Interview With DJ Laser

The say the 3 rules of real estate are LOCATION, LOCATION, and LOCATION, but with the industry its all about the networking. Through the blog sites I was able to meet DJ Laser and we shared many of the same views when it came to music. It's always interesting to talk to individuals who are about their "business". I introduce to you New York's own, DJ Laser...

1.As a resident of the Bronx, Hip-Hop's Mecca, how has the culture impacted your life?

-It's had a huge impact on my Life. Coming from where I come from, how couldn't it? I was Raised in the Birth Place of Hip Hop, "Bronx River Houses" in the South Bronx. My environment, my Surroundings, the people in it made me who I am today. The only different is, some of us make it out and some of us don't. I always said that Hip Hop represents what we go through on a daily basis and our entire life. People that don't come from where we come from can't and will never understand that. From the single mother raising 4 kids, to the drugs, the dealers, crack heads, police issues etc...It all played a major role in my involvement with Hip Hop and Music in general. Music helps people express themselves. Its very therapeutic. So I definitely believe it had a big impact on my life. Knowing that all the greats came from where I came from, I'm just not talking bout what's around us, I'm talking about literally coming from the blocks we grew up on and pass by everyday, its something you can't experience no where else. Just by you knowing these are the same streets and blocks all the DJ's use to hustle they tapes at, throw their parties at, the same trains they use to ride on to go downtown to politic with the vendors or hit the club at, this is where its at. Its a beautiful thing man.-

2. How did you start DJing?

-I started DJing not too long ago actually, like 3 years ago, but music has always been a part of my life since a Young'n. My father was a DJ back in D.R and was in an indie spanish band for a while back in the days, so its in my blood. He never really made it a career. He never enforced it, or taught me the ins and outs of music like most people that have a musical background do. My house was always playing music, but we never were like a "music family". They were always worried about surviving and keeping me and my sisters good. I actually wanted to be a producer at first because of the control they had. The track couldn't be done without the producers creation/creativity and thought process. But after learning more about the business of music and studying the art, I found out that unless your a big star producer and have that demand, most producers stay in the shadow and backround and don't get noticed. They get credit but don't get noticed as much. So after pursuing my "Producing Career" and after a couple of beats, I started getting into Mixtapes and DJing. I See Mixtapes as an art. I use to hear Clue, Envy, Big Mike, and many other DJs that I followed and I just use to study them. Their voice, style, brovado, & control. How they said and did different things. I never grew up learning how to DJ, or with equipment but I knew a lot about music but most of my learning came from watching, listening & studying mixtapes and music as a whole. You can ask anyone that's talented, whether its an artist or athlete its just something you pick up, something you want to learn and achieve. I use to spend countless hours rewinding freestyles/songs and just admiring how DJ's sound. The shit had a hot sound! I use to just listen to their drops over and over again. (I still do) For example, Clue use to make shit sound Hot, with his drops, adlibs, voice and Mixing. I use to hear the same freestyle/song with out the DJ drops and it just sounded plain to me. With the DJ on it, it Hypes it up and Hypes you up as a listener. I always wanted to be the first to show people stuff, put them on new music and artists, so that kinda influenced me as well.-

3. New York is home to so many great DJs like Grandmaster Flash, Jam Master Jay, Kid Capri, Tony Touch, Mister Cee, DJ Clue, Clark Kent, Red Alert, Funkmaster Flex and others. How do you plan to make your mark?

I wanna start in the street, then make my way up to the Top. Clue said once in an interview, "You gotta start at the bottom, in the street and work your way up to the top. Like when you enter a building and you want to go upstairs to the top, you got to start in the street and go in the Lobby and take the Elevator to the top". Music can take you into so many different avenues. I wanna be the Next Sickamore, Clue or Kid Capri so to speak. I want to stamp my name in the game and then venture of into other things, because music is how I'ma get where I want to go, we all started because we love the music so much. That's why I respect cats like them. They did their thing, and went off to do bigger and better things. Look at Clue, the first DJ to put Mixtapes on CD's. Then went Platinum as a DJ, and all this started from Hustlin' tapes and doing what he loves. Kid Capri was one of the first DJ's with a Manager....a DJ! And Sickamore doing what he did at his age was just crazy. This music shit is like the NBA or MLB. What are you gonna do after your 15 Mins are up? Continue to Play? Continue to Rap? You gotta have a back up plan. I guess Yung Berg didn't have enough time to plan for that. (Lol.)You can't Limit yourself to just one thing. If you accomplished what you always wanted to do, you gotta stay busy and continue adding goals to your Bucket List. I feel I have something to offer and something to give back to this music shit. I'm unique with my work. I don't follow trends too much, I like to isolate myself from what everybody else is doing. How can you challenge your creativeness if your paying attention to what the next DJ or Artist is doing or putting out. I'ma make my mark using the same doors that Clue, Envy, Kid Capri & Brucie B. opened up for me. But taking it somewhere else, to The Next Level.

4. Obama or McCain?

-Lol, Obama Man. That's Word, if "McBush" gets in Office I'ma have to take a detour and find a different way out kid. Maybe moving to China, Hong Kong, or Germany. Somewhere Hip Hop is heavy and relevant like it is in the States. China does have one of the Largest if not the Largest Population in the World. So how Hard is it to Go Platinum over there! -Hahaha-

5. In what direction do you see your talents taking you?

Like I said before, I see it taking me all types of directions. A&Ring, Executive Producing Albums/Soundtracks, putting a Compilation Album together and Going Platinum. Being on The Radio and Having my own Show. Hosting. Signing a couple of Artists, getting them Deals & establishing a name and a brand around them so that they can make a career of their own and be successful and definitely many other things. You just gotta have that vision, see that vision, chase that vision and block everything that might distract you from getting there. All you gotta do is look at dudes like Ludacris, Diddy, Russell & Jay-Z. When they first started out, they never wanted to do nothing else but put out good music, have they're music accepted and appreciated by the world and that's what I'm out here to do. But music is my priority right now, putting out and making good Hip Hop, the shit I grew up on, what you grew up on, the only hard thing is that niggas aint passin' the Baton' to the Future. By the time they do, it'll be too late-

6. How did you get the opportunity to work with Hot 97?

-Ahh man, that was a blessing. I started out interning for them then heading over to the Promotions Dept. You know how hard is it just to get an internship or get in the building?! After that, then I joined the Street Team. A lot of people might say, "Street Team? That's wack!" But what people don't realize is that, that's the best way to network and polish your skills. You get to see and get in contact with the listeners in person. Whether you wanna be a Producer, On Air Personality, or DJ, this is your oppurtunity to see things you weren't able to see no where else. Getting to see how things work and why certain things are done. To me, it was School outside of School for me. School teaches you how to be an Employee, I wanna own things and be Self Employed. If you wanna be a Lawyer or a Doctor, then School is the Place to be. But if you wanna be in The Entertainment Business or Business itself, you gotta be where its at. I use to & still just watch and study DJ Enuff, DJ Envy, Cipha Sounds & DJ Camilo when they Spin at events/Clubs. I use to Follow them around and just Soak in everything that was going on. I'm Still Over there and I work from time to time at events and make myself useful in other things to better myself and what I'm trying to do.-



7. How would you make the perfect mixtape?

-There are no more "Perfect Mixtapes", The Same with Albums. Those days are over, there's too many artists & music To Filter and Consume in the amount of time given, It should all eventually come back around. But there are various ways to make a Perfect Mixtape. Its not a one way street. It all depends on what type of Music and Talent your trying to market, & who your trying to reach. The days of Demo's are over. Mixtapes are the new Demo's, and now mixtapes are dissolving slowly the same way, its always gonna start in the street and mixtapes aren't going no where it just aint the same no more. You gotta find a New Hustle and a new way to get it out there unlike times before. But back to your question, you still can make a good and near perfect mixtape. For example, it depends what your trying to do and where you wanna go. Obviously putting tapes out is a good way to market yourself and get your buzz up, but see that's the thing. Who can't put tapes out now a days? Everyone is doing it. All types of tapes, Best Of's, Duos, Collabos, Hosting Etc...its Bananas! The Artist themselves are putting the tapes out now, Hosting it, pressing it & puttin it together. So what I try to do is isolate myself from what everybody else is putting out. My thing is, I look at it like almost an Album, but for the streets. So when a nigga pops that CD in from the Jump, its gonna be Fire and its gonna have em' Hooked. If they smoking, chillin' with the homies, or just thinking about certain shit they can all relate and enjoy the music. To me everything is important, from the Artwork, Presentation, Theme, Concept, even down to the tracklisting. I look at it from a different point of a view, a second or third person point of view. I tell myself, I wanna make something I would like. Something I would play over and over again if it was somebody else's tape. So if I like it, I know other people are gonna feel the same way. People nowadays just put out mixtapes just to put em' out, and that's what separates it all. There's no more "Biddin' War" (Stack Bundles-DJ Clue) "Raps Makeover" (Stack Bundles-DJ Envy), "Rap Phenomenom" (2Pac-DJ Vlad, Dirty Harry & Green Lantern) "The Fifth Element" (The Game & Whoo Kid) "MOOD MUZIK" (DJ Onpoint & Joe Budden), "Gangsta Grillz" (DJ Drama), or Clue Mixtapes no more. I go to a Mixtape spot now, and everything is almost the same, I can't seem to pick and choose, and by doing so, you might miss out on something good in the Process. There's a new tape every week or two, so how your gonna compete with the "Whiteowls" & "Big Mike's" when everything that's new they already have out on the tape. And that's what I mean there's more music out then ever before, so by the time your thinking about droppin' something, its already out. It makes you shuffle your cards and start all over again.-

8. Recently, there was the controversy of a certain rapper saying "F**k All DJs", which was followed by Jermaine Dupri declaring that the DJ was dead. How important is the DJ to music?

-DJ's are artists among artists. They are always in control and in the center of it all. They control the mood and vibe of the party, without them or without their creativeness, the song, track, party, club or anything wouldn't be the same. DJ's are very important. We're responsible of supplying the people with music. If we don't do it, who will. Whether its A&Ring, Managing, Creating or Producing, DJ's are vital to music, especially in Hip Hop. Its funny because just the other day I was telling my boy while watching the Hip Hop Honors, all the great hip hop duos, crews and rappers had a DJ/Producer behind them. Whether its "GangStarr", "Cypress Hill", "Slick Rick", "Public Enemy", "De La Soul", or "KRS-One", they all had a backbone.. In Radio, Record Labels, Mixtapes, Groups, what ever, DJ's are the Heart of the Music, but with Blogs updating every hour, and music coming from all sorts of direction its kinda made it harder for us unestablished DJ's to get credit or feed the people like we want to. It's kinda bug'd out, all you gotta do now is go to a blog for all your New Videos and MP3's. I remember when the "Jockin' Jay-z" joint came out, all these rumors about the song was floatin around & then Flex premiered it at 7pm one night and by 7:30pm they had the Radio Rip already up on a blog and by 9:00pm they had posted the whole song up, shit is crazy. I use to have to hunt for tracks when they first came out. The Game is Oversaturated like the NBA.-


9. Describe your "New York State Of Mind"

Anything that involves New York. The way we talk, walk, think, Act, anything. Us New Yorkers stand out from everybody else. We were born in the city or some of us raised in the City and its a different upbringin'. Our surroundings and environment makes us do things we won't do nowhere else. Our mentality and the way we see things is like none other. "New York State of Mind" is CNN "War Report", Mobb Deep "Infamous", Nas "Illmatic", Jay-z "Reasonable Doubt", Biggie "Ready To Die", EPMD "Strictly Business", GangStarr "Step in The Arena" Wu Tang Clan "Enter The Wu" and many other classic Hip Hop Album that painted the New York City we know today through music. If you can put on an album, a New York album at that, and you can visualize New York City and think back on how shit was and the world in general in that time in History when that album was made....then that's "A New York State of Mind". The way you dress and all. Its kinda like what Jim Jones & T.I is going back and forth about, the whole swag, in a way Jimmy has a point, and then I also feel T.I. But if you look at it from a far, everybody been doing the same thing, people just re-invent the styles and switches them up to what they sense of style is. And that goes with Music, Fashion, and everything in the world.

10. What are you currently working on?

I just finish droppin A Joell Ortiz Mixtape Called "Before The Aftermath" a couple months ago and I've been gettin a good response from it. I really wanna get a Big Pun tape out, the Best Of, but it won't be your normal Best Of...ima try to make it special. Ever since I guest blog'd for you about Pun I been getting ideas in my head Left and Right. I also got this Political mMixtape coming out, its a collection of music with all the hottest joints from now that can motivate people especially the Hip Hop community to go out and vote and make the change happen. So when people hear the tape before the election or after it can put them in a that state of mind of making something happen and reminding them that we about to witness history. Its affecting us and the way we live now, so we gotta get invloved. My tape is similar to the Green Lantern tape that's coming out called "Yes We Can" with Russell Simmons. I got the idea for the tape one day when I was listening to some music and I was saying to myself, there's a lot of political songs out now by well known artists & Hip Hop is more involved in the election this year than ever before. With our first Future Black President almost being in office, to the Recession were going through, to all the talk about the change, Hip Hop is ready to welcome a new leader that finally understands where were coming from. And were showing that through music. It can be inspirational or motivational. I'm also working with a few Unsigned Artists from around the city and my main goal right now is getting them heard and giving them the opportunity to work with other talented people on the come up around the city and from every where else. Also look out for more mixtapes in the upcoming months. More collaborations, more features and better material.... Rookie of the Year won't be a bad look in 09' for me!!



11. What quote describes your current state of mind.

"...I continue to move foward at a pace that they haven't seen. I continue to explore all the options and opportunities that open up for me. And Ima Keep Makin' it!..."

-50 Cent-

DJ Laser's Myspace

DJ Laser's blog