BBRS Interviews: DJ Bazooka Joe

Please introduce yourself to our visitors.
Peace, this DJ Bazooka Joe...Bronx born DJ/Producer/Hip Hop Junkie extraordinaire.

What was your first encounter with Hip Hop?
I've been there from day 1..literally, I was born in the heart of Bronx in the mid 70's and remember the days when there was no such thing as Hip Hop. The foundation of the culture was being built all around me and I was breakdancing & writing graf very early on, looking up to the older b-boys on the block…soaking it all in at a young age. I was at the record store more than the toy store as a kid & was just hitting high school when albums like "Criminal Minded" were coming out, so I go back pretty far and I was hooked right away. I always knew I was going to be involved, it was just a matter of time before I figured out how.

When did you start DJing and producing?
I started DJing in the early 90's, just messing around with other people's equipment and slowly got my own. When I hit college in about 92/93 I really started taking it seriously, I got introduced to college radio at Villanova and that's really where it all started as a DJ. After doing the radio show and meeting some local rappers I got into the production side of it around that same time too, it all came together pretty organically.




Are you still making Truck Jewls mixtapes?
Haha, no I'm done with those, it had it's run. It was my way to build off the radio show I was doing after college was over and get my name out there as a DJ on a bigger level. The last one I made was called "Progressive Retro" in 2008, it was my 10 year anniversary mix and that was the last one I actually pressed up and sold in stores. I still make random new mixes and do podcasts and stuff like that, throw it online and keep it moving. I'm always digitizing the old mixtapes & CD's and posting them up on my Mixcloud page or my blog ..so you can find them there.

Who or what inspires you?
1st and foremost my family inspires me, my wife and kids really keep me focused, but Hip Hop in general keeps me waking up in the morning. Being a fan/collector, I'm still hunting for good new Hip Hop and hearing new groups, producers, MC's…I never lost that part of my spirit and I'm thankful..a lot of people my age stopped caring about Hip Hop a long time ago and I'm glad that didn't happen to me. I'm no purist or complainer about the state of the culture these days there's still a lot of great music out there..it's much harder to find, and if you rely on radio & tv to give you direction I don't blame people for giving up on it, but I always manage to find an album a week or a handful of songs that make me want to dedicate my Saturday to making a mix, and obviously digging for samples, looking through old records to find that 1 piece that I end up spending a day chopping up and trying to make something out of it. Just being a fan of music at the end of the day is all I need.

What equipment do you use?
On the production front I've worked with a lot of stuff from the ASR-10 to the MPC, I still break out my SP-1200 sometimes but have been using mostly Reason & now Maschine a lot lately…a record player is usually within arm's reach and a few real musicians on the team.




Last year you produced the song "P.T.I. (Occupy Wall Street)" for Dres & Jarobi. How was working with them?
Yeah that was real special for me, working with them was incredible. Dres and I are friends..like real friends at the end of the day. I DJ'd for him for a few years and when you spend that much time with people on the road, bonds are formed. I learned so much from him, his grind and his approach to the art. He's a real good person and all around knowledgable guy on making Hip Hop and staying inspired. Jarobi is too cool... I met him after the fact, Dres heard the beat in my car and after years of trying to do something with him, I finally got him…he loved it and a few days later he told me Jarobi was on the hook, video was getting shot..shit just moved real fast, but it was great. I have a few other songs with them & I was at most of the sessions for the evitaN album...that's just like a group of real good dudes and we had a family thing going during that process, and I just learn so much from being around guys like that, it's a blessing.

Who have you worked with? Who do you want to work with in the future?
Last year I did a dope collab concept album with Impulss out of New Orleans, during that project I worked with C-Rayz, Kamackeris, Lyrikill, Truth Universal, Guerilla Publishing Co..I've worked with AG, El Da Sensei, Monsta Island Czars and on my new album I have Dres, Jarobi, Sadat X and Craig G on it. I did some work with King Phaze from Yonkers, some new guys like Big Bad Baragon out of Newburgh, NY…a young, hungry up and comer…and more work on deck with X-Ray and the M.I.C. camp..I have a project with GPC producer Prospek called "Bush League" that we're working on now. The list of MC's I'd like to work with is too long, but I will shoot a few out there and move on..Roc Marc, M.O.P., Rae/Ghost (together) Black Thought, Doom, G Rap and Slick Rick.




"The Slang Parade" will be released June 19th on Mindbenda Recordings. Tell us more about it.
This is my first attempt at making a compilation album of all original material, but also to serve as a sampler of some of the artists and projects that are in the pipeline. My music company is Slang Parade Music so this is kind of the 1st offering. I'm proud of this project, it took a long time to finish, but I got the chance to meet & work with legendary MC's and some under the radar cats that I believe in and was able to make something out of an idea I had..I wanted to make my album play out and feel like a mixtape but be cohesive and cinematic with the skits and sequence of things, I'm real particular about what made the cut, what song went where...I played around with many different versions before I settled on the one that just made the most sense from beginning to end. Half of it is all original and the other half is loose stuff I worked on but never put out or finished, so you'll hear a lot of short 1-2 verse splashes mixed with full songs…20 tracks but it doesn't play out as long as it sounds.

Will it be released as a physical product? What's your point of view on this digital age?
Yes we will do physicals through places that still carry them, like UGHH and of course on the Bandcamp page you can get the physicals. As for this digital age we're in, I think all the same opportunities and pitfalls are out there for a label or artist as there were in the 70's, 80's, 90's etc... they're just in different places, it's always been about building a quality brand that can solidify and cement a fanbase for you to be able to sustain some good yearly income, which is very much out there and you can do it from your house...which leads me to the downside..I have a song on my album called "The Fan?" by Sadat X where he hits it on the head, there are no fans left, everyone has a home studio is a DJ/producer/rapper or music critic/blogger…it's ridiculous but it is what it is, the technology has made it real easy for corny dudes to claim Hip Hop. I'm also trying to get away from e-mailing beats to people too, I want to be in the room with you and get that energy, it's a lost element and you can hear it in the music...not saying it's all bad, but there's something to be said about that studio atmosphere and creative energy amongst like-minded people.




How did you hook up with X-Ray?
X-Ray & I met through some mutual friends we both had and just met at his studio and I got to hang with him and Kevroc one night. I guess we clicked because we just started hanging out more often, not even on music stuff, but just being similar people and into a lot of the same things and a working relationship evolved out of it naturally. I had a lot of people around me claiming to be serious about things but for whatever reasons they weren't and X was always there making moves and he saw my work ethic and put me on the team. Mindbenda is in a good place right now, they are one of the few labels that maintained their credibility through the years kept their core fan base and now they want to branch out beyond the past catalog so be on the lookout, the King Cesar album is up next and we're working with the Knucklehedz from the Hit Squad days and a singer named Gabby Hayes.

What advice would you give aspiring DJs and producers?
Just keep at it, don't get down when beats get rejected or a placement falls through, just stay the course. Keep serious, focused & experienced people around you, MC's, producers, video people, graphic designers, managers, engineers..whatever, eventually it will take a solid team effort to really make it work, and if you have people around you that have done more than you, use them, don't blow off that person's advice or 'know-how' for the 'yes' man standing next to you or people who are more talk than action.

Any last words?
Well thank you for the interview & just find me online Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Podomatic | SoundCloud ..whatever..I'm out there, and support Slang Parade Music & Mindbenda Recordings, we're trying to bring back some good ol' honest rawness back.