MA: I’m here live and direct with none other than the one and only Darrell D.

DD: Broadcasting live from the Chicken Shack Studios, Big ups to Phil Freedom for the interview spot.

MA: How did you get into the art of DJing?

DD: It started in high school; um I use to be in this rap group called Prime Time, with 2 of the other homies, Cosmo Chill and Whiz Doc D. Back then I was known as “Delirious D.” So we use to rap, you know do the talent shows, we was on TV a couple times and as I went through high school as I approached my Senior year, I realized I couldn’t be no grown man running around trying to rap. So I naturally just started DJing cus I was already buying records, I figured that as a DJ I could still always be seen, I could always be current, I could still perform in front of people, and because I’m playing music.. I would never get old of go out of style I would always be current. So it was a way for me to stay in the spot light and keep performing with out being a rapper.

MA: Just staying fresh with the new crowds?

DD: EXACTLY!

MA: What about collecting vinyl?

DD: Back then in high school they were still pressing everything on vinyl. So when you were buying stuff back then you had the option of buying it on record or on cassette. So I was already buying vinyl at the point were I stopped rapping and started DJing. I already had a few crates. As far as being a collector I remember right around the early 90’s is when I first noticed. I remember going to this music store called “Main Stream Music” in Milwaukee, my home town, and I went in to buy the new Stetsasonic “Blood Sweat, No Tears” album, and the new LL Cool J “Mama Said Knock You Out.” I notice 90% of the vinyl they were selling in there was like gone!! There was like just a few bins of vinyl left and that’s back when the record companies stopped manufacturing so much vinyl. And the city revolution was just starting to creep in and get real healthy. It was at that point that every record that was pressed became a collectable. Because record companies was only doing that first run, that first pressing and that was it. So if you didn’t get it when it came out there was a good chance you wouldn’t see it again! So that’s when I became a collector..

MA: How many records do you have in your collection?

DD: I have about 100 crates.

MA: So you were saying that you’re not originally from AZ is that right?

DD: No, I am originally from Milwaukee, WI. I moved to AZ in ‘98.

MA: If I may take the liberty and say some may call you an old school DJ! Could you elaborate on that?

DD: Well…. I’ve been called an “Old School” DJ, I don’t have a problem with that. I think that being an old school DJ makes me a classic DJ; I think it makes me a “REAL” DJ! You know right know a lot of DJs are synthetic DJs, they’re DJ that really didn’t go to the through the School of DJing.

MA: Do you have any influences?

DD: Early Influences would include, three cats that come to mind immediately would be Rock Dee, Dr B, and Fresh G. These were three cats from my home town of Milwaukee that when I was coming up going through high school were cats that I was peepin’. Like Rock Dee was like the first DJ that I’ve ever seen do some crazy battle routines, all that crazy stuff at the time I had only seen that kind of stuff on the DMC videos. And then there was this guy who was doing it live in front of me. I didn’t even know that somebody from my city had those kinds of skills, and he was a great mixer. Plus he knew his records like the back of his hands; he could do really quick mixes. And I remember asking him “Like man!” He didn’t even need to cue the record; you know sometimes he would just put the needle on and just drop it, grab the pitch control and just make it mix. And I would ask him “How could you just do those mixes so fast?” He simply said “I know my records!” So that always stuck with me, because of him I can say that I made it a point to be familiar with my records as much as possible. Then, Dr. B. was definitely a real creative cat. You could tell that he spent a lot of time in his lab putting stuff together. I meeean this guy could perform MAGIC with some records. When you heard him DJ, you could tell that he had put time and thought to what he was doing. And Fresh G was definitely the cleanest mixer I ever heard in my LIIFFE! And if you ask a lot of cats from back home they will tell you the same thing that he was just “Incredibly CLEEAAN!” LIKE EVERYYY THING HE DID, was just CLEAN! Influences PERIOD Jazzy Jeff, Cash Money, Funk Master Flex, Rob Swift, Tat Money, and my favorite DJ is Kid Capri. If you notice all this DJs is pretty much party rockin’ DJs with MAD skills on the Turntables. That’s how I kindda would describe myself, my style is funky and party rockin’ with a few special effects here and there!

MA: Can you speak on some gigs you played like a decade ago? What was it like back then?

DD: Oh Man! I remember back in the days when you could throw on a Tribe Called Quest “Award Tour” or like Princes “House Quake” and the dance floor would just go insane! You could put a record on like Zapp “More Bounce to The Ounce” or “Planet Rock” even an old crazy James Brown song “Big Payback” something like that. Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince “Summer Time” and people would just lose there mind and it’s just not the same. You got your hit songs now, but it’s just kindda different this generation is not really into dancing and parting, there into playing the wall, just kindda bobbing their heads. If you want to see somebody dance you gotta play a lot of commercial stuff, which I am not into at all. It’s a major difference, I miss the old days! It really hurts me that those days are gone, for the most part I don’t think that these artist of today or the radio stations or the commercial companies realize how much it hurt the real people. MA: Like the dedicated few? DD: Yeah! People like me who appreciate real good music from people with talent, oppose to the synthetic music that was mad yesterday. Cus there is a big difference between good music and hot music, cus anything that is hot will eventually get COLD, and everything that is good will remain good CONSISTANT. So I’m into good music that was made back in the day as oppose to hot music which is how I would describe a lot of music right now, or how it would be describe by the masses.

MA: Do you feel that in the past it was about party & dance, or was it geared more towards the conscious rebellious movement music?

DD: I think it was both! I think you always had conscious artist and like you had artist that were focus on parting and dancing. The whole P Funk George Clinton revolution, Donna Summer, Cameo, and Digital Underground these are all party rockin’ artist. Then you always had strictly conscious artist like, Bob Marley, KRS ONE, and Rage Against the Machine. Then you also had artist that had a real healthy mixture of both, people like Prince, Sting, Public Enemy, where you can get the party aspect and the conscious aspect sometimes separate and sometimes together. So I think you always had a mixture of both!

MA: Do you feel major corporations stifle artist’s creativity?

DD: With all due respect that’s almost like a dumb question absolutely!! The only area that you won’t find that is in independent companies. You have some independent labels Graff companies you have the small guys keeping it hardcore, were gonna always keep it hardcore. I have been a DJ since the mid 80’s in this day and age DJing is exploited you see DJ’s in cartoons in T.V. commercials on billboards. I saw DJs in Target and Sprite commercials. MA: I’ve seen toys were you can replicate a DJ. DD: Yeah! Somebody bought me a stuffed animal with a microphone and you push a button and it starts rappin’! Anything the commercial world can exploit, and make money off of they will do it. The culture of HipHop is no different, rap is no different, and they definitely exploited it to the FULLEST!

MA: What is HipHop?

DD: Well HipHop is obviously a culture; it’s not a music genre. The term HipHop music can be referred to as a music genre. But it’s definitely a culture that not only would cover the four main aspects, which is graffiti, b-boying, DJing and MCing. It would also grab other aspects like, street dance beat boxing, fashion, there a lot of things, Double Dutch Jump Roping. MA: So you’re saying a lot of elements come into play. DD: Right! It’s a culture founded by poor urban ghetto youth. When you think about it, it’s an incredible culture because, it wasn’t created by some scientist in a lab, it wasn’t created by some college graduated who’s hot on some new technology. It’ was created by poor kids in the ghetto because they didn’t have enough money to do things like, go to baseball games, or to the park to have picnics. They had to figure out a way to entertain them selves with what had. So when I think about this culture of HipHop, it’s very emotional for me because it’s very real to me. It’s a prime example of making something out of nothing.

MA: What does music mean to you?

DD: Music is everything to me, I don’t know what I would do with out it. Music is inspiration, music is feeling, music is umm pretty much what I live for. I look through my record collection and I’m just amazed at the emotions that some of these records gave me. It’s seeing James Brown perform, and hearing the magic he put into a record, listening to Gladys Night hit a high note, umm you know listening to Arrested Development, RUN DMC, ya know it’s just magic, ya know umm music is probably the biggest inspiration I have in my life!

TOXICK WASTE: Word up Sun! Those are some inspirational words to be inspired by. We like to thank Darrell D for taking the time out and doing the interview plus thanks to OMNE TSC CREW for getting the interview peace.