Q&A: Crankdat talks music, experimenting in multiple genres and more at Gainesville show

With a yellow backward hat restraining his long, dark hair, his DJ gear in hand and a sleepy yet genuine smile on his face, electronic music powerhouse Crankdat takes a seat in Phi Kappa Tau’s president room to talk music.

The Ohio-based artist has had a whirlwind of a year. In early 2017, the former Division 1 athlete made the decision to drop out of Kent State University and pursue music full time.

Flash forward to 2018 and that decision has paid off for Crankdat. He’s pushed out collaborations with artists like T-Pain, Lookas and Jauz (with a collaboration with Marshmello on the way). He started his own radio show titled “Gear Up Radio” and performed on stages around the world, doing almost all of it before hitting the legal drinking age – he just turned 21 one month ago.

While spending just over 12 hours in Gainesville to perform at Phi Kappa Tau’s annual Oasis event on March 30, I had the opportunity to chat with Crankdat, known less commonly by his real name, Christian Smith. We talked about juggling school and producing, how he tackles being one of the youngest producers out there, progressive house and music in general. Find our full Q&A below:

Q: Did you think when you dropped out last year that you would’ve come this far in a year’s time?

Christian: I really don’t know. I have this thing that I say that has kind of caught on, sort of like just a life motto for me. It’s that you hope for all of it, but you expect none of it. I didn’t really expect anything. I just knew where my heart was and also where my heart wasn’t… and when opportunity comes knocking, you kind of just have to jump on it no matter where you are, what the situation is. And that’s exactly what happened for me. I just had a lot of stuff that I had built up over time that was ready for me to launch into, and I just had to take that leap of faith into the music world and just say goodbye to school and track.

Q: What advice would you have for someone who is contemplating taking that leap of faith?

C: I feel like a lot of musicians would say, “go for it, follow your dreams.” And I think that’s what you should do, and I think that holds true to a certain extent, but I think there’s also a lot to be said for finding a nice balance in your life for as long as you possibly can.… I would definitely advocate to try to find it within yourself to work that balancing act and try to do as much as you can and give it all as much as you can at the same time until you really physically don’t have enough time in your day to feel healthy and do what you love.

Q: You just turned 21, happy late birthday! You join a few other producers who are rising right now that are by far the youngest in the game. How do you feel like your youth helps you bring a fresh twist to the genre?

C: I think people associate being young with being fresh and new to the game and having a lot of potential, but I don’t think that’s always the case. I think that anybody can have potential, it’s just about how hard you work at it and how much you want to do it, and I guess, to a degree, how talented you are, but mainly just how much you want it.… I don’t want to say it’s more of a downfall, but it’s also just difficult because I’m young. We’re young, whoever else you’re thinking of that’s a younger producer. We are young in age. We don’t know much about life yet, let alone music, let alone dance music, let alone anything. We’re just young all around. So there’s just still so much for us to learn, but that’s also kind of a blessing because there’s so much for us to learn, you know, there’s so much room for improvement.

Q: In the few years you’ve been making music, it’s obvious you can experiment in a lot of different genres and do each one justice. Do you have one that’s your favorite?

C: I don’t know. That’s actually kind of my problem is that I really like all the subgenres of dance music, and I like to make all the subgenres of dance music. I don’t think that there’s too many people doing that. I think a lot of the industry celebrates having a niche, and that’s just one thing I can’t really find myself doing is finding one particular sound and just staying there and going straight with it because my musical taste is way too diverse for that. I like way too many different things, and I enjoy making way too many different things.

Q: Especially with Miami Music Week and Swedish House Mafia’s reunion, I noticed you shared a little bit about progressive house coming back on social media. Do you think you’ll make anything of that genre in the coming months?

C: I would want to find a way to work on that and make it a little bit more modernized.… In its prime in 2011, 2012, 2013, that era, that’s when I got into dance music myself, and I wouldn’t want to do just a copy and paste of that. I’d want to find a way to take that and bring something new to the table. We’ll find out.

Q: What can you tell me about your Marshmello collaboration?

C: I’m not really allowed to say much right now except for the fact that it exists. I can also tell you we’re working hard on it, and it will be really good, and we’re both paying due diligence in making sure that it will be the best possible product that will come from us both working on a song together.

Q: In 2018 you’re on EDC Vegas’ lineup; Sunset (Music Festival); you’ve got a Hakkasan residency. How does it feel to be back at a college playing for a bunch of college kids?

C: It’s cool! I’m not discriminatory between the shows. They’re all fun and beautiful in their own way. Vegas is totally different from an EDC festival… They have their own way of being really fun and intriguing and also challenging. I like to step up to that challenge and put on a good show for whatever situation I’m in. I like them all the same.

Q: What’s coming next for you?

C: I’m just working my ass off. I just wrapped up my Outcast tour… Now I’m spending a lot more time back at home just trying to put as many hours in the studio as I can and just trying to grind out some music and get my stuff prepared to take on the rest of the year.

At 21 years old, Crankdat has taken the electronic industry by storm since his music began taking off in 2015.