DJ Fresh
Interview by Deyu Ntebya
Continued from Murder Dog vol 16 #1
How did The Whole Shabang get started?
Me and Tower, we was messing with each other for hell of long already.
Also I was messing with J-Stalin a lot, and Beeda Weeda, Jamon Dru was
working a lot with Beeda Weeda. So everythi
ng was there but as time went
on we just kept hearing each other more and I had the idea to form a
production team. Put niggas together, two heads better than one attitude.
So it all came together.
And you work with mainly Bay Area artists, right?
I work with a lot of Bay artists, but I work with a lot of East Coast
artists too. I work with Nas a lot, Wu Tang Clan, Common. I’m from the
East Coast and started off deejaying for Common when I was sixteen. We
make music that we like. We work with people all over, but a lot of our
current releases are in the Bay cause that is where we are located right
now. Really we could go anywhere in the USA and get it cracking. Our
network’s strong. Like Tower got connections to Texas, the Midwest, all
out there.
How would you describe your sound?
We are raw! The four of us we got our individual sounds and they’re all
very different and good in their own way. But when you put us together
we are dynamic. Our unique personal sounds don’t clash with each other;
they blend and balance each other in a way you never heard before! It
doesn’t sound like any one of us, it is a sound all on its own. We make
dope shit. I don’t even want to say it’s West Coast or East Coast or
anything. It’s music! Sometimes you can’t define and put music in one
little box. Especially right now, people from anywhere can hear music
from anywhere. Like a nigga in California might be bumping shit from
Florida or Mississippi or vice versa. Even if you never leave the hood
you might not just be listening to music in your hood. As result you
could be hearing a New York rapper and hear an LA sound, it’s because
that’s what they grew up listening to. People love to categorize the
music but that’s not always easy to do. Music is a universal thing. But
one thing I will say is that we are raw. Raw means we are real, no fake
shit. This is our sound. And our sound isn’t anybody else’s.
Do the artists that you work with determine the way an album you put
out might sound?
We make music that we like. We know our shit is hot so we don’t try to
go out of our way to please anybody. I know what I like and I know it’s
good so that s what I do. We don’t make beats with anybody in mind either,
not like “I think this guy would like this beat”. The four of us
are good at what we do, we make the shit we like and somebody always
gonna like that shit. If we tried to make a certain sound for each artist
then we wouldn’t have a solid sound. Sometimes a rapper will sound better
on one of our beats than another one, but that just happens the way it’s
supposed to happen you can’t plan on that. We got a true sound.
Does the whole production team work on a track?
Sometimes but not always. Like for example I made a beat for a rapper
called The Grouch. I deejay for the Grouch too, you see. Anyway I was
coming back from Hawaii and I was on the plane making the beat. Then
I started thinking, “I really want Jamon Dru’s touch on here. It would
be great to have him working on the track too.” So I got back and
first thing we go to the Hieroglyphic’s studio and Dru puts his touch
on the track. So a lotta times even if we are making a track by ourselves
it ends up be a collaboration. Of course some of us work better with
each other, it varies. Like Tower and me we don’t work together too much
but the whole thing is, Tower makes some of the most slapping ass beats
all on his own. But we definitely draw a lot of inspiration from each
other, all of us do.
Do you make a lot of mixtapes too?
No, really we don’t because like the “Tonite Show” some people think
they’re mixed tapes, but they aren’t. It’s all 100% original material
on there. They are all albums. All beats done by us and the artists come
and rap on ‘em. A lot of people think they are mixtapes cause we as a
production team are putting them out like a series. But no, they albums.
A mixtape is a DJ taking beats that are out there and rapping on them.
We record the muthafuckers, we have them in the studio, and we mix and
master them down.
How many of the “Tonite Show” CD’s do you have out?
A lot. Right now I’m doing one with Messy Marv. The first one I ever
did was with Mistah FAB. Then we did Mistah FAB Part 2. We did J-Stalin.
I mean we’ve done a whole lot. The format works real good for us, so
we keep putting shit out like that.
So do you put them independently or is there a label you are working
with?
It depends on the project. Like the first one I did I put out myself.
Then the second one someone else put it out. The Mistah FAB Part 2, Frisco
Street Show, put that one out. Who I’m working with makes a big difference.
Like the one I’m working on with Hieroglyphics, the D-Lo one, Hieroglyphics
is putting that one out. A lot of times someone affiliated with the artist
I’m working with will put it out, but then the Messy Marv one, I’m putting
it out. I put The CD’s out myself but we have distribution. We get in
a lot of stores. Also I sell them online. I have a digital store online.
You can get them on Itunes.
Music wise where do you get inspiration? What influences you?
Music wise? The inspiration just flows. We inspire each other. Just living
doing shit. You get inspiration from everything. The times that we living
in is inspiring. We got a Black president in office. Music is like my
drug it’s a big part of my life. There’s no higher high than being in
the studio making music. Then you’re sitting back listening to a beat
you made and there’s a rapper busting his ass off on it and people are
loving it. Just enjoying listening to the song, you know. Somebody drives
by in a car and they’re playing my shit real loud. It’s great.
