Classic Album: DJ Rap – Learning Curve
Higher Ground, 1999
Charissa Saverio (aka DJ Rap) had been tearing up the drum & bass scene for most of the ’90s, with tracks like Spiritual Aura helping define the genre along the way. So, when it came time for her first artist album, a long player of chemical breaks, dark electro pop, and guitar-based songwriting, may not have been what her legion of junglistic fans were expecting.
“It made sense to me,” says Rap. “I never really gave a shit whether or not anyone expected this album to be all jungle.”
The signs were there, though. The track Two Loves from the DJ Rap & Voyager album, Intelligence, is ground zero for all that. It was the song that caught the ear of Columbia/Higher Ground A&R guy Mick Clark, who signed her on the strength of it, demanding more of the same.
Charged with baring her soul and exploring this side further, she holed herself up in co-writer Bill Baylis’ bedroom studio, and the pair drafted the intimate demos of what would then become Learning Curve.
Aptly named it was too. Along the way she’d taught herself to sing and write songs way out of her dancefloor comfort zone. To beef up the demos, Madonna and Massive Attack collaborators Dom T and Aidan Love, as well as a raft of world-class musicians, were drafted in, and the team then set to work, framing Rap’s twisted, conscious lyrics with whatever musical backdrops took their fancy.
“I was really excited about blending styles,” says Rap. “There’s music from India, Africa, tech house, The Prodigy… mixed with Genesis and rock. I wanted something that would incorporate stuff I’d grown up with, plus the stuff I was feeling now. We didn’t know or care if anyone else would get it…”
They did. “The album went double platinum, selling a million, and spawned two UK top 30 singles along the way,” says Rap. “It changed my life. I went off and worked with everyone from David Bowie to Green Day after that.
“You have successful drum & bass DJs, but how many have played at rock stadiums with these huge stars? This record did that for me.”