Kenny Dope: I Don't Do Politics, But . . .

"Every year we come to Miami. We hang out with our people, because everybody else seems to be running around, but it's cool. We do the parties here and this year we'll showcase something more electronic, so we'll see how that goes. Miami is a good place to be for us."

Chatting from an undisclosed location at Miami's recent annual music business convention, Master At Worker Kenny 'Dope' Gonzales sounds chilled as he contemplates another week of schmoozing, sunbathing and snacking (the larger than life New Yorker is already behind schedule after over-running on breakfast).

"I wouldn't say Miami is different from New York," he continues.

"We come from up North and I wouldn't choose to live here, but it's certainly a good place for a break."

Firmly from the 'it's-all-about-the-music- nothing-else-matters' school of thought, the Latino-house legend admitted to Skrufff in October to being wholly indifferent about America's anti-club RAVE Act ('I don't know about that whole drug scene, I only play records', he sniffed) so it's unsurprising that he's similarly dismissive of DJs getting involved in Rock The Vote.

"Rock the Vote- What's that-" he snorts.

"I don't get involved with that stuff. To me, political stuff is on a different level from what I do."

What he does, of course, is to make, mix and release usually Latino tinged house music, though his latest project, a retrospective compilation CD called Lifestyles: Kenny Dope Gonzalez, stretches his musical palette considerably further: Specifically to the 80s disco of The Jackson Five and the very metal music of Ozzy Osbourne's original band Black Sabbath. Benedetta Skrufff posed the questions . . .


Skrufff (Benedetta Skrufff): How easy was it selecting 16 of your favourite tracks for the compilation-

Kenny 'Dope' Gonzales: "I wanted to make a collection that would represent the real me so it wasn't hard at all to pick the tracks. I wanted a variety of tracks across the board that would reflect my tastes in music."

Skrufff: I was a little surprised to see you've included Black Sabbath's "War Pigs"…

Kenny 'Dope' Gonzales: "Everybody picks on the fact that I've chosen that track…"

Skrufff: It's a great track . . .

Kenny 'Dope' Gonzales: "I just wanted a funky, soulful rock record for the compilation and to me that is it. War Pigs is just one of those songs."

Skrufff: Were you a bit of a headbanger in the past-

Kenny 'Dope' Gonzales: "I liked Led Zeppelin."

Skrufff: War Pigs is also an overtly political record, what do you make of projects like Rock the Vote, the voter registrationd drive Paul Van Dyk is backing-

Kenny 'Dope' Gonzales: "Rock The Vote- what's that- I don't get involved with that stuff. To me, political stuff is on a different level from what I do."

Skrufff: P. Diddy said at a recent Rock The vote event that George Bush is against black people, do you agree with his statement-

Kenny 'Dope' Gonzales: "To a certain extent I do. He's not just against black people though, I'd say he's against every minority group."

Skrufff: Back to the Lifestyles collection, did the recent controversy surrounding Michael Jackson made you thing twice about choosing a Jackson 5 track for you comp-

Kenny 'Dope' Gonzales(sighing): "No, it didn't, and it hasn't changed my attitude towards any of Michael Jackson's songs, to be honest. What he has done as an artist is still valid to me, whatever his personal issues are, even though I don't condone those personal issues. There's also a chance that somebody may be trying to get money out of him by involving him in this scandal, I don't know. Nobody knows the truth yet."

Skrufff: You'll be touring in the UK again soon, what made you decide to play at Madam JoJo's in Soho (London) given that it has room for only 130 people-

Kenny 'Dope' Gonzales: "I've played there before, and it's no diff Tags

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