Remixing Biographies: Karizma
Below is a rewrite of Karizma’s biography on RA, using various materials found on Wikipedia, an interview on RA, an interview on SoundCloud, an interview with Gilles Peterson on MixCloud, and an article in the New Yorker. An attempt at improving the basics — using the active voice, removing clichés, putting the emphasis on the right places, fixing punctuation and spelling, and generally shortening things — it is also a personal exercise in applying “The Elements of Style”.
Karizma — born in Baltimore, Maryland as Christopher Clayton — is a versatile producer and DJ of dance music. Releasing music under various aliases, his work covers a wide spectrum: the moniker K2 is reserved for house-like edits of soul and R&B, and Kaytronik takes the listener into more thumping territory. A long list of other pseudonyms— Kwensey Klones, Deleted_Seen’s, Xander Knevermind, K-Man, Kayorcan, Kohesive, Kris Klayton, and The Very Ol’ Dirty Bastards — tells us that for Karizma, in true underground fashion, expressiveness trumps recognition.
As a 13 year old DJ, Chris cut his teeth playing at parties where musical eclecticism was the norm; he fondly remembers that “people didn’t go to house or hip-hop parties in those days, they just went to parties”. Playing to a variety of crowds, he noticed the difficulty of making people of different identities trust each other and blend, as well as the power of music to make it happen — his motivation for becoming an ever better DJ.
Going through high school, artistic pursuits became a way for the young DJ to stand out and connect with the various subcultures on the playground. One day, wondering about his uncanny ability to blend in with a variety of people, he came up with a fitting pseudonym for himself: Karizma.
In the early 90’s, Karizma followed the development of house music on a local radio show hosted by DJ Frank Ski — a pioneer who laid the foundation for the emergence of Baltimore club culture. In those days, Karizma co-founded Unruly Records alongside Scottie B and Shawn Caesar, and later joined the production team The Basement Boys. Another member was Sean Spencer — also known as DJ Spen — with whom Karizma would go on to co-produce and co-remix a host of signature tracks.
At the time, digital DJ tools were still considered experimental; when Karizma got his hands on one of the early models of digital players — a Pioneer CDJ-100 that was used in the studio of The Basement Boys — he quickly grasped the opportunities the machine offered. When the more advanced CDJ-1000 arrived in 2001, Karizma found the musical instrument he had been looking for — his DJ sets turned into the innovative live remixing sessions he is now famous for.
In parallel, Karizma began releasing music on the UK’s R2 Records, and met UK producer Atjazz; a friendship ensued, and collaborations followed in the form of remixes, mastering, productions, and b2b DJ sets under the moniker Exist.
Now established as a major force in dance music — featured on radio shows by Gilles Peterson and Pete Tong — Karizma never strayed from what matters to him: people having fun on the dance floor, and in the process connecting with each other across social boundaries.
