Getting familiar with Clinton Sparks
- Oct 14, 2008
Clinton Sparks is easily one of the busiest personalities in hip-hop, scratch that, in the music biz and I was lucky enough to get some of his time. Have a read below and be sure to cast your votes for this article.
So you want to get an audience with Clinton Sparks. Yeah? Well, get in line.
See, getting an audience with Clinton Sparks can take time, something the guy doesn't have in abundance. To find him, you've got to thief moments when he's not hosting radio. Or producing mixtapes. Or breaking down new music on TV. Or writing tunes for the likes of Ludacris and Beyonce. You know...find his downtime. But what you and I consider downtime really isn't downtime in Clinton Spark's world. He always has something on the go.
"I have so much passion for everything music related whether it's the business or putting shows together, writing, producing, DJing parties, dancing, performing," Sparks said in an interview. "I always have much bigger plans than it may appear and am strategically setting things up with other plans in mind. It's very calculated."
This goes a long way in explaining how the self-proclaimed "Martha Stewart of hip hop" went from Boston radio stunt guy to one of the hottest names in the industry. There's his skill on the wheels - both Rolling Stone and USA Today named him one of the world's top 10 DJs. Production credits include Billboard-charted tracks for The Game and Akon. His nationally syndicated show is one of the biggest stars on Sirius Radio. Oh, he's gotten into television as well, hosting The Daily 10 as their resident music expert.
If Sparks was a decathlete, he'd be the guy pushing to do an 11th event. This never-stop mentality has skyrocketed Sparks into the mainstream - his ability to mesh a love of hip-hop with pop culture has won him favor with heads and celebs alike. Nowhere is that more evident than with Smashtime Radio.
With Smashtime, Sparks brings this I'm-gonna-do-everything-and-anything mentality to the airwaves, playing a plethora of music while rotating guests through his on-air party.
"Smashtime stemmed from the last hour of my show on Hot 97.7 in Boston where I would just go in heavy because it was the hour when everyone was leaving the club. Now, its syndicated in over 25 markets worldwide," Sparks explains. "I have also turned Smashtime into the hottest party in Las Vegas. I play everything from Hip-Hop to Rock, Dance, pop, old school, 80's. We also have surprise guests every week from Ne-Yo to Akon, Carmen Electra to the cast from the Hills."
Off the airwaves, Sparks has been holding it down as one of the most sought-after producers in the game. Most recently, he produced the title track for Bun B's "II Trill" that debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart. And while he's already worked with some incredibly tight artists, Sparks wants to keep pushing the envelope into different genres.
"A lot of people will be very surprised with what I plan to do next year with music, but I will never abandon Hip Hop," he explained when asked what artists he'd like to work with. "Jay-Z would be one. Weezer and Teddy Riley are some people too. But there are so many I'd like to work with in all different genres of music. But after I complete my Clinton Sparks [the artist] album, people will really get to know what I'm about."
Read the rest of the interview at Killahbeez.com.
