Kings Of Tomorrow's Day Is Today

Kings of Tomorrow is Sandy Rivera, a well-established New Jersey producer who's worked in hip-hop and house for almost 10 years. An outsider from New York's better known production cliques, he's nevertheless poised for global crossover success with his latest single, Finally, a vocal drenched disco anthem featuring the voice of Julie McKnight, (wife of R&B star Brian). Despite (or because of) being snubbed by one of New York's most reputable independent labels in the early 90s, he decided to launch his own hip hop label BlackWiz in 1992, which became Deep Vision Records in 1994 as house and family entered the equation (his wife co-runs the label). 7 years on he's released scores of acclaimed productions and remixes and released his increasingly popular debut album "It's in the Lifestyle" last year

"The inclusions of Kings Of Tomorrow's 'Finally' is worth the cover price alone, a glorious piece of vocal disco that sends clubbers into such a frenzy they all peel their clothes off and indulge in a Roman orgy when it's played." 7 magazine's ecstatic review (of their own new compilation '7 Live Jazzy M') is one of many such current pieces going crazy over Sandy 'Kings Of Tomorrow' Rivera. Skrufff's Angie Ng chatted to him recently in the studios at KL radio station WoWfm.

Skrufff (Angie Ng): You've experienced both the worlds of hip-hop and house; how much are the two truly merging from your perspective-
Sandy Rivera (Kings Of Tomorrow): Where I'm from, they're two totally separate things right now. Unlike before, when you'd be able to go to clubs and play a little bit of everything. Hip-hop does not want to know about dance music in any way, shape or form."

Skrufff: What about in terms of production; for instance, sampling elements of one another, hip-hop using dance rhythms and vice versa-
Sandy Rivera: "Everything's about the same in that respect, yeah. I like the way hip-hop is now with the big productions where they're re-playing everything and not sampling as much. Everything is more original with a richer sound. With house, you steal everything, it's all sampled and really raw. But that's what house is about. It's a feeling, and if you get it just right- even if the singer can't sing- it doesn't really matter."

Skrufff: Is there a particular story behind 'Finally'-
Sandy Rivera: "That's a really deep story, it's about a person who dies and meets their maker (God). Nobody really gets the point of the song by just listening to the melody, but if you listen closely to the words, you'll understand it. And that's its true meaning. It's a bunch of phrases that end up meaning something. Most people take it to mean 'I finally meet my boyfriend' or something like that. But there's a part of the song that goes, 'HE who makes worlds collide'. I don't think your boyfriend is gonna' make worlds collide. And then there's the line 'I knew you'd come knocking one day, unannounced like a thief in the night'…that says it all."

Skrufff: Your biog says 'there seems to be a newfound optimism in House'; why has it emerged now not sooner-
Sandy Rivera: "A lot of producers who are producing dance music these days were previously DJs and bought drum machines not knowing much about making music. And because they don't know how to play instruments, they only know how to sample things and I think they've just got better at it as they went along. It's just a whole new area. I mean look at 'Finally'; it's a huge song now but it's been around for a while and it's just now starting to come around. People are playing it everywhere, even in bigger harder venues. It'll just be that one song that stands out. It's a vocal song and they'll be like 'what is this' and the whole crowd's going crazy. It's the kind of track that many DJs wouldn't normally play."

Skrufff: Why do you prefer to use this band persona Kings Of Tomorrow rather than your own name-
Sandy Rivera: "A lot of people jus Tags

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