Achickwitbeatz presents ⁠the Instrumental Intel podcast⁠, bringing you information instrumental to your artistic career including music industry news & tips, insights & interviews, and beats for your inspiration. Listen on Saturdays at 7 pm EST on ⁠⁠⁠Grander Radio⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠Achickwitbeatz.com⁠⁠⁠.
Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube Audiomack & SoundCloud, and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Download the Grander Media app to listen to Grander Radio on the go.

Instrumental Intel Podcast

Achickwitbeatz brings you information instrumental to your artistic career including music industry news, insights, interviews, and beats for your inspiration. Listen on Saturdays at 7 pm ET on ⁠⁠⁠Grander Radio,⁠⁠⁠ Achickwitbeatz.com⁠⁠⁠, and your favorite podcast platform.

Transcript Generated by Riverside

00:00
Hey, thank you so much for tuning into Instrumental Intel. I am your host, music producer Achickwitbeatz, and I've got a special episode for you today. I am back with part two of Perspectives of the Sound Selectors, Insights from DJs, featuring conversations that I've had with Raybone Jones and Rooted Sounds House Music, which includes DJ Milk D, BZ Reyes, and 804 Deep.

00:22
So I'm excited to be bringing this episode to you. And before we go ahead and get started, I got to give a shout out to my home station, Grander Radio out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Now I'm going to take a quick pause for the cause and then I'll be right back after this. Keep it locked. Hey, I'm Achickwitbeatz, multi-genre music producer and strategist to indie artists and labels. Visit achickwitbeatz.com for resources for artists and instrumentals in various genres available for songs, vlogs, blogs, podcasts, themes,

00:52
TV, film, commercials, and more. Once again, that's achickwitbeatz.com. That's A-C-H-I-C-K-W-I-T-B-E-A-T-Z.com. Let's make something happen. I have in the virtual building with me today, Rooted Sounds House Music. Now, if you're not familiar, you definitely will be by the time we're done with this, but I mean, it's a collection of DJs slash producers.

01:21
that know how to do their thing. And so, yeah, I'm really glad that they took the time out of their busy schedules to join me. And yeah, so if you could just give everybody a little bit of the taste of who you are. We'll kind of work around. We'll start with DJ Milk D, then uh go on to the rest after this. Awesome, awesome. Take with Beats, thank you for having us. And yes, of course, I'm DJ Milk D.

01:48
I am the CEO of YurrrpRadio.com. I live in Richmond, Virginia, and I'm so excited to be on your show and also to be with my two brothers, BZ Reyes and Tony Fernandez. uh Crazy thing is, let's stick with Beats and everyone that's listening. uh House music has always been my love.

02:17
never had the courage to really express that feeling until I really came to Richmond, Virginia. And hip hop will always be my first love, but I always loved house music and freestyle music. But moving to Richmond, Virginia, meeting DJ Ojo, shout out to DJ Ojo. He connected me to Tony Fernandez.

02:47
ah I want to shout out Sean Boulevard who connected me to BZ Reyes. And this trio of us um began just at the whim. um Of course the love for house, but being a DJ, producer, mix engineer, Tony, the same thing. And here I am.

03:14
a DJ learning to be a producer, um they kind of have taken me under their wings a little bit. uh Also want to shout out Terry Teesnig down in Florida, one of my resident DJs who lit the fire to be a producer three years ago. um But I lean on BZ and Tony a lot in this producing ah career that I'm going down now.

03:43
Being a DJ, like I've told you before, on your show is simple. ah But being a producer, making the song make sense is a challenge. So again, I lean on these two brothers and I have a lot of love and respect for them. All right, that's what's up. All right, so yeah, Tony, I you're up next. If you're willing to share a little bit about how you got into it, then... uh

04:13
what you've been doing behind the scenes. Yeah. Sure, sure. um Yeah, I'm Tony Fernandez. I just go by DJ Tony T. um I've been DJing a very long time. A very long time. I know, I guess before the show started, we talking about Gen X. I guess that's where I fall in. I've literally been spinning for over 40 years. um I've been doing it for a very long time. Obviously, I love it.

04:41
Yeah, I grew up in New York. I'm glad to say that I'm uh a native New Yorker and that foundation growing up there just really gave me the bedrock and exposure to music that I was able to bring down to Virginia. it just kept up with me. um When it comes to house music, Milk D says, uh

05:11
It's my love. I was hearing house music and had an affinity for house music before I even knew what it really was. I grew up listening to it on the radio with the mixed DJs in New York back in the day. I was too young to go to clubs back then, but I knew what they were. I would be that guy that would listen to The Drive at Five and all the mix show guys. And I'd be like, why aren't they playing those versions at lunchtime?

05:41
You know, I just kind of just had this affinity and this ear for music. And that love of music translated to me being a DJ. Ironically, I didn't become a DJ until I came to Virginia. So had I stayed in New York, I don't even know what would have happened. yeah, yeah. And then, you know, it's so funny being down here. Almost everybody that I know that's into house music.

06:11
at the level that we're at, they're all transplants. They're all from Jersey, they're all from Chicago, they're all from Detroit, they're all from, you know, Michigan. mean, you know, they're all from DC. I mean, it's just- Connecticut. Oh, wow. Yeah. wouldn't have that. That's what's up. Yeah, it's really funny. I mean, one of my best friends, you know, he's from Jersey and, you know, he's one of the guys who actually made it. You know, I mean, he's, know- Smitty D.

06:40
Um, yeah, yeah, you know, I mean, I know it was Doug, he goes by Smitty Dee, you know, he was he was with 95 North, you know, they did a lot of work, you know, on Strictly, Emotiv, New Groove, I mean, you know, that cat made it, you know, so I was under his wing, you know, when it came to the production thing, you know, for me, it was kind of a natural progression. I kind of was under the delusion that

07:10
I knew how to spin records. It was like, hmm, I these beats were gonna happen. Let's see if I can dip my toe in that pool. And honestly, it probably took me a solid year, year and a half to get to the point where I was like, oh, okay, this makes sense. And along the way, I really have to give a huge shout out not only to Doug, who,

07:39
was so patient with me and every time I came up with some rudimentary Sesame Street beat, you know, he'd be like, oh yeah, that's great. This way, you know, and then I actually got involved with a production partner, um Scott, who actually, he, we unfortunately kind of, I shouldn't say broke up. We kind of split because he ended up moving. So he ended up going to California, he in Florida for a while. We actually are still in touch and

08:08
Unfortunately, because of the distance, we kind of stopped doing production. But when we were in Virginia, mean, being around him really opened me up to how music is made and how being in a studio works and being able to wrap your head around, you know,

08:36
beats and song structure and how things flow. And again, he was super patient with me. And he kind of, guess, liked the way I was working in the studio, the sounds that I was kind of developing. He liked the way I DJ. And it was just this amalgamation of things coming together. And so it kind of grew for me.

09:04
organically so I've been doing production off and on for about 20 plus years or so you know yeah yeah and I mean I've had a few tracks signed um it's it's funny before I met Darryl Milk um you know I actually was on a draw spell you know I mean I would I would I would do edits

09:32
for myself, would do edits for friends of mine. I never really got big, big in it. uh At one point earlier and way back in my career, I actually was a Billboard panelist DJ. And I only bring that up because I wish I was more prolific as a producer back then than I am now.

09:59
Because when I was on the billboard panel, oh my God, dude, the access that I had to the industry was ridiculous. I mean, was, you know, I mean, and if anybody's been doing production over, the past five, if not 10 years, you've seen how the business has changed. I mean, it literally has gone from a record

10:27
driven industry where you got to know somebody and you got to get in that pipeline and you know, try to sell widgets to do it all on their own. You know, you know, and again, that's a good, good, good and bad thing per se, mainly good. But, but back then, I mean, so we're, talking in the, in the mid nineties, late nineties, early two, I just had just insane access.

10:57
to the industry. Had I had it, like I said, had had my chop, my production chops, you know, higher up the food chain, and my skill level higher while I was on the panel. Oh, no, man, you know, life has been a lot different, you know. So, but yeah, yeah, it's, it's been really refreshing and so exhilarating. Creatively.

11:26
know, professionally, artistically to meet up with BZ and meet up with Milk because their sounds are a little different. And I actually talk to Milk more than I do to BZ, you know, like he says, every time he sends me a track, he's like, oh dude, you know, I just put this together and whatever, whatever.

11:53
You know, being involved in the creative process, you know, it's a super special and super intimate relationship. know, it's one thing when you're by yourself and you come up with an idea and you kind of, you know, work it out, iron out, bring it to you, you know, have the sounds in your head and, you know, whatever inspires you or, you know,

12:20
you know, makes you feel a certain way. So you kind of bring that idea to fruition. And when you're working, when you're collaborating with somebody, it's, it's different. mean, the process can be the same, but it's different because you got another brain and another set of ears. got another set of eyes and they're bringing their flavor to the table. And it was funny, you know, you know, how we, as my part of it, how we came together, you know, it was, it was,

12:49
Like Darryl said, we have a mutual friend, Joe, Ojo, and um we would bump into each other once every six weeks, eight weeks. And I think Darryl was telling me that he was getting back into doing tracks. I'm like, you know what? I'm bored. Send me your stuff. Send me your stuff.

13:16
And you know, if I like it, I'll flip it and then we'll take it from there. You either like it or you don't like what I do. And we just move forward. And I vividly remember having a very candid conversation with them, basically saying, look, man, if we're going to go forward in this creative process, we just have to be bluntly honest. You know, we really got to be like, look, this track you sent me is...

13:44
Can we curse? mean, not that I want to, just, you I'm trying to... But it's like, you know, this track is the ish, this thing's awesome, you know, I'm feeling it, let me see what I can do to it, or yo, this track is not, is no, you know, it's just, it's not me do what I wanna do with it. And to his credit, I will say he's been crazy prolific.

14:13
you know, sending me stuff, you know, like, yo, I just came up with this or yo, I had this in the back burner or this was an old track of mine. just, you know, drug out from, from the back corner of the closet. And, know, and if I got the time, I'll just, you know, do what, what, I do to it. And so far he's liked everything I've done. So, you know, I kinda, I kinda take a really unique approach, you know, um, when it comes to remixing.

14:43
you know, especially if it's other people's, you know, stuff. um If it's my stuff, I mean, it's, I hope it doesn't sound weird or hypocritical. When I come up with a track and I give it to the guys, I'm like, run with it, You know, just, you know, I got my idea of how I came up with it and it is what it is. And then if you take my idea and go deep left field with it, have at it.

15:12
You know, I'm not gonna sit here and say, oh no, that's whack because that wasn't my vision. Because guess what? It wasn't, it's your vision. So, and I kind of developed that workflow with my old partner. You know, there were a lot of times, and Darryl reminds me of my old partner. You know, like I said, he was so prolific. I mean, this guy, I mean, we would literally,

15:43
probably hook up back then three days out the week and each session we would work on like three, four tracks. Wow. It was ridiculous. Well, Tony, I'm gonna cut you off for a second because I'm gonna tell you what, BZ.

16:00
He be telling me to pump the brakes because I'm gonna tell you what, if it wasn't for me, if it wasn't for BZ Tony, we'd have a hundred tracks. My brother BZ, he's a silent assassin. Like when he talks, he'll tell you blunt, honest, like, man, first and foremost,

16:23
You need to put a high hat in there. I love BZ. I love both of you guys. Love these two guys. And Tony, I didn't mean to cut you off, but BZ. But BZ, I know I want you to be able to get in with what you have to say, but Tony, if it wasn't I can keep talking. You know I'm kind of quiet on the quiet side anyway. When Tony said what he said, it

16:52
about being prolific and yes, I may be and my foot's to the pedal, but Tony BZ keeps me grounded. I'm already trying to get our second EP out. You know, produced like 23 tracks this year, fellas, 23 tracks. I'm just like over the moon everyone on how productive we've been from BZ,

17:21
uh mastering, mixing, uh implementing the vocals where they need to go to make it make sense. Tony remixing my tracks, we get in these record deals with Jump Beat and G-Mafia and uh just so many labels. I can't be uh more blessed to have met these two guys. uh

17:45
BZ has about a hundred tracks that he has. Yeah. And he's got some bangers and Tony, I'm going tell you what, bro. Real quick, though, get down. Yeah, that's one of my favorites right now. Yeah, I kind of got that in rotation. Yeah. That's BZ. I don't know. I'm going cut you off. But yeah, go ahead. Where's Tony?

18:15
Oh, you still there? Oh, yeah, yeah, no, no. I'm here. Yeah, no. It's just, you uh know, our dynamic. I mean, and I think that's what's scary is our dynamic is what it is. And even though, you know, know BZ lives out in Tidewater. So, you know, for us, that's about an hour and a half away. You know, I'm in Richmond, know, Darryl's still a little bit away from me. So it's not like, you know, back in the day, like I said,

18:45
with my partner where we would actually hook up at my house because I had a project studio and we would physically have to be in the same room, you know, and try to crank stuff out, you know, um you know, it's again that that the the the technology and the and the and the dynamic of how we work has really changed and evolved and the scary part is we're just getting started. You know, yeah.

19:11
oh I mean we've only been at this like you said what six eight months if that you know so So, you know, yeah, I mean, you know, I'll be honest. I need to hear some of these back bags and tag tracks from oh

19:28
So. right here. I love it. So. I hear first right here on instrumental. Yeah. Yeah. Over his head. Check it out. Yeah. Drone's over Jersey. Yeah. I can't believe this. Not a song out right now. Like, oh yeah. I have one. Hey, BZ, I'll send you the vocals. Hey, speaking of that, speaking of that, look.

19:59
song called Music Meets Al Capone. That's Tony to remix it. Like I created it, Tony remixed it, I put my vocals on it. Shout out to DJ Al Hold on, hold on, hold on. I put the vocals on it. uh

20:20
put my vocals out there. put your vocals on that. Okay, there you go. He said, let's get it straight. Yeah. Yeah. See, I knew you weren't shy, BZ. I'll loosen up a little bit. Far from shy, let me tell you. Don't be. These two guys right here, you I met Tony through Darryl. Well, I'm BZ Reyes, just to formally introduce myself. I'm originally, I'm a transplant from Connecticut.

20:50
I'm the blind Connecticut. Norwalk, Connecticut, which is 50 miles from New York City, our train ride into Manhattan. So that's how we were blessed. Because anything that happens in Manhattan bleeds into Stanford, Connecticut and into Norwalk, Connecticut. Then a British border starts losing its little flavor and then New Haven is going a different way in New Haven. It's a whole different thing in New Haven.

21:20
House music's always been a love, but music in general. Being Boricua, know, we salsa, merengue, all that stuff. My music definitely heavy on the congos and bongos. As their... Oh yeah, oh yeah. Freestyle, start them freestyle, hip hop. Hip hop was always a thing. I grew up in the bricks, so hip hop was always a thing. But when House just hit the scene, it was a wrap.

21:49
It was just a rap. Um, I remember going into New York city. were buying records, a ton of records. And then we went to one of these little side shops off the books type of place where they always had a DJ playing music. So ho ha my answer. Yeah, it was a rap. It was like, I'm in love with this stuff. My boys had equipment. We started DJing together.

22:17
there, you know, we would just do parties and that back in the days you could do block parties and stuff like that. We can't do that stuff anymore. And that's where the culture and everything from New York and people from New York were coming into Norwalk because it was only an hour ride. Yeah. Oh, I started producing. was producing in dabbling and Fruity Loops Studios back when it was just Fruity Loops. Yeah. Oh, gee. Yeah. Oh, gee. then I went to Croatia with

22:46
Got out to Sean and my boy T. Defective. They went to the Defective Festival and that really kind of ignited a spark. Back in I bought a new controller, I got back into DJing. uh They was like, oh you should try producing. So, get down and I worked on that for probably like a month.

23:10
Because I was unsure if I wanted to release it and you know, was like And then I was like, ah screw it. I'm just gonna release stuff and start releasing stuff But now I'm still doing that I'm going and I bag it and I leave it to the side I literally have like 10 12 tracks just sitting around. I do play them though. Okay, I play them You do, you do. Yeah, I mean just think about all the people that be listening and they try to Shazam

23:38
Like what if it was just out there for them to find? Yeah, the last time I did DJ in DC, he was like, I was trying to just say in two of his tracks and I couldn't. I was like, oh, I'll send them to you, bro. Those are off the books. Yeah. But meeting with these two guys and their passion for producing and Milk, he's full pedal to the metal. He's go, go, go, go, go. Yo, listen to this. I was working on this yesterday. I was working on this.

24:08
I'm like, wow, oh okay, okay, can I put my vocals on this? then, you know, he kicked the fire lid under this group because you know what? He was already, let's go, let's go, let's do the second EP. I'm with it. I have enough tracks. I could just go, dust this one off. you go. Take that one. You know, he was like, oh, well, Tony remix stuff. I'm like, when did you guys do this? And what did this happen? oh

24:37
Four hours later, I two tracks I'm working on. Okay, all right, right, cool. Let's do this. So I love the energy. The energy's there, the love for house is there. We're both, we're all passionate. That's what's up. And he dragged me into this kicking and screaming. So, okay, I got a question for each of you. um Man, I hate the time is running out so quickly. We got to do this again. But if you could pinpoint

25:07
one particular house song that kind of sparked your interest, your passion for house music, what would it be? Or even if it's not a particular song, you know, artists, whatever the case is. But I can answer that real easy for me. I'll try to keep the story short. I was in Virginia and ended up at the literally the top of the hat. ah Doug Smith from 95 North, who I just mentioned,

25:37
Um, we ended up being like, yo, there ain't nothing going on down here. Let's go to New York. And we literally drove from Richmond to Manhattan, picked up his boy, his production partner in Baltimore. And we went on a Tuesday night, the sound factory bar in New York and walked, walked in cause it was Tuesday night. So it was Louis Vegas. It was Louis Vegas night.

26:06
and at Sound Factory Bar and we got we parked and we're walking in at 11 45 and we walked in and I lost my because when we walked in Louie Vega is spinning his stuff and over on the corner is some dude playing keyboards and I'm like

26:34
What mix is this? Like I'm hearing like some crazy Latin tribal beat stuff going on and I'm hearing Plastic Dreams on top of it. that has like, losing their minds. And I'm like, oh snap, there's a dude in the corner playing Plastic Dreams. That was David Cole from C &C Music Factory. Wow.

27:04
And people were losing their shit. And what, what? And if that wasn't bad enough, the song that really made me go like, this is it, man. This is, this is it. This is how this stuff is supposed to be. Was when Louis Vega dropped House of Gypsies. Soon as I say that it was a rap. It was a rap. It was a rap.

27:32
And then later on, actually, that night, I'm gonna forget this either, uh Epilogue and BZ talking about going to New York and buying records. So later on in the night, Lully's playing Voices. Voices in my mind, which was that uh vocal house record that has Barbara Tucker on it, uh Robert Owens on it. You know, I mean, it has the three biggest vocalist guys, you know, people at the time.

28:02
And we're losing our minds the next day I call vinyl mania and i'm like yo I need two copies of voices Give me all the copies you have Nobody's got that record yet. Louis only got that record That record ain't coming out for another three months and he was right too It was two sides same for me

28:32
BZ, I'ma go last, you go next, bro. Nah, I already said my anthem. My anthem is so hot, it'll always be so hot. All right. Well, BZ, tell everybody what mine is. You already know it is, just I can't play it no more. Wait, which one? No, no, no, you gotta clear it up. He got a few that he can't play no Cashmere. Which one is it?

28:56
There's two Chasmere tracks he loves to play. I don't know. Do you pick one? He said you banned either way. It's Perculator. Perculator. 1992. Yes. Okay. Oh gosh. That's what got me really with how it's Perculator. Okay. You know, the M for Michigan. I feel you on that. Low key for me, I think it might've been Hard Drive. Hard Drive, okay.

29:25
Nice. That's a classic. That's an anthem. And then the whole ghetto tech era had me in the choke hold. I'm not gonna lie. I was old enough to go to like the teen clubs and stuff. So yeah, ghetto tech was my, was my kryptonite for a minute. Hey, it's Achickwitbeatz. How much time we have left? I know it's getting close, right? Yeah. We got about five minutes. So

29:51
I want to say real quick because Tony don't really know you a tone, Achickwitbeatz, straight fire producer, bro. You need to follow her on Instagram, follow her on Spotify. And she knows what you mean, BZ and Tony about me full throttle because we did a track and I've been blowing her up like.

30:17
When we gonna get oh

30:42
once I shared the version with DJ Milk Dee's vocals on it, he was like, yo, yeah, we need to put this out. So we'll definitely keep everybody posted as soon as I have more information. yeah, I don't want to hear it because you know me, if I like it, I'll flip it. You know what? And that's another thing. Like, I'm really big on that. So I don't really consider myself a singer at all. But when it comes to house music, I'll still do it anyway, because it's all about the vibe.

31:10
And so a lot of times I love just like what you were saying, Tony, about like, you know, just flip it, do whatever. So like, once I put it out, I love for other DJs to get their hands on it. I love to hear what people would do and half the time they make me sound better because they actually put my vocals in key compared to...

31:26
oh I'm not a vocalist. I know that, but I'm okay with that. You know, like my whole thing is to inspire other artists. So as long as I can get you to hear what I was trying to accomplish, maybe you'll hit me up and be like, yo, I want to try this too. yeah.

31:52
But how it got started, was trying to get my boys from defective that we went to the fact of Sean and to get the spark, the fire on the East, Darrell spark, the fire under me. I sparked the fire under them. They're still like, you know, holding on to stuff. But every once in a while, they'll throw me a track like, oh, listen to this. Oh, OK. I was like, let's go. Let's do something. Yeah, OK. Yeah. And then I never hear from him for like a month. I won't hear another.

32:21
track for a month, but you know, but this is fun. It's an experience. It's I encourage everybody to get into making music. My son actually is the one who actually bought Fruity Loops producer edition. I updated it and upgraded it. I was like, really? You're making music. His music is more video game jungle type music, but he's getting the following and he's getting it to me. I was like, all right, well.

32:50
You pops is already into music. we already need advice or something and we need, we could do something together or if I have to spin your music, should probably give me an earache, but I will. That's dope, baby. Yeah. And that field is still growing. I mean, you know, I read a lot of music industry news and yeah, the whole video game production. Yeah. That's going be a whole. oh

33:20
I mean, it's already used, but it's going to be bigger for sure. I pray he does well in it. So I pray we do well in this coming year, 2025 for all of us. Yeah. Let's go. Let's get it. All right. So we're in a little stretch here at the end, but I want to make sure that everybody knows where they can follow you guys, keep up with what you got going. And then I'm already advocating for a part two just because this went by so quickly.

33:48
But yeah, if you could within a minute and let everybody know where they can find you, follow your music, all that good stuff. Go ahead, BZ. You first. Tony did not go last. No, you go ahead and just do it for everybody. you're the mouthpiece, baby. Let's go. All right. Well, you know, we're called Rooted Sounds House Music. We have music on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal Deezer, all the platforms. ah We have

34:16
tracks individually out. So I want you to follow Tony Fernandez who is oh 804D. That is D for Dog, E E P for Paul and then B Z Reyes. That is B for Boy Z R E Y E S Z Reyes and then DJ Milk. D, check our music out. We have some

34:43
fire music out there. I have in the virtual building with me today, Ray Bone. mean, one of the illest DJs I've ever seen. But yeah, if you could. Well, first of all, let me say thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to come and talk with me. But if you could just let the listeners know a little bit, know, who is Ray Bone Jones, like how you got into DJing, your connection with music and all that good stuff. OK, so what up, though, to everybody?

35:12
Can everybody hear me? Oh yeah, you good. All right, good. What up, though, again, everybody from Detroit, from all of the states, all over the world. I'm glad to be here. I'm glad to have you interview me. And it's a lot of things that you and maybe the world can figure out from me.

35:42
that they've been asking and wondering. And I'm willing to disclose a lot of those things. So I've been DJing now for over 40 years. My music production, I can say, probably start at

36:14
underground and getting everything together, would probably say maybe about 98. I really didn't start, really start pushing everything out until maybe like early 2000s. That's when maybe I said maybe about 2000.

36:37
two or three after I had my website. It's still, it's not up. That was in 2000s, that was decades, 2000s. ah But yeah, I'm currently doing music now, ah currently DJing. uh I'm getting back into traveling.

37:07
Um, music production. Uh, I just released, uh, another EP on, uh, moves and grooves. Um, that's my second compilation. No second EP on moves and grooves. Um, I'm featured on a compilation, uh, from, uh, Theo parish. Uh,

37:37
collaborating with DJ kicks ah and the title of the track I did is called green funk on compilation. That's a beautiful compilation. If if you haven't had it, you should pick it up because a lot of good Detroit artists, new artists as well as opposed to veteran.

38:06
Or OG or legend artists, if you want to call it. So he has a mixture gumbo of, you know, new talent, old talent, and then some other talent that he decided that he wanted to put on the compilation. Beautiful. All right. So you say you've been DJing for over 40 years. Do you remember what your first DJ set was like and how that felt to actually play? Well, my, okay.

38:35
Was it my first professional or was it my first just whichever one meant the most to you? Well, both of them meant the most to me. OK, we can talk about both then. OK, that's good. The first one was my very first one and that was for. Not OK, it was a friend of mine.

39:02
Now we can say girlfriend, but we weren't dating and nothing like that. can say like, you know, because now, you know, back when I was coming over to say your girlfriend, that was just a female friend you had that was a girl. Right. Right. But anyways, she had a sweet 16 birthday party and she asked me to DJ.

39:31
And of course this was with Rutgers. And so I played her birthday party. Everybody had a good time amongst our age and the parents. That's gonna be so shocking because, know, they usually, you know, y'all do y'all birthday party and we gonna go ahead and y'all we come out and replace whatever needs to be replaced and check up. But it was so funny because the parents started dancing.

40:01
And so ah along with the kids. that was cool. And that was something that was really like, you know, intriguing to me because I already had a passion for music because of my parents. You know, they were very heavily involved in music. You know, when I was younger, so, ah you know, now I'm getting to that point and now I can see like, OK, this is really

40:30
something that I do enjoy and it's something that I can wow, you know what mean? And um so from that point doing that for her, that was my first, very first, you know, party in front of people. You know, because now, you know, you can get a laptop with technology, you know, that's different.

41:00
you know, with going back then and like really realizing like I could really do something. You know what saying? And people really enjoying exactly the type of music I'm doing and how I'm doing it. So that was a plus. And I believe the second time

41:23
was when I was older and I had the opportunity to play again at my early 20s, maybe like 21, 22. So now I'm leaving, you know, the teenage status and I'm old enough to go into like bars and clubs now.

41:53
and rock it on the next level. Yeah. You get what I'm saying? Because we're adults now. Yeah. And that was a beautiful thing too, because now that lets me know that, you know, from the little boy that I was doing something to now becoming a young man, I could still, you know, the passion and what I was doing, everything was.

42:21
on its way and was right. Okay, man, that sounds like a uh good feeling. But yeah, especially to be able to get the kids and the adults dancing at the same time. that's no easy feat. No, it's not. Because think about this. And it's so funny now because when you look at the younger generation now and then now their parents just trying to get into what?

42:51
you know, their kids are, you know what mean? As opposed to, were younger and we're trying to get into what our parents were, you know, listening to. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. Speaking of parents, you mentioned that, you know, they were heavily involved in music. What did that look like as a kid coming up? Like, how did that get ingrained in you? uh Kind of watching and observing what they were doing. Well, it goes back to saying, like,

43:20
with them as me being like a little kid, my dad might be at work, mom's at home, and she's cleaning up, cooking dinner, getting everything together, and she's playing her music on the record player while she's cleaning the house, while she's cooking dinner, and all of those things, right? Yeah.

43:49
So as a little kid, you you listening to that, you know what I mean? And you helping along and you know, and then when my dad got home, he would play some of the records he would play or if my mom would hang out with her girlfriends and you know, it's just me and my dad, you know, and he might want to put on some records or, you know, it's just about the parents are just, you know, switching up, putting on what they wanted to fill and what records that they wanted to.

44:18
jam to or just vibe to and you know, think about what my parents was that they were not just parents that like kind of stuck on like one genre of music. You know what I mean? So I had, my parents were well rounded in music.

44:46
Whether it be jazz, it be soul, funk, groove, disco, uh they listened to ah a lot of other artists that were out of their realm of listening to music. ah Do you understand what I'm saying? I know exactly what you're saying. You know what saying? ah

45:15
And which was a good thing because that taught me how to appreciate music that's outside of the arts, funk, jazz, groove, you know what I mean? To what I was normally the typical. You know what I mean? So, you know, so it just, it just helped me grow and look.

45:42
music in a lot of different genres than just being stuck in one or two genres of, or this was popular music that, you know, we should be listening to if that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely. I personally feel like, especially for production, that's incredibly helpful. yeah, that definitely helps. That definitely helps in production because, you know, uh

46:12
Yeah, it definitely helps in production because you can go in so many different directions and so many different ways and your creativity level can be just so heightened, you know what mean? As opposed to just being, you know, stuck into maybe one or two or three genres of music and then, or just one, you know what I mean? Right. Um, cause I've had discussions like this with, uh, hip hop producers before where, you know, sometimes

46:41
That's what people just tend to listen to. And it's like, well, if you want to make good hip hop, you can make better hip hop if you listen to more than just hip hop. Yeah, like you got to expand your palette. Well, and this was so funny that you mentioned that is because now it's a whole totally different ballgame. But back then, even when I was coming up, you know, you had a lot of hip hop artists

47:12
And they started, this is like early hip hop I'm talking about. They understood, you know, a lot of range of music from their parents. So they could sit back and listen to their parents' records. And then they knew what certain parts to sample. And those records, a lot of times they would sample.

47:40
They were kids coming up listening to those samples that have been great samples and those older records. You get what I'm saying? To where now they have made hits out of them and some of those hits are still decades strong. Right. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So.

48:09
Yeah, it's kind of funny. One of the first rap songs that I remember my mom kind of liking was when Run DMC collaborated with Aerosmith. Yeah. Yeah. Prime example. And that was, see, once you started getting off into that, when they did that, that was an experimental project for them. And that was the reason why that

48:39
was I think one of the iconic songs from them is because you know they wanted to branch out their sound so it's almost kind like we build into making noise in the US and we want to have our sound and our act get exposed to a lot more

49:09
Yeah. So it's about growing. So they can just come with like, you know, the regular stuff. So they had to come with some rock to add a lot of more flavor into. It's about being versatile sometimes. You can't always just stick with the same thing. Right. And that's what I'm saying about is being exposed to so many different type of music that you can.

49:39
understand how you can move. If that makes sense. Yeah, that's a really good way to put that. Right, right, right. Yeah. So, you know, because I think that a lot of the producers that are more successful actually understand that. So, you know, and having those conversations and trying to get people to, you know, dream a little bit bigger. Yeah. Yeah. It's really cool that you. Yeah.

50:08
Yeah, you have to because that's the only way that you're going to that's the only way you're going to elevate. You know, you have to you have to dream bigger and you have to have the passion. You know, saying and if you don't have a passion for it, you're not going to dream better. You're not going to dream bigger. Mm You know, I you could say, well, you know, I made these beats and I'm making beats and everybody like your beats is hot. But how are you getting?

50:36
the people around you and beyond to hear your beats, to understand your beats, to say that, yeah, you hot. Right. Right. Yeah. And especially, uh you know, by absorbing more, it kind of gives you a little more texture, which kind of helps you stand out because I mean, there are a lot of people making beats these days. So how do you get people to listen to you? You know, if you're still doing the same thing that everybody else is doing.

51:05
Exactly. So I have a quote for you. All right.

51:12
quote is if you have more you can do more. See I'm saying so if you have the more you have around you and the more you observe the more you can do better.

51:30
because you had so many options to go in whatever direction you want to go. You know what mean? So like with me, like, I mean, if I wake up in the morning and I'm feeling like kind of jazzy, mellowy, you know what I mean? So that might, I might do a jazz or, you know, something on that. If I get up and I'm hype and this and that, or if I'm feeling that way.

52:00
I'm making a hype track. I'm making a uppity dance track. You know what I'm saying? So I'm not, I'm not just, okay, I'm getting up and I'm going to make a track. And it's just going to be, I just made that track. You know I'm saying? And that's what I try to get a lot of people to understand is that, you know, okay, you can make a track that's making the track.

52:27
When you really put more of your creativity and your passion into your track, you start to understand and let people understand where you're coming from and how you coming, you know what I mean? And then everything else, you know, falls into place. Yeah, that's beautiful. Could you talk a little bit about, you know, so you started with DJing.

52:55
Then once you expanded into production, what was that particular transition like for you? it, you know, just inspiration struck? Like, how'd you begin to produce after you started DJing? Okay, well, I'm going tell you this. Production, while I was DJing, ah it was always there, but it wasn't as serious at the time because

53:24
um I was so caught up into DJing and I'm here, there, here, there, here, there on DJing. But I was still working and developing, you know what I mean? uh My uh production situation because I had a lot of my peers that were getting on to that and they were like, yo,

53:53
you know, dog, you need to follow this flow. But I'm like, I feel you, but no, I'm to just DJ from steel. You get what I'm saying? Yeah. And then once I started seeing them start really putting projects together and start building and start, you know, elevating on that next level, I was like, whoa, maybe there's something I need to really look at again. And, you know,

54:22
And it worked out, you know, it worked out because I saw that and you know, they tapped me on the shoulder, you know what I mean? Cause they ain't really have to say this because we were, man, it's funny thing about it, y'all. Woo. That error, that error after one. I'm gonna, okay, we're gonna say this.

54:51
in that era with one Kevin Eddie. Greg. One one all the big the Belleville three. Why Kevin? There then you got Craig. Then you got Eddie folks, Blake Baxter in the list goes on, but it stopped.

55:20
after them and they should have been because they had a whole bunch of soldiers and a whole bunch of people that was under them that they should have brought on that was sweet but now over time them people still are gonna break through and they have brought through broke through you get what I'm saying? Yeah. The generation of

55:50
The next generation outside of the big three uh outside of their generation. The next generation was three chairs. Yeah. So that's my generation and that's our generation. So I'm saying, so, know, Kenny, Theo, Marcellus, Rick will hide. We all knew each other.

56:20
Gary Chalice, all of them under. We saw what was going on and we was a whole totally different beast that was coming next. The next wave that the world and the they weren't seen. They didn't see until they saw. You know what saying? Yes. So that's how

56:50
You know, all of that, you know what saying? All of that spawns in, I guess, period called time. You know, as things elevate and things move on.

57:08
You know, yeah, you said they didn't see until they saw. kind of want to slow walk that one a little bit because, um, you know, you know, on social media, you see people often complaining about people from where they're from, not appreciating their artistry. Everybody always blames it on their city, but if you notice every single city says it. So, um, you know, if you could. uh

57:37
Not to cut you off, but you want to know why every city says it. It's universal. yeah, there you go. There you go. There you go. There you go. There you go. it's because it happens in every situation that is happening. And it takes people to come together to say, you know what?

58:08
F that. Yeah. Okay. I was going to say the original. I'll be light with it, but you know, that because now we can't word about that. We got to worry about the future. That's the past. That's why I have, and I have no problem. I told you that from day one when I first met you and you would tell me you was working on beach.

58:37
Yeah. You hear me? And do you remember what I told you? I do. All right. And look where you are. And look what you're doing. You get what I'm saying? That's the positive. This that we need to pass on to the younger generation or just to our peers period to wake this situation up. You know what I'm saying? know, because.

59:06
We have a lot of great talent in all of our pockets. I don't care if it's just Michigan. I don't care if it's Ohio. I don't care if it's New York. don't care. Even if overseas, I don't care if it's even South Africa. Look at how South Africa is coming out. Yes. When nobody even thinking about South African, we're dealing with this house music or.

59:32
whatever genre and how all these other genres they are coming up with. Alright, and that's a wrap for this episode of Instrumental Intel. I've been your host, music producer Chickwood Beats, and I want to thank you for tuning in. Once again, as always, I appreciate the guests for coming on and sharing their insights. And I'd like to thank my home station, Grander Radio out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Make sure you come back next week. I got more goodness lined up for you. So, until next time, you know where to find me. Tune in, tell a friend, and I'll see you then. Peace.