A few days ago my friend and fellow DJ, DJ Moondawg of WGCI (Get In Tune! Stupid), sent over a link to his interview with DJ Drama. Moondawg continually gets better at interviews, and his talk with DJ Drama is perhaps his best so far. Undoubtedly, Moondawg’s relationship with Drama and the running joke that he is his little brother helped to create a certain ease and chemistry and Moondawg used it just right to get Drama to drop some gems. No, I’m talking about how he linked up with Chris Brown, the new things he is doing with T.I., or how he settled his beef with Young Jeezy. No, Drama said something way more valuable when Moondawg asked him how an aspiring artist can get hooked up with a Gangsta Grillz mixtape.
Instead of giving out an email address that rarely gets read, talking about money and music, DJ Drama simply said (and I’m paraphrasing here) “there’s probably a DJ Drama in your city that is trying to get on. Instead of chasing the big established names, build your own DJ Drama.” What he means is that instead of chasing the big dog thinking that a DJ Drama mixtape or a Mick Boogie mixtape or feature w/so and so will put you on, grab the DJ who is buzzing/growing in your area and accomplish the come up together. Those are true words of wisdom, yet something I don’t see enough of.
In my time as a DJ and writer, I’ve worked with many artists across the board. One thing that remains constant are artists jumping ship when they see a bigger ship coming into the dock. It happens time and time again from artists discontinuing their relationship with the smaller blogs/websites that posted their music when no one else would, or giving high demand leaks to bigger and more known DJ’s instead of the DJ that did the first mixtape for free just because he believed in the music. Artists want loyalty, but the pendulum swings both ways.
One example of someone who has done this extremely well is Naledge of Kidz In The Hall. In full disclosure, Naledge is a friend of mine. I’ve known him since I was a little kid, we played baseball together all that s**t I’ve said many times before. But let’s take that all out of the equation. He’s an artist who continues to work with his own camp, building up the resumes and names of others as his own resume and name grows. Thus he has created his own following and given himself a solid and loyal crew of people who in time stand on their own. For example, he started working with me years ago before RubyHornet and anything else. I would say my first major mixtape that was posted throughout the Internet was the first Brainiac Society release. He also continually shouted me out in interviews and blasts about various projects, used me to leak his music on RubyHornet, came to my gigs as a special and surprise guest and then tapped me to mix and host his Chicago Picasso mix-album, which added barcodes to my resume. By him continuing to go to me for things allowed me to capture more eyes and bring more people to RubyHornet and let everyone see the wide range of stuff we have going on. It’s a loyalty that is not seen often, although I’m lucky in that GLC and others show me something similar.
I could name countless artists (and I’m sure other DJ’s and writers could do the same) that work with me and RubyHornet only when it’s the best option for them. I’m not complaining, or bitter, I understand the business. But I also understand that making someone else’s business better is good for business and could be great for business when that DJ you took a chance on becomes the next DJ Drama and you’re getting Gangsta Grillz, album placements, and all that on the homie price…
Yeah, what a world that would be..