RS: Yeah, yeah

A Rise: Would you consider your father to be the most influential musician in your life or would you consider it to be a hip hop pioneer like Caz or Flash, or whoever. Who’s made the biggest impact on you?

RS: It may sound like a weird answer but the most influential person on me in regards to my career was probably Bruce Lee, because for one, he has really passionate about martial arts, and I kinda model myself after him in that it wasn’t just about him standing out as the best martial artist, he also wanted to use his martial art to educate people about Chinese culture. He grew up in a town, where, just like Blacks, you know Chinese were made fun of and he didn’t appreciate it so he wanted to show people that martial arts, for one, was something that was created by the Chinese and almost used that as a platform to say look, we are creative people. We are people that should be respected so in the same light I kinda feel like I’ve been trying to do that as a DJ in my art form, and represent my art form, and show people that, you know, just cuz you can have a DJ on stage with a rapper, and the rappers more or less dominating the show, the spotlights on him, still, in an indirect way, the DJ’s more important than the rapper. I’m kind of the one speaking up for the DJ, just like Bruce was the one speaking up for the Chinese. So I would say also that he’s influenced me in [that way by] what he really emphasized. Like in martial arts you have people that follow certain schools of fighting, so you have people that think that judo is better than any other type of martial art, or karate, then you have other people that feel that karate is the best, then jujitsu is the best. Well Bruce was like, do everything, judo, jujitsu, some karate, fuckin bite your opponent if you have to! In a fight anything goes, there’s no rules so you wanna incorporate everything about fighting that you possibly can when you’re in a fight. He used to study Muhammad Ali, all kinds of self-defense, he would study, so in that sense, I kinda feel like I’ve been the same way toward music, I’ve tried to open myself to a lot of these different forms of music, be it Spanish music, that influence with my dad, be it, hip hop, you know the original hip hop, that influence with my brother, be it jazz, um, anything, and everything that sounds good I try to learn about and embrace so that I could grow as a DJ. So for those reasons I would say that Bruce Lee had been more of an influence on me than any musician or whatever.

A Rise: So do you feel like you’ll be doing this your whole life? Turntables to the grave?

RS: You know that’s a really good question because I was actually having a conversation with [my friend] about that, and I was telling her how I could see myself, you know, 6 or 7 years from now, lets say just opening up a little business and not even being in the limelight as a DJ but more so doing it for myself, and not necessarily touring and shit like that but then she helped me realize that, no matter what, this is what I do, and that, maybe there’s more people that I need to touch, and expose this art form to you know what I mean? So to answer your question, I don’t know. I don’t really think about doing this forever, but at the same time, I wouldn’t rule it out. I didn’t realize I’d even be doing it this long. I thought that, by now, at the point where I am in my life, I would be a therapist with my own practice, applying what I learned in college and making a living that way. I never really saw myself at this point in my life doing what I do supporting myself financially. It all just kinda happened. I don’t know. I really don’t plan ahead like that, which may not be a very good thing.

A Rise: Well, at least you’re living life freely, and approaching it from the stance of a free spirit which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

RS: Yeah. I’m just going where it takes me kinda.

A Rise: It is what you love.

RS: It is and so, to answer your question even further whether or not Id be doing this publicly or whether or not people would be seeing me on TV or on stage I think I could always see myself developing as a DJ, practicing, because I love being on the turntables so much you know?

A Rise: You know deejaying today is almost like a big fad nowadays. Like in Hip Hop, not to downplay it, but just to say that its almost like something where you turn on MTV, BET, and you’ll see people messing more with cds more than vinyl [turntables]..What happened to it as a just a musical form of expression?

RS: Well, I do believe that there are definitely DJs out there that do it to be in the limelight and to be amongst celebrities you know? You’re right. I think that deejaying to a degree is kinda like, in style. It’s dope to be a DJ. You even have rappers whose careers aren’t necessarily going anywhere, that turn to deejaying to support themselves because their rap careers are over and that in a way kinda makes me feel weird too because its like well, would you be deejaying if your albums were still selling? It’s kinda like you’re just kinda falling back on this just to keep the money rolling in not because you necessarily wanna contribute to the art. That’s the type of stuff that definitely bothers me but all I can do is just focus on me and focus in on what I can do for the art because no matter what, there’s always people who will exploit something that is lucrative. That’s in all areas of entertainment. There’s gonna be people that are gonna come into it with a true appreciation for it and they’re gonna wanna make a dent in that field, whether it be music or acting, or whatever, and then there are gonna be people that are just gonna do it to do it, or make money, or whatever. All I can really do is focus on myself and try to balance out the bullshit. It’s tough, because it seems that the media pays more attention to the bullshit most of the time, rather than the real shit you know? But that being said, at the end of May, on the 26th of May, Ill be making an appearance on the Conan O Brian Show.

A Rise: Oh really?

RS: Yeah, I’m gonna be on there with this singer named Mike Patton. I’d rather see someone like myself in that position than someone not to name any names, but we know the DJs out there that don’t give a fuck about the art, that don’t practice, don’t even scratch or anything but call themselves DJs and are benefiting off that title. [They] don’t really care about their skills but we’re all making strides like the Pepsi commercial with [Roc] Raida like that’s dope! You know the fact that they even used Raida, someone who has battled, its not just some actor thrown in, pretending he knows what a battle is. Raida has battled, he has titles, so to have him appear in a commercial like that goes to show that while there are people out there exploiting the art and making money off of that, every now and then you’ll see a true head reppin the art the way its supposed to be repped.

A Rise: Word, that’s mad deep. Do you think that there are gonna be more commercials like that? As hip hop is interestingly being used to market products towards an urban audience, do you think that that’s going to become more common?

RS: Yo, You know what? I really don’t know cuz you figure the Gap commercial [I was in] happened in 2001 [so] it took what five years for another commercial with a real DJ like Roc Raida or myself? Gap commercial was fall 2001, the Pepsi commercial is spring 2006, five years pretty much. I don’t know!

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Posted by A Rise on Monday, May 15th, 2006 and is filed under SICKWIDIT, SPOTLIGHT.