to broadcasting school instead and got my certificate because I just wanted to be on the radio. When I finally got on the radio, just to be real, there was people doing payola and a lot of behind-the-scenes bullshit. I wasn’t with it, and they were really controlling the records that I played. It damn sure wasn’t what I had envisioned as a kid. To top it off, I wasn’t making no money. I was doing more in the streets and my name was good from the other stuff that I was doing, so radio just wasn’t for me. The people that were working there were on some straight bullshit.
DJ BABE Are you from Detroit? Nah, I’m originally from Pittsburgh, so you know who I’m going for in the Super Bowl. When did you decide to start DJing? When I was a kid I used to go down to Pittsburgh, and they were bigger on hiphop than Detroit was at the time. I started breakdancing, and I went to Pittsburgh in the summer of 1984 and they were filming a movie with DJ Melle Mel. He was the first person that I saw actually mix live. I came back home and told my mama, “I need two turntables and a mixer.” She was like, “Boy, I ain’t buyin’ you no damn turntables.” She ended up buying me one turntable and a mixer. I got the other one for Christmas and I’ve been doing it ever since then. Are you on the radio in Detroit? I had a radio show on WJLB on Friday and Saturdays, but I quit. I didn’t get fired, like people think. I quit the radio station and started doing guest mixes on various stations all over the country. I did shows with both XM and Sirius satellite radio. Why did you quit the station? At the time when I was growing up, WJLB was the only urban station that we had. I really wanted to be on the radio. When I came out of high school I had the money to go to college and I got accepted, but I went 10
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What’s the hot spots to visit in Detroit for Super Bowl weekend? You might wanna hit up Fairline Mall, or if you’ve got some real money you might wanna go to Somerset Mall or Great Lakes Crossing. As far as the club scene, there’s so much stuff going on for Super Bowl that it’s hard to say who’s gonna pop and who’s gonna flop. In Detroit this is really the first time we’ve had something on this scale. There’s so much going on it’s hard to say what’s the place to be. Puffy has a party February 3rd, Shady Records has a party which is gonna be off the chain on February 4th, John Legend and the Fugees are performing on February 3rd, and there’s a Kanye West concert on February 2nd. Who are some of the hot local artists in Detroit? You’ve got a guy named Tone-Tone who’s signed to Jazze Pha, he’s got a nice buzz here. Big Kirk sold a lot of records independently. Teairra Mari is signed to Def Jam, and she’s from Detroit. What’s your relationship with Shady? There’s a lot of guys from Shady that I’m cool with. I’ve known Proof for over ten years, and when I used to DJ the open mics Obie Trice would come through. These guys were all involved in the rap scene locally for years, so when they got on and got their deals we stayed friends and just look out for each other. You’ve dropped a couple mixtapes with them, right? Yeah, the mixtapes are available through websites like www.mixtapemakers.com or stores around here. I’m working on a project with Obie called The Reintroduction. How’s Obie doing after getting shot? Obie’s good. He’s still Obie. Thankfully it wasn’t a major wound that held him down. He’s back to doing what he does. - Julia Beverly