The Egyptian Lover

Episode notes

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Photo: Jesse ThornThe Egyptian Lover on the early days of LA hip hop and electroGreg Broussard better known as Egyptian Lover got his start as a DJ for Uncle Jamm’s Army, a hip-hop crew based in Los Angeles.

In 1984, Uncle Jamm’s Army released a 12 inch single via Freak Beat Records. On Side A of that single was: Dial A Freak and Side B was : Yes Yes Yes. Both tracks were produced by Egyptian Lover. The tracks received a lot of local play at huge parties thrown by Uncle Jamm’s Army. At one point the venues they were filling up included the Hollywood Palladium and the Los Angeles Sports Arena. As a solo artist Egyptian Lover has released 10 albums, mixing Kraftwerk, Prince, a little bit of G-Funk every now and then, too.

In 2015, he released 1984 on his label Egyptian Empire Records. The official music video for the track Killin’ It is insane. Egyptian Lover transports us to his version of the ’80s – a total throwback to the aesthetic of the decade, with glossy computer graphics, rectangular prisms, polished sports cars and all! It reminds us of that Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror episode where Homer gets sucked into the 3rd dimension.

Jesse talks with the Egyptian Lover about the most iconic instrument in hip-hop: the Roland TR 808, and the early days of LA hip hop and electro. Plus what a 10,000 person dance party looks like, and how he bonded with his future wife over a Kraftwerk record. The ultimate meet cute!

Egyptian Lover has embarked on a huge summer tour. For tour dates click here. His latest album 1985 is available now.

Click here to listen to Egyptian Lover’s interview on YouTube!

This interview originally aired in January of 2018.

In this episode...

Jesse Thorn

Host

Kevin Ferguson

Senior Producer

Jesus Ambrosio

Producer

Richard Robey

Maximum Fun Producer

Daniel Huecias

Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Daniel Arón Speer

Video Editor

Guests

The Egyptian Lover

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.

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