dj issue “If I got a personal relationship with somebody, I’m riding until the wheels fall off.” – DJ M.O.E. “If you and that artist have a real friendship outside of the business then yeah, you have no choice but to be involved. Other than that, if your relationship is strictly business, then I would say no you shouldn’t get involved.” – DJ Unity
Name at least 2 records you’ve broken and explain how you can claim credit for breaking them. “‘Step In the Name Of Love’ by R. Kelly. When the bootleg of Chocolate Factory hit the streets, the original stood out. It was unmixed and unmastered, but I played the shit anyway. After that happened, cease and desist letters came but it was too late. The phone lines blew up at every station in Chicago forcing Jive to move quickly to get Kels’ joint finished. Also, Lupe Fiasco. He had his underground following but I exposed him to my commercial audience. No other radio mixshow cat in Chicago would fuck with him until I started playing his heat.” – Boolumaster “‘Still Tippin’ – I got Paul Wall to host my Gorilla N Da Trunk 4. It was just starting to move out from Texas at the time and he gave out his number on the CD. Young Dro’s ‘Shoulder Lean’ - It was already starting to bubble in Atlanta at the time but when the CD I did with him dropped, his buzz went through the roof.” – DJ Burn One “Mims’ ‘This is Why I’m Hot’ and Rick Ross’ ‘Hustlin’. With Mims, I got the record from DJ Blackout who works with me at the station and he produced the record so I wanted to help him out. With Rick Ross, we were always good people so he came to my local love show and brought ‘Hustlin’. I had to play that record like four times.” – DJ Dady Phatts “I’ve broken plenty of records in my region from outside artists. As far as local artists in Austin, I was mainly responsible for breaking Hood Soul’s record ‘Down In Austin Texas’ and Basswood Lane’s ‘Thug Pimpin’.” – DJ Grip “I was on Crime Mob’s ‘Rock Yo Hips’ early. I forced it on people until they liked it. I also played a big hand in breaking Casino’s ‘Game Time’. I would play it on campus, at all the college parties and at all the basketball games.” – DJ Hella Yella “I know I was the first down this way to rock the Mims joint ‘This Is Why I’m Hot’ back in May 2006. Next thing I know it was all over the place. I was also the first to get behind Crime Mob’s ‘Rock Ya Hips.’” – KD aka Han D Man “Mims’ ‘This is Why I’m Hot’. He brought me the song fresh out of the studio and I was the first to play it on the air on Wild 98.7. I knew it was a hit from the go. I also think I helped break Acafool’s ‘Hatablockas’ record.” – King JB “‘You’ by Lloyd. My partner Stix Malone and I played this record on the air, in the skating rinks and in the clubs for months in Atlanta. Lloyd thanked me personally for being the only one to play this record in the beginning.” – DJ Nabs “Trae’s ‘In Da Hood’ and Tum Tum’s ‘Caprice Music’ are doing good in Japan with the help of Bout to Blow Vol. 2 hosted by Trae and Tum. I want Japan to feel this Texas movement.” – DJ Princess Cut “I played a part in Rick Ross’ “Hustlin”, as well
as Dre’s ‘Chevy Ridin High’. I was the main DJ at Diamonds and I used to abuse those records in there, along with DJ Khaled’s ‘Holla at me’. I’m known for breaking records, that’s what I do.” – Sam Sneak
“Radio is real crooked but there are some good people in good places. The only thing I don’t like is someone telling my PD what to play, in South Florida, when he lives in a different state.” – DJ Dady Phatts
“The two most recent songs I have broken are ‘I Got Money’ by Stix feat. Young Buck and Hi-C and ‘Pop, Lock, & Drop It’ by Huey. I was the first DJ in the city to play these songs at the club and on mixtapes.” – DJ Sir Swift
“I’ve never experienced anything too crooked or corrupt. Artists have to understand the process and politics of getting your music played on the radio and they have to exercise that process to the fullest or else they don’t stand a chance, no matter how good their song is.” – DJ Grip
“Mims’ ‘This Is Why I’m Hot’. This was on my Southern Swagger Vol. 3 tape which was released in early October. At this time no one had placed this song on a mixtape, that I saw, and I played it in every club I DJed in and got a good response. Plies Ft. Akon ‘I Wanna’ was the same thing, except it was on Southern Swagger Vol. 2 which was released in July.” – DJ Spinz “A lot of people don’t know this, but I was the first DJ to break 50 Cent’s ‘How to Rob’ record. I wasn’t supposed to have it, but I did. I also broke Cassidy’s ‘I’m a Hustla’. When I was on radio in Connecticut, I had it first and was killing it.” – DJ Suss One “Joc’s ‘It’s Goin Down’ and Ciara’s ‘Goodies’. I was one of the DJs with these records fresh out of the studio. I had them banging in the club while everybody was asking who they were and how could they get it.” – DJ Blak “I broke ‘Dutty Wind’ in Club Bada Bing. There were two girls called Attitude Girls that knew the dance and they helped the whole club learn it. I played T.I.’s ‘Bring ‘Em Out’ 20 times in one night because it was so dope.” – DJ Boz “‘Rap Will Never Die’ by M.C. Shy D and ‘Ghetto Jump’ by Krush 2. Back when these songs came out, Miami music was not known in Orlando yet nor was Hip Hop big in Orlando at the time. I had the only mixshow on the radio and I played in some of the biggest clubs in Orlando so I could let people know what was going on with music outside of our area.” – DJ Magic Mike “I only claim credit for these records because at the time I was playing them, as far as I know, no one else was playing them. Back in the day it was Luniz ‘I Got Five On It’. This record came straight out the record pool box and onto the turntables, literally. I immediately played it that night and haven’t stopped since. More recently was Ebony Eyez ‘In Ya Face.’ I still get requests for it from time to time from the ladies.” – DJ Unity “Bump J ‘Move Around’ and Nas ‘Oochie Wally’. I took both of these records and played them everywhere I spun. In order to break a record, you have to play it every time you spin. I even played them at a wedding reception. I really believed in the records.” – DJ V-Dub “I don’t personally believe one DJ can break a record. A DJ can introduce a record but it still takes a movement of other DJs to break a record.” – Wiz Hoffa
Is radio as crooked and corrupt as people make it out to be? “I believe so but only to a certain extent. Payola, relationships, barter. That stuff goes on in radio as it does in other industries. I mean, that’s just what it is.” – DJ Bounz
“Nope, radio is all business and supply and demand. Artists need to study their demographic. Just because Tampa is Jook City doesn’t mean you have to have a jook record; you gotta be yourself and create something for the masses to feel.” – DJ Headbussa “Radio is supposed to be a music listener’s best friend, not worst enemy. Unfortunately, radio and music are suffering due to conglomerate ownership. They have homogenized the whole format so we all hear basically the same thing. Where’s the creativity in that? This has become an investand-return operation for people who don’t even listen to our music and could care less about our culture.” – DJ Don Juan “People make it out to be corrupt but it is a system that gets the bills paid.” – DJ Hella Yella “I don’t know. ‘Corrupt and crooked’ is a lil harsh. It’s more or less who you know. That’s in every business.” – DJ J-Nice “Yes, it’s very corrupt. How many DJs do you know that would play the same 20 songs over and over without getting paid? You have to be paid to be tortured like that everyday.” – Jane Dupree “Not at all, at least not the one I work for. People get the wrong impression of radio.” – King JB “I don’t think it’s so bad besides the payola situation. But I do think radio stations need to hire more mixtape DJs. We are the streets. We know what the audience wants to hear.” – DJ L-Gee “Not with the FCC hawking everybody. It’s cleaner than ever.” – Mac Payne “That’s what I hear. I prefer to be able to spin whatever I feel like, cuss words and all, the screwed version at that.” – DJ Princess Cut ”Not really. There are just some PDs who are pricks who weren’t shit in high school but now have power and they abuse it, in my opinion. Other than that, it’s pretty cool to me.” –Sam Sneak “I don’t think radio is crooked; some people in radio are crooked and they give the entire radio community a black eye. The one thing I would change is there should not be a playlist for mixers. Give the DJs a little more freedom to do what they do best.” – DJ Shakim “I’ve been on underground radio since I was 14 years old. I tried working at a corporate radio station and it wasn’t nothing like what I was used to. All I can say is we have fun on our station. We are not controlled by a group of super rich folks that control everything we play.” – DJ Slym “Nah. You just gotta understand the business. Some people in the radio business are crooked OZONE MAG // 91