Greg Broussard is a dance music legend. Under his Egyptian Lover stage name, Broussard released several LPs and a whole slew of 12-inch singles in the 1980s, including the club megahit “Egypt, Egypt.” Broussard’s urgent, minimalist production style both foresaw the coming electro movement and helped usher in the golden age of hip hop.
The Egyptian Lover continues to tour and record into the fourth decade of his career, and he’ll hit Athens for the first time ever on Saturday, playing New Earth Athens as part ofAthens Intensified‘s second weekend.
Flagpole caught up with the pioneering producer via email, where he discussed his far-reaching influence and corrected one key piece of the historical record.
Flagpole: Give us the Egyptian Lover backstory in a nutshell.
Greg Broussard: The Egyptian Lover is the person I created to get out the ‘hood and become who I wanted to be. I would imagine what my life should be, and I sought out to be him. And oh, wow, did I have fun living up to it.
What was the dance music scene like when you were first coming up?
The dance music scene was a lot of funk and soul. Then came Prince, Rick James and Michael Jackson. This was an absolute dream to grow up during this musical time. Then came Kraftwerk, rap music and “Planet Rock.” I could not want to be in a better place or time then in L.A. in 1984. Everything was happening, and I put out an album and the radio played it endlessly. There was some really good music in the late ’70s and all of the ’80s. I was lucky to live it.
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