Ultra Bae Afrojack on His Latest Collaboration With G-Star RAW
Whether you can make it to Ultra this weekend or not, you’re bound to be wondering what DJs are doing when they’re not busy on a private jet or tearing up the stage at one of North America’s biggest music festivals.
And when Afrojack, arguably one of the biggest headliners during Miami Music Week, isn’t producing beats, he’s designing. On Thursday, G-Star RAW launched its third collaboration with Afrojack. The collection features sleek, comfortable, and trendy pieces that are perfect for lounging on a cross-country flight or pulling an all-nighter in the DJ booth.
We chatted with Afrojack about the collaboration, crazy fans, and the best summer ever.
Speak on teaming up with G-Star and how the collaboration came about. How does this tie in with you as an artist?
After working on prior collections with G-Star and also doing the sunglasses line, of course doing another collab comes natural. We’re all friends, we all have the same ideas about fashion. So, it came together really naturally. I’m a DJ, I’m a producer, I like fashion, G-Star is actually a professional fashion brand with professional designers. But, when I was a kid one of my hobbies was designing and it still is. When I spoke to G-Star for the first time, it really gave me an opportunity to use my artistry and my own brand to create some cool clothes, it worked out, everything sold out. So the fans were really happy about it.
What are you favorite styles from the collection?
The hats. The hats always. I really like the new pants, we did custom ones because it’s a 20 year celebration anniversary. I got to design my own, so it’s really cool.
The dance music scene is constantly changing, have you had to adapt? How so?
I don’t adapt, I just do what I want.
What’s a stereotype about DJs that you’ve proven untrue?
I don’t know. I think especially in America, DJs have a really stereotypical image of people that just press play. But every DJ I know has their own personality and a certain mixing skill. Most importantly, all of them have specific production skills. They actually produce the music that they perform with, they produce a lot of the Top 40 music worldwide so I think this should be respected.
Tell us about your best “summer thing?”
Every summer is like the best summer because I get to fly all over the world and play music for my fans and share beautiful moments with them. Every night is a summer thing.
What’s the craziest thing a fan has ever done for you?
I have a couple of fans who actually tattooed my album title on their arm or my logo, and I really appreciate that. I speak to them and they say “I’m just putting it on there because your music helped me through the time of my life,” or the messages that I gave really helped them get through certain things.
What’s the most difficult thing about constantly traveling for work? The best thing?
The most difficult thing is that you spend most of your time on the airplane so you don’t really have a lot of privacy, you’re constantly around other people. The nicest thing is you get to see the entire world and you’re doing what you love.
