinner?
RJD2: Today, I’m pretty sure I’ll make a linguine with seafood. I’ll throw in some basil, tomato, with some shrimps and scallops in there.
EC: That sounds pretty good!
RJD2: Yeah, it is. I’ve actually made it enough times now, so I hopefully won’t screw it up.

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