Name DJ Assault

Real name Craig De Shan Adams aka Craig Diamonds

Occupation Filthmeister supreme of the ghettotech genre.

Ghettotech? A latter-day Detroit style, devised by Assault, DJ Funk and DJ Godfather, which blends the city’s ghetto house with minimal electro and the course lyricism of Miami bass. Assault’s words are delivered in a proficient and lyrical blend of hip hop and R&B styles, but the fact that his signature track is called ‘Ass’n’Titties’ tells you where he’s coming from.

Where is he coming from? The golden years of Detroit, of course. Adams was born in the city in 1973, and has been playing out since he was 19. Local recognition followed, but international notoriety didn’t arrive until 2001, when he released the Jefferson Ave album on his own label of the same name. Catching the wave of the electro revival, Assault became an unlikely figurehead for a cross-section of clubbers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Isn’t it all a bit, you know, sexist? What, you mean ‘Ass’n’Titties’? ‘Hoes Get Naked’? ‘Yo Relatives’, with its memorable opening line, ‘Yo mama, yo daddy, yo sista’s a hoe’? Yep, absolutely, but Adams describes DJ Assault as a character he plays, and his raps are crudely sexual rather than coldly misogynist (think Sir Mix-a-Lot for the 21st century). Add this to the fact that he’s pioneered a whole sub-genre of great, dirty electronic music, and you have a combination that’s perfect for a particularly filthy night on the dancefloor.

DJ Assault plays How’s Your Party? at the Sub Club, Glasgow, Fri 18 Jul.