Pause-Tape DJ Extraordinaire...
Yeah, that's how I got started.
2 bullshit component systems connected together so I could play 1 tape on one unit & record on the other. Did edits til my fingers ached all night just so I could take my "masterpieces" to school to bump at lunchtime & in the high-schoolers cars...
Next came
a drumulator & some attempts to mix & scratch to the drum machine, & sampling horn hits & shit to drop over beats. I was a fucking baby.
Cats who I really dug were Ralf Hütter & Florian Esleben (original Kraftwerk members from the late 60s-early 70s, their 3rd effort ushered in what everybody knows Kraftwerk to be), Todd Terry (early works), all the now-legendary Detroiters on the electronic music tip, The Latin Rascals, DJ Cash Money, DJ Hot Day, DJ MasterBlaster, Mix Master Ice (was sort of a local - much older than me), and Jazzy Jeff (for ripping shit at the Union Square), Mantronix ("The Album"), and all the hip-hop stuff I got on mixtapes from NY & Philly - I'd name more names but, the list'd be too long. Oh yeah, I dug Eric B., too, until I realized how sorry he was on the tables. Like I said, shit was waaay new and ill, even when Rakim & Co. dropped in 85 or whenever. Oh yeah, can't forget Theodore & Flash!!!
Late at nights when I lived in Cleveland, after it rained, I could pick up WBLS out of New York somehow on one of my stereos. I still got scratchy ol' cassettes with Red Alert all over them. First time I heard "Buffalo Girls," and shit like that. Got some of Dre's & Yella's old flea market mixtapes from out west from back in the day, too. I got mixtapes of some phat battles from the early-mid 80s (like the legendary Kool Moe Dee vs Grandmaster Caz Christmas Eve battle), & some other shit like:
Fantastic five, Cold Crush 4, Soul Sonic Force, Bam, Whiz Kid T. - maybe '81
Crash crew, Soul Sonic Force, Cosmic Force, Whiz Kid T - 1980 i think...
Treacherous Three 2nd Anniversaries, Cold Crush 4 Harlem World - 82ish...
I've been an avid record buyer since I was a kid (one 45 every Saturday after visiting the local barbershop), and by the time I was 13, everybody around me knew the best gift for me would be wax or a gift certificate at the local Record Bar or whatever.
First joints I tried to mix lay somewhere between Kraftwerk's 7th record "Computer World" & Cybotron stuff & old hip-hop stuff from the early-mid 80s, and the like. Prolly had to be in '82-83 or something like that. Didn't get serious about turntables for another year or two, though.
Did my first club sets at an amazing gay bar. I wrote "amazing" because, like many djs will tell you, if you wanna see a club sweat, work at a gay bar. Straight partying!!! I was 16. Moms wouldn't let me goto the club alone, always had to take my homie, and, like little bitches, we went to the bathroom together - safety in numbers type-shit. Played all kinds of stuff because for the most part, clubs played anything that was hot & folks would dance to, and there wasn't nearly the segregation (musical or racial) that we see today. Of course, I did the obligatory roller rink jams, schools dances, college parties, smoke fests, and so on.
Next club was a "college bar" and I rocked there 2 nights a week for about a year - got my first taste of people jocking my shit & sold enough tapes in 6 months to blow all my cheese on a waaaaaay too expensive car stereo sytem, and a record buying trip back on the East Coast.
Did several club stints in my area until I was about 20 & moved to ATL. There I did several gigs, private parties, and owned 1 club there (95 Broad Street) with my old partner. Worked with the founders of Ultimix (one of 'em is 1 of the 3 I credit with showing me how to handle a 12-hunnert), learning tape edits and how to remix - lucky for me I lived in the same town those cats did & that someone was looking out for a shorty to plug me up with peoples on some real shit. That experience shapes my work ethic to this day.
First college radio show at 19, first commercial radio love at 21 - the ol' "drive @ 5" mixshow. Since then, I've done several both stateside & also in Germany. The German shows are still in effect (mix CDs sent every month), 1 show is underground hip-hop, the other is more commercial & includes r&b. I also contribute to a large segment of a satellite radio show spinning international hip-hop. I'm still doing one college show w/my cousin DJ Reddirahk in Norff Click - she gets time-formatted mixes from me every 2 weeks. She's the on-air personality (and fledgling dj), and I'm the fool rocking the 'tables in the dark. What a great arrangement...
Funny thing, by the time I was 17, my moms knew what the deal was, and the only shit she'd ever lace me with was 2 copies of some 12 inch or LP - she'd get whatever the dude at the store told her I "needed" to have, and back then most hip-hop records were worth owning (at least for the time being), as shit was so new & different.
Been spinning house stuff since my cousin sent me 2 copies of Chip E.'s "Like This" (feat. K-Joy) back in 85. My record collection pretty much reflects all styles I mentioned and quite a bit more, but as far as me gigging or hitting folks off with CDs, the breakdown goes like this:
4-10 = commercial hip-hop & r&b
3-10 = underground beats & rhymes
2-10 = house music
1-10 = breaks and other electro-shit
Aug-Dec '03 alone saw 4 commercial joints, 1 underground joint, 1 house joint, and 1 old school (disco/funk) joint. I try to stay really busy. I did a pretty interesting turntablist cd, but decided to let it marinate while I coordinate tracking the different vocalists I want to guest on it - none of them live in the city I'm in, and I've only got vox from 2 so far out of 4. Hopefully march & April will see lots of recording for me so I can finish this thing and get it out. A few copies minus vox are circulating, and where I wanted vocals, I just worked the turntables, instead. All the beats were either produced by me with equipment, or laid down by me, piece by piece, with my 'tables. Mos def a labor of love.
On the production tip, been making beats since before I had hair on my face. Misc. production credits are irrelevant because I like the shadows & the shade. Maybe one day I'll get over it & stick my real name on my work, but I doubt it. As for high visibility gigs, I've done more than a few between 86-99 from NC to NY to Miami to a few countries in Europe either opening for the headline MCs, doing the after-parties, blowing the spot off some annual college jam (freaknik, aggie fest, spring bling), or battling some MCs dj.
Anyway, without typing anymore or listing every damn thing i've done over the years on the hip-hop/dj tip, that's a wrap...
diendolo
"King cut, you know you wanna slice, scratch so nice, gotta hear it twice..."
-Coast To Coast's Word of Mouth f/DJ Cheese-
damn, i LOVED that record...