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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.

Georgia Anne Muldrow @ Dubspot - Interview

Mommy I Need An MPC..

BBRS Interviews: ManOnWire

Who is ManOnWire? Where did you get your name from?
ManOnWire is my production name, my real name is Jamie Whitehead. I got the name from a 2008 documentary Man On Wire which tells the story of Philippe Petit whom in 1974 illegally performed a high-wire walk between the twin towers in New York.

What was your first encounter with Hip Hop?
I would say probably around 1993. I was mainly listening to grunge/metal & I heard a soundtrack from the film Judgement Night where Hip Hop artists collaborated with artists from the grunge/metal scene such as Teenage Fanclub & De La Soul, Biohazard & Onyx, Pearl Jam & Cypress Hill etc. Around the same time Beastie Boys released Ill Communication, Wu Tang released 36 Chambers & Cypress Hill released Black Sunday, three amazing albums which are now considered by many as classics. Early 90's was a great time for Hip Hop.

How long have you been producing?
I've been producing for about 8 years but it's only in the last year or so that I've made a concerted effort with it.

Who influenced you to start producing?
Listening to producers like Madlib & Dilla, how they flipped old soul samples got me wanting to produce. I have a passion for all things soulful which is mainly down to my parents playing old motown & 60's soul music when I was growing up. My father used to be a record collector so when I started producing I had a library of vinyl at my disposal which was a massive help.




What inspires you?
I would say just listening to good music made by humble people. Since I joined SoundCloud I've discovered loads of talented producers/artists, so everyday I hear some amazing music which inspires me to get better & try harder.

What equipment do you use?
I use a MacBook Pro, Ni Maschine, Roland SP-404sx, Akai mpk49, Digi 002 Rack, Ludwig drum kit, Ableton Live 8, Reason 6, Technics 1210's & a tonne of vinyl.

How much time do you invest in making music?
If I'm not working or watching sport then you'll probably find me either digging for samples or making beats.

Who have you worked with? Who do you want to work with in the future?
I've been blessed to work with loads of talented people, Ibn Hasan, Kid Icarus, Handbook, B.Lowe, YourManManic, Mez, Byrdversion1, Keith Price, MadColour just to name a few. In the future I'd love to produce an album for someone like Brother Ali, Talib Kweli or a UK artist like Jehst but at the same time I'm more than happy to keep producing for underground artists on SoundCloud.

What project are you currently working on?
I've been working on my own album for probably a year now so hopefully I'll finally get round to release it at some point in 2012. You can also expect some collaborations with various different artists & producers from SoundCloud in the next couple of months & there's talk of a possible production for a fairly big artist but I can't really say more than that at the moment just in case it doesn't happen. I've recently started a hip hop collective called Pragmatic Theory & so far we've released 2 free albums on Bandcamp & will be starting a new project with them in the coming months.




Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
It's hard to say really, as long as I'm healthy & enjoying the music I'll be happy. I've been talking with a couple of people about setting up an independent record label but what with the economy & the state of the music industry it hasn't felt like the right time, so I'd like to get that up & running in the next few years.

Any advice to upcoming producers?
My advice would be just immerse yourself in the music & dedicate as much time as possible to learning the trade as like anything in life the more you put into something the more you get out of it. I'd also recommend to any producer to get on SoundCloud & network, there's loads of independent labels & bloggers on the site so if you consistently release good music you will be noticed.

Any last words?
I'd like to firstly thank everyone at BBRS for your support & interest, I'd also like to thank anyone that has taken time to listen, download or comment on my SoundCloud page. All the amazing comments & reviews I get really does inspire me & I'm truly humbled by the love & generosity people have shown me.

Thanks to ManOnWire for the interiew.

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Juan Deuce and Falside, Repping Rhode Island Rap

Sage Francis put Rhode Island’s hip-hop scene into the national rap consciousness in the early ’00s, but Providence has struggled ever since to prove it has talent worthy of outside attention. “Rhode Island has always been a breeding ground for creative hip hop talent that is usually over-looked,” Providence producer Falside says. “Ten years ago the scene was bubbling … over time, MCs and groups moved on and the scene dissipated.” The success of local beat basher araabMUZIK has helped turn that around, but Juan Deuce and Falside are doing their part, too: Together the rapper and producer are creating swells in the Ocean State and pushing an underground scene back into the spotlight.

Apart, Deuce and Falside already have impressive discographies. Deuce’s most recent mixtape, Shits and Giggles, proved he could successfully navigate a varied range of production with playful charm, inducing ’90s nostalgia and earning a cosign from Sage himself as his favorite emcee to emerge from the state in five years. At only 22, Falside has produced beats for underground heavyweights ranging from Vast Aire (Cannibal Ox) to Jeru the Damaja, as well as Stalley, Action Bronson and Apollo the Great. His newest seasonal beat tape, Snare Conditioning, was an atypically airy offering that fell somewhere between his boom-bappy and experimental production styles. Building off the buzz of their latest respective projects, the two combined forces on Mechanics, which clocks in at a tidy seven tracks.

On the opening track, “Guts,” the pair tapped director Nicolas Heller a.k.a. Ricky Shabazz to get behind the lens. “The idea for the video came to me after watching Breaking Bad while muted with the beat to ‘Guts’ playing in the background,” Heller explains. It turned out to be a good source of inspiration. “Before Nick was ready to roll he said, ‘Alright, I need you guys to look like you just smoked a bunch of meth,’” Deuce remembers. “And alI I remember was being so pumped up to try and pull this off.” Safe to say they did. Released around Halloween, the grim vision of the duo venturing through Providence on a drug-fueled night was debuted by director Rik Cordero on his new series Director’s Hub, boosting momentum before Mechanics was even released.


But according to Deuce, the title track is really the “nucleus” of the entire EP. Written from the ‘Mechanics’ beat on Falside’s Jesus Shaves tape, Deuce spits energetic alliterations over eerily building synths. Falside’s personal favorite is the horn-driven “Hey DJ,” the first track they built from scratch for the EP. “When we recorded it I could tell that we were going to have a solid project,” Falside recalls. “The creative process in the studio was fun and casual.” The Mechanics EP is only the beginning of a collaborative streak; they’re already planning on recording a full-length album this winter. Just in time for a new spring for Rhode Island’s hip-hop community. “Something is happening around here that is very unique, and I am fortunate to contribute to its growth,” Falside says. “I will always rep Providence.”

Source

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