Interview with LMFAO: Laughing Their Way To The Top

It’s undeniable—the guys of LMFAO are a two-man wrecking crew. Decked out in white skinny jeans, hi-top, neon sneakers and bright T-shirts adorned with dizzying geographic prints, RedFoo and Sky Blu can turn heads simply by entering the room. But their outrageously quirky style is merely the beginning of their essence. The uncle and nephew duo, respectively, know how to bring the party with their outrageous dance moves and carefree, fun-loving attitudes. Since their inception in 2006, LMFAO have bombarded radio stations with their tracks, graced their presence on a number of hit records like David Guetta’s “Gettin’ Over You,” and even appeared on an episode of MTV’s The Real World.

The “electro-hop” duo made their mainstream break by providing the theme songs for smut-reality hits Kourtney And Khloe Take Miami (“I’m In Miami, Bitch”) and Jersey Shore (“Get Crazy”). However, LMFAO were hardly done with their time in the spotlight. Since their early beginnings performing in the club scene and simply “party rocking,” RedFoo and Sky Blu have proven their mastermind in concocting contagious tracks that will urge even the biggest stiffs to bust a move. But with their newest album, Sorry For Party Rocking, the Los Angeles-based DJ/dancer/rapper hybrids have more than delivered on their promise for quality dance hits. Although songs like “Shots” and “Champagne Showers” ooze quintessential LMFAO, this summer’s star is “Party Rock Anthem (ft. Lauren Bennett and GoonRock).” With entrancing synth work, hypnotizing beats and RedFoo and Sky Blu’s effortless flows, the feel-good track screams summertime, and is practically implanted in the eardrums of radio listeners. Not to mention the countless number of listeners that have tried to attempt the LMFAO shuffle.

The buzz surrounding the sophomore album has officially deemed LMFAO the new ambassadors of partying. As a result, they are bringing hip-hop and club music closer than ever before. Now on tour with fellow party monster Ke$ha for The Get $leazy Tour, it’s clear that this is merely the beginning of LMFAO.

Sky Blu took time out of his schedule to discuss how the duo prepares for a performance, what it’s like to have a legend for a grandfather, and the importance of following your dreams a mere 25 minutes before hitting the stage at the Raleigh Amphitheatre in North Carolina.

You guys have been touring with Ke$ha for the last month or so—you’re actually in North Carolina tonight for a performance. I can only imagine what an outrageous experience that has been. What do you guys do to hype up and prepare to put on a great performance?

It’s been amazing—crazy. The fact that we’re going to be performing just hits us right when we go on the stage. We’ll just be joking around backstage and having fun, and then the song hits and then we’re about to come out. We’ve always been on the stage or performing so it just kind of comes to us.

You and Redfoo seemingly grew up in the music industry. Motown mastermind Berry Gordy is your grandfather and Redfoo’s dad. How did being directly exposed to music and the industry at a young age affect your direction in life and the type of music you gravitated towards?

We learned how to carry ourselves and we learned what successful people do. When you’re a kid you mimic people all the time just trying to figure out who you are. We actually were around people like Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, all of these amazing people, and we observed things like how they walk. I think that contributes to how we are and how we operate. We took a little bit from everybody and it rounded out to how we are today. So you know from all of these great songwriters, to all of these artists—even Rick James (laughs)—they really left an impression on us. I think just really watching and listening has helped us find out who we are.

Yeah, I actually read an article that explained you were really big fans of Michael Jackson. To that end, your video for “Party Rock Anthem” is this awesome hybrid of “Thriller” and an apocalyptic dance party. Was the “Thriller” theme something you knew you wanted to include?

Yeah, I mean, “Thriller” is one of our all-time favorite videos, and we definitely wanted to have a dance craze like that video… It’s so amazing that we created something that spread around the whole world and kind of got everyone to dance to the same groove, you know what I’m saying? That’s dope.

And to that end, congratulations on having the biggest single of the summer and possibly the last five years! With the entire album Sorry For Party Rocking, what elements did you guys want to feature?

We’re really just influenced by, and wanted to incorporate, the current reality we’re living. Like when Kanye first started off he was talking how he was making a spectacle, how to stay on top, things like that. So when me and Foo first started out in the clubs, and we were so happy to be in there… Now, people love us in the club. We’re like a spectacle, we’ll come in the club and everyone will be watching us. We’ll be able to be able to spray champagne on everybody and they’re like, “Yeah! Let’s go crazy!” So, we made a song called “Champagne Showers.” It’s just our reality—it’s what we live and what we’re doing.

The evolution of LMFAO is just work who we are, we have to be where the parties are and we have to create the community, you know what I’m saying?

One thing that has stuck out to me about LMFAO is that you have said, “There are no rules in dance music.” And I honestly think that’s one of the reasons why people connect with you so much.

Yeah, I mean that’s the most awesome part. All of our lives people have been talking about rules. Like, you’ve got to go to college—I dropped out of high school. I don’t even have a GDE or anything—I just dropped out. That’s just what I wanted to do. “No rules”: That’s definitely true to what we say. We don’t like rules.

Yeah, and at this point I don’t think you regret dropping out, do you?

Not at all (laughs).

Now that you bring it up, in the music scene, there are so many young artists struggling to figure out whether they should continue to develop as musicians or try to just press on, finish school and get a job. Do you have any advice for people that are trying to make it in the business?

Don’t rely on anybody but yourself, basically. Don’t look for anybody to give you a handout. Don’t expect anybody to sign you. Foo and I didn’t set out to get signed or anything like that, we just said, “We’re going to make our music for us and for the party.” You have to do what makes you happy. Whatever your ambition is, in music, in life, or anything, stay true to that and rely on yourself. If something has to be done, don’t wait on somebody else to do it. Do it yourself; learn how to do it. Me and Foo learned how to press up shirts—and I don’t cut shirts. We Photoshopped our own logos, mastered our own record and wrote our own stuff, you know what I mean? I used to run back and forth to do lights for our shows, and we would run our own tracks! It was just me and Foo, no band, nothing. It’s really all on you.

It’s clear that you guys were self-starters and worked your way to the top. And now look at you—you have your own clothing line, you’re touring with Ke$ha, and you have the biggest hit of the summer. After this tour closes out, what’s LMFAO going to be up to next?

We’re going to be going out on a world tour. LMFAO, baby.

Oh, really? Are there any more details you can give on that?

No not really (laughs).

One last question before I let you go: If someone wanted to party with LMFAO, what would be the one piece of advice that you would give them?

Hydrate yourself, because it’s gonna be a long one.

Catch LMFAO when they open for Ke$ha at PNC Bank Arts Center on Friday, Aug. 19. Find more info at lmfaonews.com.