He’s an extreme sports enthusiast, thrill-seeking daredevil and the creative vision behind the “Party Rock” movement that has dominated global pop culture for the past six years. He is Sky Blu – one half of LMFAO – the eccentric American duo who brought us dance anthems; ‘I’m Sexy and I Know It’, ‘I’m in Miami Bitch’ and ‘Party Rock’.
Born in LA, Sky always knew he was going to be a performer. Though he dropped out of high-school with no qualifications, his vision to make music for the world to dance to, kept him focused. In just four years, Sky and his side-kick, Redfoo would realise their dreams with the release of two chart-topping albums; “Party Rock,” which debuted in 2009 and garnered a Grammy® nomination for “Best Dance Album”, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for six consecutive weeks and reaching #1 in over 19 countries. Followed by the 2011 release of their sophomore album, “Sorry for Party Rocking” which picked up six impressive Billboard Awards.
To date, LMFAO have sold over 7 million albums in the US alone. They’ve performed with Madonna at the NFL Superbowl and their wild YouTube videos have generated over 650,000,000 views. Not bad at all for two guys who did it all on their own.
And now Sky Blu is ready to introduce his alter-ego, The Party President: 8KY 6LU to the world with his debut single ‘Go on Girl’ and his message is simply FXCK YEAH which means to live one notch above incredible.
You’ve had phenomenal success with LMFAO, what has been the highlight so far?
Performing at the Superbowl was one of the biggest and being no.1 around the world was huge. We’ve done so many amazing shows but the true biggest highlight was when Foo and I first started, I was living in my car and Foo took me in and let me sleep underneath his drum kit in his apartment and together we dreamt about being no.1 around the world and selling out the Staples Centre. And within four years we did that from nothing.
You released your first solo-album, “Rebel Music” as a free download to your fans last year. Why for free and how well has it been received?
Very well and it’s surprising to me because it’s my first solo album, it meant so much to me and I wanted to put it out for free because I feel that people look at things you put out for free as not having any value, but to me, there is so much more value than money can ever represent in something that you love and you created.
So you’ve worked with some big artists already [The Black Eyed Peas, David Guetta, Pitbull, Katy Perry and Lil’ Jon], is there an artist in the charts right now you’d like to collaborate with?
There’s a lot of artists that utilise other artists because they don’t have the fan reach. I think that’s for the wrong reason and it doesn’t really make the best for the song. It doesn’t help to grow anything. Other than my Big Bad University family, my next project won’t have any features from anyone else because I want people to know who I am and to see my true expression.
Have you met anyone along the way who has given you bad career advice?
Yes! But I can’t say who. They told me, you need to leverage other artists or you’ll never surpass LMFAO and you’ll never do what you think you’ll do. There are so many depressed people who are part of the Entertainment industry. The world would be so different if the art that we all love was treated properly and I want to be one of the people that makes that change.
It’s about trusting yourself and not allowing people who haven’t made it in their life to where they want to be, influence you to not believe that you can go further.
You’re only as good as the people you keep around you. Me and my friends at the Big Bad University all believe in love first, we understand each other’s perspectives and we’re able to get so much done because of it. I feel very blessed.
What is the Big Bad University and how can we sign up?
I see the Big Bad University being like a real Harvard- a Dreamers school. I dropped out of high school with no qualifications. I want to create a place where it’s about the love of the art and inspiring the artist to be great. Not about ‘Oh there’s a good artist, let’s sign them and make as much money as we can’.
The first university is in Malibu, there’s a dance and music studio, a live room and editing studio which is all funded by me. As it’s a university, you got to be accepted to get in. Everybody can be Big Bad but not everybody is.
As your alter-ego is The Party President: 8KY 6LU, what three things would you change if you were made President of the World for a day?
I’d make bullying illegal. I’d make weed legal and I would do away with all money and find a better way. I would inspire people to be self-sufficient, to learn how to grow their own food. I think we evolved with technology when we could have evolved with nature too. It’s important for us to do that because the future of the world is on us.
What does the ‘8’ in Sky and ‘6’ in Blu represent?
The ‘8’ in Sky means infinity, so I will always be Sky no matter what and the Blu is like my party-side. The ‘86 was the year I was born and 86 also means no more so I’m the only one.
Your music videos are pretty out there, do you come up with the creative vision?
I’m a collaborator. I think it’s cool to be a strong creator but when you have creative people around you, who you can work well with, you are able to get the best product by collaborating. I’m definitely very vocal. Every day I’m told to tone it down. I wanted to name ‘Rebel Music’ something else but I would have gotten into so much trouble so at the last second I changed it to Rebel Music.
What is the most important lesson you have learnt about success so far?
It is all about the people. The most important thing is the people. I get such a joy when I see somebody and they have such happiness because of the music I make. I take pride in what I do, I love everybody man, I really wanna create music that celebrates that and bringing the world together is my 100% goal.
Tell me something about yourself that will shock me?
I catch rattle-snakes with my bare hands! I love animals and growing up, there was a big mountain I lived by so when people would find snakes, I would ask them to call me rather than kill them. I’d go over and catch them just like Steve Irwin! He was one of my favourites!
And so, with his new solo album scheduled to launch in July, together with a 10 episode online TV show and a worldwide tour, it’s fair to say that the Party President will be kept pretty busy this year but not too busy to stop him from taking photos with his fans and partying with his Big Bad University family. And how refreshing that he’s doing it all for the love of it.
The new album ‘The Party President’ is available to download on iTunes. For more details on his other projects check out his websites www.thepartypresident.com and www.bigbad.com
Words By Ria Hebden