DGAF Profile #5: Tiga - guest DGAF post by DON!

Tiga, born Tiga James Sontag, is a DJ/Producer/Singer/Songwriter/Remixer/Entrepreneur/maybe chef from Montreal. That's Montreal, Canada to you. How does Tiga stand out as someone who DGAF? First of all, aside from remixing, Tiga mainly collaborates. Depending on who he's working with, his role as the musician changes. When he's working with Soulwax, he's the “eyes that won't stop gleaming.” With Jori Hulkkonen, he's “Future Face.” Gonzales is “Piano Watcher.” He's known as a “certain vision and viscera to the funky picture show” with Jesper Dahlback. Finally, with James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, he's the “Off the wall Montrealer.”




Back in the day, Tiga used to host raves in Canada, but his career was catapulted into the spotlight with his cover of Corey Hart's “Sunglasses at Night.” The cover was done with Jori Hulkkonen under the name “Tiga & Zyntherius.” Even though the track was released in 2001, Tiga managed to go back in time and performed the track on Top Of The Pops in the 80s.

Based on the performance of the single, some could even argue that it was Corey Hart who covered Tiga and not the other way around. Also, by the way Tiga rocks that eye shadow and chews gum while performing, you know he was bringing DGAF to the 80s, even in 2001.

Despite the performance on Top Of The Pops, Tiga has rarely, if ever, performed a live show. However, he describes his shows and relationship with his fan as such:

“My job is to descend from above and sprinkle the crowd with unimaginable spices... There's a real feeling of community at my shows. The kind of community where a demigod can walk incarnate amongst the scum, but it's community.”

Indeed, we are truly not worthy enough.

But the one thing that sets Tiga apart is his presence. You know you're listening to a Tiga track even before you start listening to a Tiga track. His image is plastered all over the cover art and his voice is a guaranteed to be the focal point of the track. It's kind of like all the times I went to my friend's house and replaced all of the family photos with pictures of myself.














source: Discogs - Tiga

Not only is Tiga's music and voice inspiring for generations to come, but the lyrics are thought-provoking and often tackles social issues of today. For example, the lyrics to “Move My Body” (featuring Soulwax, but we all know the real brains behind the operation) is, “The power punch that beats the bunch” over and over again. Wow. Talk about mind blowing. When I was done listening to that track, I truly believed that the power punch could, in fact, beat the bunch. Don't even get me started with “Mind Dimension...” Okay, let me get started with “Mind Dimension.” The lyrics, “Every time I look into your eyes I see the future” really hits close to home with many people, specifically psychics. When the main hook, “Mind Dimension” comes in and repeats for 30 seconds, you know that you're listening to a track that was made to invoke social change. Tiga for president!



There are many things that sets Tiga apart from the rest of the competition and the man himself knows this. Even though many people have accused Tiga of being arrogant and self-centered (which Tiga agrees), Tiga is not selfish. Why? Well in his own words:

“Every morning, I leave a hotel. I check out. I give all the conditioners that I steal to a bum.. Any bum. It doesn't matter. The point is, it's more significant than the least I can do. And another thing, criticism in general: it doesn't affect me. THAT DON'T CHANGE MY HEART.”

DGAF quote of the hour? I believe so.

Tiga funds a group known as the Tiga-core. The group consists of individuals that look like Tiga and go around doing charity work such as building wells in impoverished resort towns. Think of it as some sort of PR organization. The outcome is extraordinary. Take a look at this side-by-side comparison of Tiga and a member of the Tiga-core:


Mind blowing, right?

Unfortunately, their progress is slowed down by Tiga-themed warlords or "Tiga-lords". Despite funding them as well, Tiga has little to no power over them. When asked why he doesn't just cut the funding, Tiga responded, after singing a song:

“It's a very complicated issue. Life's not black and white.”

Tiga the singer should not be confused with Tiga the DJ. While on the outside they look relatively the same, Tiga the DJ is the more down-to-earth alter ego of Tiga the singer. The key difference to tell the two apart is that Tiga the DJ would always wear a cap while Tiga the singer would not. Also, Tiga the singer would be more likely to be dressed up and probably would be wearing some sort of chameleon scarf. Additionally, I wouldn't think that Tiga the singer would dare to walk on bare floor, so expect a carpet of humans laid out in front of him.


Photo credit: Scootie

So remember, kids: Tiga with cap = Tiga the DJ. Tiga without cap = Tiga the singer. Another way you can tell if it's Tiga the DJ is if he's DJing. That's normally the biggest giveaway.



Just because Tiga the DJ is considered more down to earth than his singer counterpart, it doesn't mean that he too isn't DGAF. Take the aftermath of Hard Summer for example: after a couple of tweets describing the situation and vibe of the forum, Tiga brought up the real issue the next day:


Amen, Tiga. Four cheese is, in fact, way too many.

Or how about that tweet on the way to Europe?


Who knew that it was also possible to be DGAF in 140 characters or less?

Aside from DJing, Tiga also runs his own record label, Turbo Recordings. Along with his own releases, Turbo releases tracks from other artists such as Proxy and Popof. They also helped develop the musical career of Chromeo. Additionally, Turbo Recordings didn't just release techno and electro tracks, they also released some drum & bass tracks originally too. Talk about an eclectic DGAF label. In (the DJ) Tiga's words, “My philosophy is, if it excites me it will also excite somebody else.”(Source: Beatportal: Ciao! This is the Real Tiga!)

I could go on and on about how DGAF Tiga is. I could talk about how his captive reptile breeding program got shut down because experts thought it was too “indecent” to arouse monitor lizards with ice cubes. I could go and talk about how his favorite song is “Take Me To The Bridge I Love” by the Red Hots. I could also add in about how he pays his accountants in DJ lessons (Lesson 1: Timing. Lesson 2: Equipment). But I can't. Simply because it's impossible to sum up just about how DGAF Tiga is.

By the way Tiga, we're all waiting for that talk show!