JS-1 interview (on hip hop/djing etc)

P

programatick

Guest
So i've been reading lately (on here) about it's dead. I saw this and was wondering what the board thinks etc.

blog.myspace.com/djjs1groundoriginal

read, discuss....

1> Why are you a DJ?

Ha Ha, good question. i have no freakin idea why? lol. Especially when you think about it like this... considering me being called a "DJ" would put me in the same category as people like Clue, AM, Camilo,
Kay Slay, Drama, etc... all the non-talented screaming fools. So, im not that by any means, so i really dont know why i'm a DJ? lol. Anyways, i technically im a dj because i just always wanted to be Jam Master Jay. dont know why, cant explain it. I just always took a liking to scratching. Growing up i hardly listened to groups who didn't have a real DJ or scratches on their songs. (i loved Run Dmc, PE, Gangstarr, De La, 3rd Bass, Low Profile, Freshco & Miz, Jazzy Jeff, Cash Money & MArvelous, etc..)
At this point, im a "DJ", only to travel the planet and keep the vibe alive, and show people that screaming shout-outs over reggaeton is not djaying, its being a loser in public.

2 > Who are your favorite djays of all-time and what makes them stand out to you?

First all the djays i like, just like myself, are djays that people pay to see and come specifically to watch and hear them DJ. not like most of these djays who spin in "regular" clubs. NO ONE is there because of them. The clubs they spin at would be packed even if they died on the way to go spin at the club. NO ONE cares about them. if they were to put ANY of these guys at a regular performance club, like an Irving Plaza in NY or EL REY Theatre in LA, NO ONE would pay $25 a ticket to come watch them mix J-Lo records and scream. So first, realize that you should know your position. People pay to come see us perform... You spin for drunken tourists and teenagers who could give a **** less about you. and now....

MixMaster Mike - cause he is a beast on the turntables, he can scratch you to death, plus perform, plus do a party, plus make an album, plus has record knowledge, plus he makes break beat records and mix cd's that r good too. well-rounded and super talented, plus a really nice guy...

Jazzy Jeff - for similar reasons. although Jeff's skills are not like a mixmaster mike's, etc, he is still extremely sick on the tables, does parties, mix cd's, and has incredible knowledge of music too. its freakin Jeff!!!! the guy is responsible for soo much in the dj world.

Alladin - most people forget or dont know who he is anymore... Alladin in 1988 would make you slap yourself real hard after watching him cut up Rock The Bells. That guy is single-handedly responsible for me spending years and years of my time scratching the shot out of records in my house! An honorable mention would go to DJ MIZ from Philly, who was similar to Alladin and also a huge influence. Find ALLADIN's ON A RAMPAGE from the LOW PROFILE album and listen to it 16 times. NOW!!!

Then there is a bunch of newer djays that i love and respect and also draw inspiration from...
Roc Raida for his body tricks, Qbert for showing the world you can make WAY more money than commerical djays by just scratching (everyone thinks you have to play Nelly Furtado mash-ups in order to get paid, NOT true), Babu, Prime Cuts, etc...

3 > What do you think of SERATO and digital djaying stuff?

Well, first let me say that i am the first person to put out battle records as MP3 files, so i obviously im not against it. (and EVERYONE will eventually bite my idea)
If i could go back in time and have SERATO be wiped off the earth, of course i would. i would even go back and remove the new mixers that help new jacks mix or scratch better with super-loose cross faders, etc.
BUT..since i cant, i stay up on the new technology and beat them at that too. Im a BEAST on serato and cannot be stopped! lol. If i didn't use SERATO it would be the same as if i rode a horse and not a car. Or go to cali in a covered wagon and not a plane. You have to stay w the times and technology.

4 > What music do you listen to when you are home?

I listen to a lot of hip-hop (organized konfusion, ultramagnetic, epmd, de la, tribe, PE, c rayz walz, dilated, etc), but mainly you can find me pumping some hendrix, or sabbath, maybe cold play, lost of pink floyd, curtis mayfield, kiss, lots of zepplin, beatles, and just random dope funk, disco, rock, 80's, etc... you never find me listening to music designed to make 14 yr old girls dance in their bedrooms at the 8th grade sleep over party.... that's for the radio djays to worry about. i have a brain and pride.

5 > People really seem to enjoy your rants on myspace, and i have rarely seen anyone speak as freely as you do. Why do you think this is?

Ha Ha... you will NEVER find anyone saying what i do. First, because they are all pussies. Second because they are all scared little dick-suckers who only maintain their dj gigs by kissing ass to some geeky promoter dude or another wack dj who has the club connection. For me, i make more money than most of them, and they cant affect my world, so i dont care, i can say what i want. I dont kiss anyone's ass in order to hopefully get on at some wack commercial club. So, you will never find any of these guys rocking the boat. You can find them blowing the captain and the deck mates though. lol.

See, its the ying and yang, the positive/ negative, yes and no.... very simple... everyone can go be the same type of dj and all play the SAME EXACT songs everywhere, everytime, but there has to be another side to it. and that's where people like myself, DJ Revolution, Babu, Premier, etc come into play. For every 1,000 cornball commercial dj, there must be someone like me telling the truth and helping to preserve the artform and culture of real djaying. The kind that Jazzy Jeff and JMJ brought to the game. I like being that guy. I enjoy watching commercial djays look at the floor when im around. I love watching them make excuses or not respond to me when they r called out. I love it. They have no answer, they cant say anything.

So when i rant, im just telling it like it is. I never lie, and although i say extreme things that most people find hard to swallow, it is all true and backed by fact. period end of story. lol. You know, the big misconception is that everyone only likes commercial crap. In fact, most people dont, they just go along with it because they dont have the time to seek good music, so they just turn on the radio and deal with it. So, when i speak out inmy rants, people feed off that. They finally see that others feel the same. Millions of people around the world feel just like me.

6 > What did you think of the Kayne vs 50 Cent thing?

i try not to think of them. lol. if i do think of them, i usually envision strapping both of them to a shuttle launch (one where those tiles on the outside of the shuttle are ****ed up, so it might crash and blow up)
I often think of what it would be like to take them and lower them into a volcano. Or maybe take all the baby oil 50 rubs on himself at video shoots and drown him in it. Or maybe have Kayne battle a 6yr old girl with his rhymes and then tar and feather him to do death in a chicago house club. does that answer your question?

7 > What rappers, MCees, or groups have disappointed you the most?

Easy... COMMON. I love Common. He is one of the best, if not the best, lyricists ever. He came in the door with energy, originality, and incredible albums that i can listen the whole way through. And... after his third album, ONE DAY IT WILL ALL MAKE SENSE (which im praying is true, i just dont know when?), he started to let others dictate his career. His next album, "Like Water for Chocolate" was heavily influenced by ?uest Love and others around him. It started to turn into ?uest's neo-soul experiment, which is not cool. Of course, he still managed to get a bunch of dope songs on there, but you could see the change coming. It really started with girls starting to like Common of the strength of Lauren Hill's song RETROSPECT for LIFE on his 3rd album. Then he went to THE LIGHT, and then by next album it was a full blown ERYKAH BADU / ?UEST LOVE experiment that had NOTHING to do with COMMON, and everything to do with them and the label trying to make him a sex symbol. He went to mainly R&B-type of stuff, and even did an R&B song with the NEPTUNES!!!! insane. Common dissed people like that on record before! weird. Then he jumped ship once the neo-soul was dead for the new trend. Which was Kayne. Now he has Kayne and Will I AM (the most commercial fruitloops of all) doing his R&B singles for him. WTF? Common has dissed producers on record who sample popular music. So when Kayne samples mainly super popular stuff like the Jackson 5 and Curtis Mayfield, is Common dissing him? its just nuts. A whole lot of hypocritical stuff, all to make girls like his music and try to sell more records, which has not worked. He is not platinum even with Kayne, Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu, Will I Am, etc... why, because he is an MC, and his fans were people who liked him for what he did, not because he is light-skinned and wears tight clothes. It just sucks for people like me because we LOVE Common and want him back on our side! lol. He even said "i found the new Preemo" on his new album, referring to Kayne! HOLY MAJOR HIP HOP PENALTY! that is disgusting.

There are others too... I wish i could get PHAROAHE MONCH to abandon his quest for expand the r&b-neo-soul movement, and go back to the Pharoahe we all loved. I like his new album, but way rather hear him do what he is known for. Even Q-TIP. this guy said "he wished he could pull the plug on r&b" cause its wack, and now he is trying to be that. why? ****!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8 > is there any good djays on the radio?

NO. and i say this because what makes a good djay is being able to control what you play and breaking new music or playing something YOU like and bringing it to the masses. That does not exist. They play what they think little girls wanna hear which is dictated by program directors who know NOTHING about music, and from label and advertising $. So in a sense EVERY radio dj, even the very few who have some skill, or simple just JUKE BOXES who talk. nothing more, nothing less.
Yes, Red Alert or Mister Cee, or Revolution play treats, but the amount of airtime they get to do that is soo little that it dont even count in the grand scheme of things.
Does anyone have pride?

9 > What do you think of the mash-up craze?

Ha Ha Ha... first, i never heard anyone do mash-ups better than what i did with people like spinbad over 14 years ago. That's first. NO ONE.
Second, stop calling it mash-ups. Its a blend, which has been going on since the beginning. Run Dmc mixed rock and hip hop decades before Linkin Park (wack) and Jay Z did theirs. Mixing Gnarls Barkely and a rock beat or old school beat is not rocket science. Its getting out of hand and stupid.
The funniest part to me is this... Its like all these loser djays just discovered other genres of music. Its hilarious. We have been rocking 80, disco, rock songs, and all that, mixing different genres for a LONG LONG time. So now when i see some commercial spanish reggaeton dj from new york trying to play Led Zepplin, its freakin hilarious. They just found out about that recently! LOL LOL LOL ****in fools man...
Do i really wanna hear madonna and the red hot chilli peppers mixed together? not really.
And now, its sooo bad, that djays are just mixing any ole 80's song with any hiphop thing they can find, and thinking they r "different" when they r just wack. Its sad and dumb, but this trend will go away too.
People like myself, Ztrip, Mixmaster Mike, Spinbad, Ron G, etc have been doing this a lot longer than you would think. next time you hear a dj play a JAY Z verse with an 80's beat, punch him in his temple. real hard.

10 > If we agree that music, much like everything else in the world, is in a bad state, what do u think contributed to it getting like this?

Very easy.... In the late 80's and early 90's it was a SIN to make an r&b or "dance" record. you were looked at as a sell-out and an idiot. Then, in the early 90's radio started playing some hiphop, like naughty by nature, black sheep, etc... THEN, Puffy dropped Mary J Blige and took a gospel singer and made her dress hip-hop and sing over hip-hop beats with an mcee doing a verse on it. This made it "more" radio friendly, hid the "hip-hop" part of it, and attracted girls who have horrible voices and love to sing in the shower (every girl on the planet) So, ince that became successful, you watched everyone follow his lead and make rap/r&b records. Every damn song since then has someone singing on it. That was ALWAYS considered WACK and HORRIBLE. NO classic hip-hop song was made like that? which one? So now, with this new format you have everyone making music simply to please girls and radio station formats.
You know it is sad when BIGGIE had r&b singers on his albums. He didn't wanna make that. He wanted to make Party N Bull****, Kick in the Door, Gimme the Loot....
Then stations started calling themselves the home of HIP-HOP & R&B. two things that dont go together. Rhythem and Blues? HUH? what the **** does Beyonce have to do with Rhythm and Blues? weird? Lil JON is played on a rhythm and blues station? huh?

Then, since it was all about girls, the next change came with Timbaaland. he started making techno-drum-n-bass wackness, which really attracted girls because of the faster tempos. So now all you hear is "play something i can dance to....." Which is thw major downfall of everything. Like NO ONE ever danced to BDP, or RUN DMC, or SLICK RICK, or AUDIO TWO in a club? lol. insanity. So now, you have everyone making these sad techno-r&b songs which are disgustingly bad. Justin Timbergeek or Nelly Fruitado and all that crap. Its really sad. They turned an original sounding music which prided itself on breaks and hard drums, samples and scratches and made it girly-pop-techno-r&b nonsense. And the worst part of it, is that YOU defend it because you have been caught up in the hype. I hope you are happy that you ruined people like Large Professor, Diamond D, and Pete Rock, and helped out people like Kyle Monogue. perfect.

11 > last question... I saw in another interview you mention something about your production and turntablist ranking, and i thought it would shock people, but after thinking about it, you are probably right. tell everyone what i am talking about....

Easy... I said... there is NO PRODUCER who can come close to me as a DJ or turntablist, and there is 100000% NO turntablist that can come close to me as a producer. So basically saying i consider myself the REAL total package. There are a few others, dont get me wrong, im not dissing everyone.
Babu would be the first person who comes to mind. He is an awesome DJ and can produce as well.
There are others but they are much better in one area. For instance, there is some turntablists that produce, but not on a truly impressive scale, and NONE of them have worked with the amount of people i have. not even close. Roc Raida might be the only one. As far as producers, there is NO ONE that is a truly sick DJ that can hold their own on stage with a mixmaster mike or qbert, etc... NO ONE.
So people dont like hearing it, but deal with the facts.

And last but not least, check this out....

If someone like Kayne markets his record globally and 2 billion people know about it, and out of that, 1 billion people have money to buy his album, once they know it is out, why did he only sell a few million? do a billion people think his **** sucks? Even in the US alone. EVERYONE knows about Kayne or Gay Z or 50 Cent. who never heard of them or dont know they have albums out? no one. so that's 300 million people. so why did they only sell a mil or two? do 298 million people not think their music isnt worth anything?

So now one might say, yeah but JS, you are only gonna sell 30,000. True, but maybe only 100,000 people will know its out and know where to buy it. That's a 30% rate of approval as opposed to their 2% rate of approval, right? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.... think about it.

now go slap someone listening to T Pain sing about a bartender in a strip club. lol.

NEW DJ JS-1 GROUND ORIGINAL 2 album coming in 2008...

features all new songs produced by DJ JS-1 with such artists as...

Krs-one, Large Professor, Ultramagnetic Mcees, Masta Ace, Canibus, AG,
Vinnie Paz of Jedi Mind Tricks, Rakaa Iriscience of Dilated Peoples, Edo G,
Craig G, Termanology, Punchline, C Rayz Walz, Vast Aire of Cannibal Ox,
Krondon of Strong Arm Steady, Q-Unique of Arsonists, Prince Poetry of Organized Konfusion,
Blaq Poet, Big Noyd, Jak Danielz, Rugged Intellect, Aesop Rock, Wordsworth,
Trez, J-Live, Akrobatik, Supastishun, Pack Fm, Tonedeff, Cy Marshall Law, CL Smooth,
Sadat X of Brand Nubians, Copywrite, Nutrageous, Soulive, of course RAHZEL, and many more!!!
 
programatick said:
which really attracted girls because of the faster tempos. So now all you hear is "play something i can dance to....." Which is thw major downfall of everything. Like NO ONE ever danced to BDP, or RUN DMC, or SLICK RICK, or AUDIO TWO in a club? lol. insanity.

I think he's pretty on point here. Actually, he seems right on the whole question of what's happened to Hip Hop. I remember back when it was considered soft to have any singing on a rap song, but never noticed the correlation between the increase of singing on records and the decline in quality of Hip Hop (at least as seen by old-school standards. Most kids today grew up after singing became commonplace in rap, so they wouldn't be looking at it through an old head's glasses like JS-1). He makes some really valid points I'd never thought about. Except the Timbaland thing; even I noticed how much Hip Hop began to suffer after he came on the scene with all those plastic drums.

Cool interview. It's always awesome to see someone in the industry expressing themselves without any concern for potential backlash. I'd love to hear what more artists have to say when the public relations guy isn't around.
 
ok ok i kno where this guy is comin from and im a DJ myself and i love real hip hop, but how does he expect me as a no name dj in Coatesville Pa. to make it as a DJ, i basically have to play crap 90% of the time to get gigs, if i could i would play cats like Black Millk, little brother, and Lupe all day... if i dont play ur Justin and Nelly i wont have a job lol, idk, the only time i play good music is in my room and every now and then i'll sneak in mos def or common into one of my sets, and i get the "put something on we can dance to"... basically i should have been born 15 years before my birthdate
 
Last edited:
lol i feel you black rabbit. I wish i was born 15 years before my bday...like i would love to spin underground music but no one is feeling it.

But even tho I hate playing the crap today. I do like seeing the crowed vibin and having a good time.
 
while i agree with him on a lot, he doesn't seem to understand that the music has "changed". is it the DJ's fault that they are making "crunk music" and it's topping the charts? no.

so when someone is hired to play music in the club and they put on artifcats, for people who want to come in an listen to futardo etc, you're the idiot. as a dj you're supposed to play for your audience even if it means mixing kenny rogers and celine dione.

the most irritating thing about djing in a club, is that the stupid manager always thinks they know what shouldbe played and what shouldn't be played. don't play dmx don't play this don't play that.... i have always had good crowds so managers have never really dared to censor my play list but they do censor play lists which is one of the most annoying things ever.

so for those playing the mash ups etc more power to you it's not for me, i couldn't do it anymore. there was no way in hell i could have fun mixing solja boy etc. it's absolute NOISE in my ear and that fast half techno timbaland stuff.....

whatever you do do it well............
 
Last edited by a moderator:
programatick said:
while i agree with him on a lot, he doesn't seem to understand that the music has "changed". is it the DJ's fault that they are making "crunk music" and it's topping the charts? no.

so when someone is hired to play music in the club and they put on artifcats, for people who want to come in an listen to futardo etc, you're the idiot. as a dj you're supposed to play for your audience even if it means mixing kenny rogers and celine dione.

the most irritating thing about djing in a club, is that the stupid manager always thinks they know what shouldbe played and what shouldn't be played. don't play dmx don't play this don't play that.... i have always had good crowds so managers have never really dared to censor my play list but they do censor play lists which is one of the most annoying things ever.

so for those playing the mash ups etc more power to you it's that for me, i couldn't do it anymore. there was no way in hell i could have fun mixing solja boy etc. it's absolute NOISE in my ear and that fast half techno timbaland stuff.....

whatever you do do it well............

Exactly!!! There is a time and a place for everything.Word up. Cats trip the phukk out when they come to my studio to drop verses on my mixtapes because the previous night when they heard me on the radio I was breakin' the latest Fabo record or I was spinning Dem Franchize Boyz and Ciarra. But when they step foot into ILL Meskin Studios they are greeted by Wu Tang,Little Brother,some classic Beatnuts or some old school hip hop like Biz Markie and Boogie Down Productions.
 
i was wondering if js-1 was going to be as hard on modern hip hop as tonedeff and the rest of the QN5 guys, guess i got my answer.

its kinda funny hearing him talking about wiping serato off the face of the earth, since i think thats pretty much all he uses on the asterisk mixtapes, scratching vocal samples specifically recorded for that song and weak **** like that.

he's still a dope dj though, been through more than me so i wouldn't dis him. just seems a little pissed off, haha.

i had to lol at what he said about mashups, true as hell
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top