Pittsburgh's Girl Talk to release full-length album with Wiz Khalifa, Smoke DZA, Big K.R.I.T.

Pittsburgh music producer Gregg Gillis made an international name for himself mashing things together — the Spencer Davis Group and Texas rappers Underground Kingz. Procol Harum and Lil’ Jon. Black Sabbath and Ludacris.

On April 8, Gillis — better known as Girl Talk — will debut his latest effort, but this time it’s a full-length record mashing up his production with a trio of rappers from all over the country — Pittsburgh’s Wiz Khalifa, New York’s Smoke DZA and Mississippi’s’s Big K.R.I.T.

“I was able to get them to all collaborate on each others’ projects, because I was doing work with all three artists,” said Gillis, 40. “And as I was listening to it, I thought it could work really well as a group project. With my background mashing things up, it seemed like it could be a version of that.”

The result is “Full Court Press,” which will be released April 8, and it represents a new direction for Girl Talk.

“It’s closer to traditional rap production,” Gillis said. “I feel like it bridges the gap between that, and what I’ve done in the past.”

Gillis is a Chartiers Valley High School graduate with a degree in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve in Cleveland. He worked in bioengineering before turning full-time to music in the late 2000s.

Joey Kennedy

Pittsburgh DJ Girl Talk will release “Full Court Press” with Wiz Khalifa, Smoke DZA and Big K.R.I.T., on April 8.

Girl Talk’s mash-up records stacked hundreds of samples atop one another, stitching together a musical pop-culture quilt that not only kept dance floors moving, but also discovered quirky, interesting song combinations, like blending Mary J. Blige’s early-‘90s hit “Real Love” with 1969’s “These Eyes” by the Guess Who.

And while that sense of sonic experimentation is alive and well in “Full Court Press,” the surprise of hearing two disparate records blending perfectly takes a back seat to music balancing each MC’s lyrical style.

“Normally when I go into a session, I come in with hundreds of ideas ready, and maybe they pick one,” Gillis said. “With these sessions, they liked almost all the beats that I wanted to play for them.”

The pace on “Full Court Press” is much more laid-back than the dance-floor-ready sounds of Girl Talk’s solo catalog. It kicks off with the heavy, stuttering beat and airy synthesizers and vocals “aahs” of “Mind Blown.”

That vibe continues through much of the record, characterized by heavy, bouncy beats and melodic production that lends a wide-open sound to tunes like “How the Story Goes,” “No Singles” and “Put You On,” which is anchored by a Nile Rodgers’ Chic sample.

Gillis said the one-off collaborations he’s done in recent years helped to both prepare him for doing a fully collaborative album, and helped him realize the benefits of not being in full creative control.

“I spent so many years working alone,” he said. “It’s both exciting and challenging to be pushed creatively, and in the best situations, you find yourself enjoying someone else’s ideas more than what you originally had planned.”

But true to his roots, when Gillis debuts songs from “Full Court Press” at his largely-sold-out upcoming tour, fans may not recognize them instantly.

“A lot of the stuff from this album won’t get played straight through live,” Gillis said. “It’ll get remixed into a context that works better for a party atmosphere.”

The tour, which kicks off March 31 and comes to Pittsburgh’s Stage AE on April 30, is the first time Gillis has done a large number of club dates, as opposed to larger music festivals and one-off performances.

For now, however, he’s fine-tuning his stage show and looking forward to the release of “Full Court Press.”

“It turned out significantly different that what I originally expected,” he said. “It’s a unique intersection of all of our work.”

“Full Court Press” will be released April 8 through Asylum Records and Wiz Khalifa’s Pittsburgh-based production company, Taylor Gang Entertainment.