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DJ DMD,
what’s happening?
Chilling. What’s up, Charlie?
I don’t know it.
It’s been a while since we’ve heard from you, what’s been going on with
you?
Basically, I had to take some time
off after the Electra situation. That was some success that I wasn’t really
accustomed to. I’m a lil’ cat outta Port Author. In order to make sure that we
did the right things with that blessing we had to slow down. I built a studio and got our
business stuff together as far as company was concerned. You know we ain’t got nobody
giving us no money so we gotta figure out how to make it work for the future. So we sat
back for a while.
You know about the Boonie Locc
project, right?
Yeah, it was called
Dahellwithcha.
Yeah. It did a little something for
us in 2000.
So besides that what else
have you been up to?
Basically, I’ve been sharpening
up my skills, getting my craft together. I got a new studio with all new equipment so I
had to sit back and learn my way around in it. It was like starting all back over again.
 I also spent time tightening up
my MC skills, putting a whole new crew together and really just getting my soul together,
because in the last 15, 16 months a lotta things have changed for the better within my
organization. That’s what’s been going on. So finally, I think that I put
together 18, 19 songs that I think that the world is ready for.
Okay, before we really get
into the album, let’s talk about your life a little bit. You’re from Port
Author, Texas, home of UGK. What neighborhood were you from?
Ah, all over. Port Author, land
wise, is basically kinda small. You got your east, west, north south side. I basically
grew up on the East Side of Port Author. I grew up around Pimp C, Bun B and all of them
cats. Me and my old crew were actually the forefathers of hip hop in Port Author.
What was your old crew
named?
We used to have a crew called the
Fresh Four. It was like me and five other guys. In the process of five years we brought
break-dancing, graffiti….the whole culture to P.A>
So you used to break?
I used to do it all, bruh! I was 13,
14 years old with crates of cardboard boxes cut up. We used to lay ‘em out and get
down. See you have to understand that when the hip hop culture really started to spread
around the country and really started to bubble, we picked it up and spreaded it in P.A.
We brought DJng, breaking, everything. Wasn’t nobody doing that before me and my crew
got started. Over the years it evolved into the scene that it is today in port Author.
Basically, Port Author is
well know for producing your friends Pimp C and Bun B of UGK, who you went to high school
with.
Yeah, I went to high school Pimp C.
He’s a little younger than I am. Actually, we were in a group at one time. This was
in the developmental demo tape stages of our careers. You know when you get together and
record a demo and try to land a deal.
How did that happened?
I had been doing [music] for a while
and everybody connected with me as far as music was concerned. I guess Pimp C was about
14, 15 years old when we started working together. He hooked up with me by word of mouth
and I just kinda like rolled with him. I taught him a lot about production and how to make
beats off lil’ BS type equipment. But from there when I graduated outta high school,
we went our separate ways> he started doing his thing and the lord blessed him with a
pioneering style. He was blessed with one of them once in a lifetime type of styles. The
lord blessed him to happen to get that success before I did. We all grew up together.
We’re still boys. We still rap on each other’s records. I still do whatever I
can for them.
You also did
some production for one of their earlier records, Supertight….
I actually produced four songs one of
‘em didn’t make the album. I did produce three of those songs on that album and
I rapped on one of them.
For the record, what were
those songs?
The first single from Supertight,
Dom Perigion (It’s Suppose to Bubble), I did "Three, Sixteen," and "I
Left It Wet for You." Those are the three I did.
Did that give you a taste
for rapping?
Yeah because that was the biggest
thing that I had done in the music industry. And basically I did that just to help my boys
out. It was their second big album and I just wanted to support them and do something to
help them get to where they needed to go. We were just representing for Port Author. But
that helped to form a relationship, a bond that has lasted to this day. I helped him on
his way up and now that I’m out here trying to do something, Pimp C is helping me
come up.
Okay, let’s talk about
the music. One of the things that I noticed about you music is that there’s always
something to do with numbers. Your first album was called 11. Your second album was called
22. The single from 22 was called "25 Lighters>" Your current album is called
33: Live from Hiroshima. Your new single is called "Mr 25/8." You seem to have a
thing for numbers. What’s the deal?
I have been kinda like a deep
spiritual person all my life. A long time ago somebody told me that numbers rule the
universe. Plus I like dealing with numbers…math, money and all that. It just so
happened that I figured out early on when we were getting ready to drop 11, we were
looking for a title that wouldn’t give you any idea about what the album was about.
And something told me to look at the number 11 and see how it fits into me life. And when
I broke it down, it had really gotten deep. I got married on the 1. My babies were born on
the 11th and so forth. It has always been my lucky number, so I decided to name
all my albums after multiples of 11. Also I betcha you didn’t realize that if you
take the new single 25/8 if you add 2 +5+8 you get 33, which is the tile of my new album.
I didn’t plan it that way when I first named the song.
In fact I didn’t even notice it
until one of the guys in my group told me.
 Okay lets talk a little
bit about the new album 33: Live from Hiroshima. Now we know why you name the first part
of it, but why Hiroshima?
Hiroshima is the name of the studio
that we built. And really it just a collection of bangers. My albums don’t have one
common theme or some concept it’s just us having fun making songs. Since it’s
the first DMD record outta this spot I would love to give props, in a sense just give
thanks for be able to have a studio like that. We spent a lotta money making sure that we
had a customized, state of the arts set.
How has having your own spot
changed the way you produce music?
Ah man, we’re able to go in
there and produce. We ain’t got to look at no clock. We can just sit there have fun
and make music. Our first two record that we did was on a small budget, but they were
done, nonetheless. I’m very proud of them, but I knew then that they could’ve
been better. I used to say if only I had my own studio so I could take my time and do it
like this and da, da, da. Well, this time I was able to do that. I’m real proud of
this album.
Anything you’d like to
say to your fans?
Yeah, thanks to everybody who
supported us. I just hope that you continue to support us.
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