Music
DJ Assault
born 1977 · DJ, electronic producer
Detroit DJ and producer whose raunchy, high-speed “booty” tracks of the 1990s made him the best-known name of the ghettotech sound.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 48- Birth name
- Craig De Shan Adams
- Also known as
- Craig Diamonds
- Detroit years
- 1977–present
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Craig Adams was born in Detroit and moved to the suburbs as a child. Growing up, he listened to techno and house on the radio, above all The Electrifying Mojo on WMXD, and began DJing school parties at 12. While at college in Atlanta he rapped in the duo Assault-n-Battery, absorbing the city's bass music. Back in Detroit in the 1990s he teamed with producer Mr. De' on the Electrofunk and Assault Rifle labels, and tracks such as “Sex on the Beach” made him famous in the mid-1990s. The style, later called ghettotech or Detroit club, fused Detroit techno and electro with Chicago ghetto house and Miami bass at about 145–160 beats per minute, with chanted, comic and very explicit vocals made for the jit and other Detroit dance styles. Adams himself rejects the ghettotech label. In the mid-2000s he founded the label Jefferson Ave., named after the east-side avenue.
Highlights
- Mid-1990s hits with producer Mr. De' on Electrofunk and Assault Rifle Records.
- The best-known producer of Detroit's ghettotech or “booty” sound.
- Founded the Jefferson Ave. label in the mid-2000s.
- Cites The Electrifying Mojo and Chicago house DJs as influences.