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his Bay Area CORE DJ has been ushering in the West coast sound since the first time the West was won. Now, over a decade later, DJ Juice is ready to do his part to keep to Bay on the map, this time for good. Tell me about yourself. Where are you from and how did you get started? I was born in San Francisco, now I live in Richmond, but I pretty much rep the whole Bay Area. I represent the Core DJs - DJ Juice.
lot of these guys are garbage. Anybody can go to the Guitar Center or the electronic store and buy Pro-Tools, get something to record on, get a beat and then I’m a rapper. So it’s not mixed or mastered and they bring it to DJ at the club like, “This is the hottest shit ever, play this.” And it’s the same way with DJs. That’s part of what they mean when they say Hip Hop is dead. These cats that want to DJ, they don’t know about carrying four crates [of vinyl] to shows. They don’t know about the struggle. You got to pay your dues and show that you love this shit. And while you’re paying your dues you’re learning and then when you get your time, you’re ready.
Why do you think the Bay scene is starting to get so much national attention? The Bay has been doing there thing for a minute. We’re the originators of the independent game. All the people you see doin’ the independent game got that from the Bay. It’s kind of like New York is now; just because New York isn’t makin’ no music that’s accepted on a major scale doesn’t mean it’s dead. The Bay was accepted in the mid-90’s but after 2Pac died in ‘96 the Bay kind of got slept on until last year. It’s kind of like everything comes in a circle so you just got to wait your turn. Just like right now the South is on top, it’s gonna come back to New York and it’s gonna come back to the West, it’s just a cycle. It’s a lot of people out here that have been working the whole time just waiting for their time. Now the spotlight is coming back to the Bay and they’re trying to take advantage of that.
What do you think is the biggest problem in the Hip Hop game is right now? I think it’s the digital era. The digital era has made it so easy for the average cat to rap. A 16
OZONE
Words \\ Eric Perrin Photo \\ Kawai Matthews
The rest of this interview is featured in the March issue of ozone. Visit us online at www.ozonemag.com to check out the debut of OZONE West.
REAL, RAW, & UNCENSORED SOUTHERN RAP
S : S, N PLU NE ST IGG LIO O A D IL OZ T COB, J-AXAM S A WETAH FRT, TR MIS $HO O TO
As a DJ, are you offended by the statement that “Hip Hop is dead”? A lot of people take that statement personal. There are five elements of Hip Hop and the people who are saying “Hip Hop is Dead” are products of the early ‘90s, New York style of rap. The backpack rappers like the KRS-One. They consider Hip Hop with the breakdancing and the DJ, so when they say Hip Hop is Dead they mean [Hip Hop] as a culture, the whole element of it. Now it’s a business, people aren’t doing it for fun no more. People aren’t going in the studio to make a good album, but to make a single that people are going to dance to in the club. Before, they went in and said, “Let’s make music and let’s have fun with it.” Now they’re just in it to get rich.
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