ill Valley: 2009

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WITH A ROCTAKON

what was growing up in dc-area like?
I grew up in Virginia, I liked it, skateboarding, smoking pot, going to see Fugazi, normal kid shit. in the early 90s dc had a lot of different stuff going on, you might be trying to sneak into a hip hop party at State of the Union (club in dc) one night and at a rave in industrial Baltimore the next.

It was a good time, only thing that sucked in that era it was trendy to be Tough, I always hated that shit, I never liked or hung around with thugs, guess its the burbs in me but it just never seemed necessary. That’s the one thing I really really don’t miss, everybody is kinda soft now, i mean way 2 soft but I’ll take these wet noodle motherfuckers over corny thugs...

So yea dc early 90s, everything was popping, punk, hard core, rave, hip hop, it was all around you so i just dove in...

how did you get into djing?
It was a combination of getting into hip hop and going to raves. Like when your 15 or 16 you cant go to a club, so we went to Baltimore and to rave shit. Trying to breakdance, hoping the dj would not play 2 hard shit. I was in a club and this dude played "bizarre love triangle" in a house set, and it was like a light came on, and i was just like "i want to do this"

It kinda has roots in a buncha places, rave scene, getting into hip hop, and in a roundabout way the alternative stuff i was into really heavy too.... But as soon as i touched a turntable all i wanted to do was cut up records and do hip hop shit....

what do you like about big club djing?
well, I mean first off its fun. Djing in big clubs where people are having a good time is fun. Its also not easy at all, people are corny and its easy to lose their attention in the age we live in. So i take a certain level of pride and enjoyment in doing the job to the best of my ability, beyond the music being shitty and the people being shitty, just doing this hard ass job really well is very satisfying.

the ill shit is nobody is gonna know except you how hard you worked or what you accomplished. Like i remember nights at Marquee were i would work my ass off to keep a half empty room not even popping just keep the room alive till 4, you want to know work that’s fucking work. One miss step and maybe your ok but two wrong records and everybody is gone in 15 min...

That’s the best thing about it doing the job, I don’t care about the music anymore or the party or the people, just doing the job that you know like really only a handful of people in the world can really do... I used to like the music more but I kinda gave up caring about keeping my sets not awful and i just decided to go lowest common denom to help make a lil more money...

what do you dislike about big club djing?
Mostly the people, i mean the music sucking is a given, like duh course i don’t want to play Danity Kane and shit... Really the worst thing about it is bottle service and the I’m better than you attitudes that prevail. all the club owners are in it for ego and money, but really ego cause its hard to make money in NY clubs... They really are the shittiest people ever, with a few exceptions. Its all about selling the 250 dollar bottle of goose everything else is secondary...

I mean I could go on and on and on for literally days about how much I hate it all, but its kinda simple really. The day that the money someone was gonna spend became more important than the who's who and let cool people in at the door the shit died...

The sorta soulless quest for the dollar in nightlife is so tedious after a wile. I mean yea get money but these people are next level pieces of shit. Also this kinda attitude brings out the devils, so you got a club that is about exclusivity and catering to wealthy or the wanna be wealthy the patrons are going to be mostly scum.

I don’t even fuck chicks when I dj at these places, like the girls are mostly so shitty i don’t even feel motivated to bang them, I don’t drink so i need a little conversation and banter before i can take something down and they are all dingbats... there you want to know what its like, its so shitty i don’t even fuck the girls....

best places / worst places to dj
Miami is probably the best city for your jiggy club shit. They love Grimey Dirty Hip Hop but also get popping to euro house. Most djs can not play in Miami. So like going to Miami and being able to kill it that shit is dope. Its a fun city its over the top and tacky but i always have a good time playing there.

Vegas is ok, it used to have more energy but in this economy people like "party sorta" Cause if your partying where its expensive you never really let loose cause everybody is really concerned about their paper... So vegas yea its good but 3 years ago it was insane, nobody gave a fuck and the clubs were nuts and all the djs were killing it. Now nobody cares and the clubs feel like "muted" kinda.

Worst place to dj
id say the current manifestation of bottle service clubs in NY is one of the worst scenes ever. I mean its dead but nobody will admit it, they just try and keep it going, its like going to dj a funeral, but nobody will look at the body. 1Oak will stay around and so will the B&T spots but the rest of ny bottle service will die in the next year or so and i say good riddance... Phoenix, Arizona, Texas, Chicago, Canada, and on and on...

I've had so many shitty experiences on the road, cause its not like these hipster djs who do a thing and it either works or it doesn't, as club djs we are expected to adapt to all these different crowds and rooms and be ill.... I mean I can go to a shitty city and play their club better than the home town resident a lot of the time, but that dose not mean its fun, its lowest common denominator shit like you just end up playing Move Bitch and Party Up by DMX its miserable..

Oh ASIA like I did Hong Kong and Taiwan... there you go, Americanized Asia the fucking PITS. WORST SHIT EVER. Feeling like a total failure at life traveling the world as a American dj and they want the worst fucking music ever and your just sitting up their praying some ones pulls the pug, When i djed in Hong Kong it fucking sucked so much dick, I was awful and I didn't give a fuck, I got kicked off by some English ex pat with his name on his laptop in diamonds, I couldn't have been more happy to run into a hating ass local dj... I went back to my room jacked off and finished reading Atonement... Japan was amazing and the Filipinos was really fun to, but that China shit worst ever...

what is your thought process when coming up with mixes, edits, transitions you use in your club sets?
you know i used to make all this shit but seratos features got so good i totally stopped. BUT.... I kinda grew up on hip hop djng, so like you do a west coast set, you do a ny set, you do an old school set, you do a classics set.... so like here we have this kitchen sink style djing, but im trained to think this way, so how do i put the two together... well, I would always be thinking, dose this make sense..... and like sometimes all it has to do is feel right but that enough.

I just try and do shit that feels right, this into that leads to this... how do you get from crunk shit to rock without having it be like "he just played a rock song" There is no thought process, when you flying and your banging out a night, fresh ideas just come, like most of the shit i would do just happened one night when i was feeling it, I don’t really feel it much anymore so maybe that’s why i've been so lackluster past year or so...

I compared to a few years ago I get next to nothing out of it. I still like a challenge and find some satisfaction in it but once you kinda taste the other side its hard to go back. Also i been going out to shit i want to check out and like Seeing Danny Krivit and Joe Claussell playing 718 Sessions on MLK weekend its kinda hard to go back to playing rihanna and ti and shit... I mean i got 15 years before im those dudes ages prolly so its not that serious im where God wants me and i got time to develop but knowing that don’t make it any easier to go back to work... anyway, its all about being creative in the moment, if im killing it my mind will tell me what to do, its trained that way, and ill remember and use it again...

how do you handle requests? anyone ever tip you something ridiculous to play a song?
Requests can be your comic relief at work, like just fucking with the girls acting gay or trying to get them to show you their tits or whatever, sometimes im fun and love requests just to fuck with the requesters other times im a moody cunt and scream at people... usually if your cool about it im cool about it, but most people are tipsy and self important... Asian women are the worst requesters fyi Pete....

Yea some football player counted 9 hundred dollar bills onto my laptop cause i was not playing the Plies song he wanted quick enough...

who are other club djs who you respect and you think DJ well?
there are a lot that i like, but my two real faves are DJ Crooked (another korean!) and Dj Five who both live in Las Vegas. They are polar opposite in style but both always do a great job. Crooked is total NY Slam in heavy hand baby scratch hood style dj but he’s so fucking good and so in touch with the people and the music he’s an inspiration. Five is subdued Asian scratch nerdish, but he just gets it, his scratching is amazing but he barely does it he just is quick and clean and always has the room rocking.

what is the downfall of most club djs?
I think people try to be creative to much, like a lot of people kinda emulated dj AM and that steez dose not really work in the reality of a Saturday night. Stop trying to be clever stop trying to MASH, stop trying to make the words in the songs match up, likes songs about money into songs about money.... just play the fucking shit people want to hear. People try to hard to be something they are not, just fucking dj, your a top 40 dj man play the top 40 records. Stop playing Tittsworth versions of BBD Poison and fucking play the normal shit, make the people happy your not a fucking artist, do that shit in your off time...

Id say that and motherfuckers with an "im good" attitude. Like mother fucker your on serato everybody is "good" This is a popularity contest and don’t forget it. being nice and kissing ass and knowing the right people and being likeable... you come over here with that "im good" attitude your finished, if your so good just be cool and prove it.... That being said I don’t know how i did as well as ive done in this dumpy world, cause im a total creep i don’t drink, don’t bang the girls, am generally unpleasant etc etc etc i think im just good looking and good at djing.....

what are your 5 favorite records
i mean really? really? I don’t know, real quick off the top..
Sylvester Over and Over
Inner Life Make it Last Forever
The Smiths There is a Light
Lamont Dozier Back to My Roots
Pulp "Babies"

that’s really quick, the Pulp is a recent thing but i cant seem to shake it so its there for now the rest kinda all time joints...

what inspired you to make this mix
Doing the Big Fun parties with lloyd, going out to see djs like Danny Krivit, like just going out solo just cause i felt like i had to. Super Family (shaeer and jamal)...

i don’t know just seemed like a good time to do something like this, people kinda coming around. Shopping at Dope Jams and getting more into the techno sound thru Jamal and that store, I know I know such a trend hopper.. sue me... I got kinda fat from traveling and then pulled it together and lost all the travel weight and was feeling good skating a lot and in ny a lot last summer so it just kinda happened..

Like i don’t think you can hear on the cd how much work i did and i mean that’s kinda the point, like i don’t want to stuff down your throat that i worded hard on it, but i did, almost every song i had to edit ahead of time so the thing would flow right and still have clean mixes, so almost every song is edited, then burned down to cd, then all the mixing is recorded live on cdjs so i did the whole thing live in multi takes. i mean, like stop, re edit a song mix again its not quite fitting right re edit again and again, im not trying to brag or this or that im just saying this is the way i work, I have to be happy with it that’s all when im like "this is ok im ok with this" then im done...

djs and producers in this genre of music do you respect
oh man so many, but any chance i get you know Timmy Regisford is the god, that’s the house dj for me, I mean Ive seen him a lot but not that much really but every time dude, man when shelter was way below canal when i first went, man this dude changed my life.

The Basement Boys too, like growing up next to Baltimore and hearing these dudes music all the time first on the radio then when I was working at 12" in dc, these where the hometown heroes kinda. I still have my Basement Boys t shirt from when Teddy Douglas brought a box of em into 12" that shit turns heads... Sabo was like WTF!!!!

You know MAW of course cause its MAW, Louie is an fucking amazing dj a real master.. Dennis Ferrier has been doing his thing in the new generation, people sleep on his soulful records dude can do ill tech and shit and dope vocals too. there are so many Krivit for being that ill NY dj that always delivers.. so many man......

why so much anger?
OK, like, there are a lot of reasons, first i think people mistake my intensity for anger, i think that’s from a movie, but it fits. I don’t know man this shit is like THEY LIVE once you put on the glasses your fucked. Like once you know what it can be your never satisfied with corny shit.

Also I like attention and i'll get caught in the trap of feeding into people shit, like i'll do that thing for a laugh and shit but they are laughing at me! not with me! I don’t know, i've always been like that super competitive and invested since day 1. I like it, sometimes it gets me into trouble and I've made mistakes and paid for them, but whatever. I like to eat my words too, like if someone can prove me wrong im happy to eat my words.

I think like I've always had a different vision and when the lab and so many of its associates kinda went in what seemed like to me a shitty direction i just walked away. Like I wanted it to be my time, but its only your time when its your time you know, do the work keep doing the work, and if god says so then you get your time as long as your doing your part. Im learning to separate my hate from my taste and just because I don’t like something dose not mean i should hate on it. But if that shit is inside the strike zone game over baby ima be hating all day....

im telling you, its like Thy Live for real, you don’t want to know what I know, how much i know about this shit. That’s why i love shit hole bars with ipod djs i love i pod djs and i think all NYers or at least downtowners understand the importance of that shit, that’s where i go to escape, Lit, cause who doesn’t want to hear "hey ma" between The Jam and the Ramones...