07: The Large, soundclash champion turned industry oracle

The Large is a perfect example of the sort of figure we want to talk about on No Tags.

She’s been a savvy behind-the-scenes operator for over 15 years, coming of age in London’s late ‘00s DIY clubbing era as a promoter, DJ, radio host and blogger. It was in the early part of the next decade, however, that she came into her own at Mixpak, the New York-based label that did more than any to connect the dots between the Caribbean, the UK and US in the 2010s. As label manager, Suze worked with Vybz Kartel, Murlo, Jubilee, Palmistry and more – but none made as seismic an impact as Popcaan, whose first two albums had Suze at the helm.

Her crowning glory however, came in the summer of 2016 when Mixpak (and a weighty extended crew) triumphed in London’s Wembley Arena at Red Bull’s flagship Culture Clash event, to a global viewing audience of millions. As we find out in this episode, Suze was at the heart of that success, organising hundreds of exclusive dubplates and guest appearances to leverage their soundclash victory, including Spice, Popcaan, J Hus, Tony Matterhorn, Sneakbo, Kranium and Drake.

We spoke to Suze about her decade in NYC, the mechanics of releasing music in 2024, the inside scoop on Culture Clash, dancehall’s historical relationship with the US-UK press machine, the emergence of Latin America and Korea as global pop music forces, the difference between drunk crowds and ketamine crowds, and much, much more.

Thanks for listening to No Tags. If you like what we do, consider following us on Substack and social media (we’re @notagspodcast everywhere) or rating and reviewing No Tags on your podcast app.