DJ Shadow: DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist, Vinyl Magazine Online, Fall 1999
By: Craig Smith
"Who is playing tonight?" asked a curious barfly after glancing at the enormous line outside in the Baltimore rain.
"DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist" answered the bartender.
"I've never heard of them," said the barfly.
"It's a DJ guy," explained the bartender. "He does stuff with his hands, goes back and forth with flashing lights. It's not that good, but it's not that bad."
So not everyone knows about DJ Shadow, the man who's seen colossal amounts of press while remaining curiously reclusive. His work for Hollywood Basic in the early 90s and of course the joints for Solesides and Mo' Wax remain some of the decade's most groundbreaking and revered work on the turntables. Joining his friend and fellow DJ Cut Chemist, he provided an intense performance where he actually thanked the crowd with sincerity by letting them know, "I never forget how lucky I am." Cut Chemist did not perform that night - his records were presumed stolen and have yet to be recovered. [The records were eventually recovered. -Ed.] However, this unique situation allowed Cut to be a member of the crowd and afforded him a chance to reflect on his touring partner. I sat down with Cut first and DJ Shadow would join the conversation later.
Vinyl Exchange: What is going on with the Brainfreeze CD and its availability? It's selling on eBay for 50 bucks!
Cut Chemist: What happened was I stocked [Brainfreeze at] Aaron's Records in LA because I personally go in there like every week and drop them off. But once I found out that some guy went in there and bought 14 of them and put them on eBay, I stopped that shit right away. I don't stock them in the stores anymore. The only way you can get it is the shows. That shit is wack. Using our name to get over like that.
VE: You were added recently to this show, weren't you?
CC: I was always going to do the three dates on the West Coast and then I was just added to this leg. It's funny because this is the leg I lose my records on. But I'm lucky enough to be the light man.
VE: Are you feeling the lights like the crossfader?
CC: Kind of, I am. They have channels. It took me a while.
VE: Have you worked the lights before?
CC: I did it once for The Incline, which is Miles Tackett's old band at the Gaslight in LA.
VE: You've had a lot happen to you very quickly. All of a sudden, you find yourself in two different bands signed to major labels. What was that like?
CC: It was cool. Both of them started out as little experimental things... They both were kind of like not doing much, kind of brewing and simmering. Then J5 stopped, put out the EP andOzo got signed to Almo [Sounds] - I still was doing both. Then J5 got signed to Interscope and that's when I went with J5.
VE: What happened there? You stopped touring with Ozomatli?
CC: Yeah. Their dates were so rigorous and I had to go to the studio and work on J5's album.
VE: How did that decision come about?
CC: I always told them that. The manager of Ozo, ‘cause everyone was in other groups, she went around the room and she said, "You know, if it comes down to it, would you leave the group to be in this group?" When it came around to me I always said no. I wanted to be in Jurassic 5 or I always want to do my own thing. I love playing in the band, but there's more to my career than just that. I always wanted to dabble in this and that, but I never wanted to stick to one thing. Being in that group, their schedule made it impossible if not next to impossible to do both.
VE: You've been hitting the road a lot with Jurassic 5 too.
CC: Yeah. We just did the Word of Mouth tour. We sold out quite a few gigs on the tour. It was incredible. Dan our manager thought it would be cool to bring Dilated on, 'cause they're of the same origins and then Beat Junkies. We're all kind of friends and our heads are in the same place as far as hip-hop. We thought it would be cool to put together our own tour, finance it ourselves... For the most part, we didn't get any money from Interscope.
VE: They're not ready yet to back you on something like that?
CC: They were, but we weren't ready to take their help. We wanted to see where we stood on our own, kind of like when we put out the EP - test the waters, and we did well there. It was hard, but we did it.
VE: Can we expect a Cut Chemist album anytime soon?
CC: Most definitely. I just got my Zip drive for my 2000, so it's on.
VE: You are selling a lot of merchandise up here. The stand was out of t-shirts and Brainfreeze CDs 15 minutes after they opened the doors.
CC: I wish we had more to CDs to sell. That's the thing. Right at this eBay crisis when we need to fuckin' supply each show with like 200 CDs, we're sitting here with like ten between us.
VE: You pressed the album up yourselves?
CC: Yeah. B+ did all the art and my man Keith did the cover, he did the J5 cover too. That's my team, winning every time. There's nothing more rewarding than making your own work from scratch, selling it, and just watching people appreciate it by handing it to them.
VE: Is this album a live recording of the actual Future Primitive show you and Shadow did?
CC: No. It's the day before the show. We spent about five days preparing the set and the last day, when we had it all down, we put it to DAT. The next day we did the session, which was also recorded. Mark [Herlihy] from Future Primitive should be putting out a live version, with our approval. We haven't heard it yet. It had Lateef rhyming over the Spaghettihead 45 which is "The Wreckoning Pt. 2" beat. It's got me passing out Slurpees during the Slurpee break and acting like an idiot. There's also little things like a girl stepping on my turntable cord and turning it off. So like on the tape, if it comes out, you'll just hear like "Hey! Get off my cord!"
VE: Who else was there?
CC: Z-Trip was there. Killed it. Nu-Mark killed it. Cool Chris too. Romanowski, Rasta Cue-Tip. It was one of the best nights I've ever had DJing.
DJ Shadow enters the room, draped in a large yellow Cold Chillin' T-shirt. The two DJs hastily smile at each other as Shadow takes a seat alongside Cut Chemist on the dressing room couch.
VE: How was his light work tonight?
Shadow: It was dope.
Cut Chemist: I hope I didn't make you sick for the first ten minutes when I was getting warmed up.
S: Nah, nah. The strobes were the only thing. I just had to stop and was like, "Yo, can I please have some lighting, I'm about to hurl right now. You better turn the strobes off." (laughter)
CC: I had fun doing the lights because I kind of know the set a little bit and I kind of know where the pauses are. That was fun.
S: My right turntable just started bugging out. For a second there, I was like "Whoa."
CC: It seemed like you got pissed and just started really ripping it. All of a sudden, the crabs were tight. You did a nice continuous one, you caught it.
VE: Being on the sidelines tonight, what are some of the things you see from Shadow that just make you shake your head and say, "Damn"?
CC: I'll tell ya. As much as he downplays it (Shadow immediately grins and looks away), I think he's an incredible scratcher and he doesn't get as much credit as he should for that. But I think that after doing this tour, people will be like, "Whoa... ill." The combinations in general are just ill. And your Ls are getting tighter too by the way.
S: What does that mean?
CC: Bap, bap. Bap-bap-bap-bap. (Cut's hands rock furiously in an L-shaped motion referring to Shadow's quick switches from the channels to the crossfader.)
S: By the way, all the things he's giving me credit for are things I bit off of him.
CC: Not even. The "L" thing, maybe a little influence. But you're taking it to the next, so it's all good. But all that other shit, I can't even do it. So I don't know how he can bite it off me.
S: But yo, on the lighting tip, at the end, bringing down the lights completely, that was exactly what you were supposed to do.
VE: You guys just have some kind of connection.
CC: Well I just know how I'd want to do it. He likes to DJ in short sleeves just like I do, so I figured we can't be too much different. I figured this is how I'd want it, so let me just kill it and then bring them up slow.
VE: What else do you dig about Shadow?
CC: The variety of music he plays. It's really interesting. He can go from a hardcore rap record to something like "High Noon" in a matter of minutes. The juxtaposition of it, I don't think you can find that in any other DJ. They wouldn't be caught dead playing that dark and light that close together.
VE: You've got a lot of tracks that are not in just the typical 4/4 beat. Do you do this on purpose?
S: Well for me, this tour was really all about getting out there with a set and really... a set that really represents me well, on as many different levels as possible. Because it is sort of goodbye. Like every show is me saying sort of goodbye to every place I'm going to.
VE: What do you mean by "saying goodbye"?
S: I'm about to do my own next album. I haven't done that since 1996. It's been over three years since I did it and in between that, I'm always gigging or in the studio or gigging or in the studio. But when I do this next album, I'm going to be in the studio exclusively, which is something, like I say, I haven't done in a long time. I don't know if it's a good idea or a bad idea, I just know that it's something I'm going to try to do - to just really focus. Because it's hard when you get a little bit addicted to the adrenaline of doing shows.
CC: That would be me.
S: I think the best thing about DJing to me is that you feel like you're out there doing it and you feel like you're a part of what's going on. When you're not out there DJing, you feel like the world is passing you by. Knowhutimean? And like you're missing out on music, missing out on new shit, and you're missing out on whatever wave, you know. You read the press and they're talking about the next wave of shit, you're not in on it and you're like, "Damn, am I just going to be forgotten?" I think you have to give people more credit than that. As long as the records you do make are dope, then I think people will remember you.
VE: So it's like hibernation time for you.
S: Yeah. It's just got to be that way for me. I envy Cut because Cut just seems to have an endless reservoir of energy.
CC: But I have no album. (laughter) You're working on your second, so I'm... you know.
S: But it's different. Cut's probably played more live gigs. I'd have to tour for like 20 years to play that. 'Cause Cut gigs every three days for the last 15 years.
CC: At one point I was gigging every day. Between Ozo, J5 and my own shit. Every day I gigged. And I was going to school full-time.
S: That's something I've never experienced. And that's why he's as good as he is. When you're not out there, you don't know how good you are.
VE: Did you ask him to come out on this tour with you?
S: Yeah. When we did the 45s set, I think we felt really good about it and felt really good about the set, so we decided to do the CDs. The ball just kept rolling, people were really excited about it, so we just kind of felt like, "Let's just keep doing it." 'Cause I don't think anybody else is really qualified to do it. I mean, not to sound...
CC: Nobody is doing it.
S: There's not too many people who are obsessive about the kind of shit we're obsessive about record-wise and are DJs.
CC: It's either one or the other. Either you're a turntablist/DJ or you're a collector. But somebody like Shadow is holding all the cards.
S: But quiet as it's kept, Z-Trip is coming up through the rear, he's coming up fast.
CC: Yeah. I hope that live CD comes out on Future Primitive. He [Z-Trip] has a whole set, because then people will know... Of course Nu-Mark as well, has deejayed with 45s, and is good at it.
S: But once again, where credit is due, the first person I saw do it [spin 45s] was Luke [Cut Chemist].
CC: Really? When?
S: At that show that we did in Silverlake. You were mixing Chocolate with something?
CC: Oh yeah, with "Popcorn."
S: I just went, "Oh word? You can do that?" I thought you couldn't do that.
CC: Oh man, I thought you were out there already doing it up!
S: Nah. Nah.
VE: You guys are influencing each other.
CC: Every day. The practice sessions we have are just amazing. We learn so much from each other. And it's hard to get that. I've worked with a lot of other DJs. It's not that easy, but with him it is. You can just throw down all your ego and go, "Damn. How'd you do this? How'd you do that?" I've learned in one week, staying with him, more than I've learned in the last yearDJing. And it's funny. Going back to what he said about how you don't know how good you are until you go out there. Well obviously, he doesn't know how good he is until he goes out, 'cause he's always been good.
VE: What do you see in Cut, when you're watching like Cut was watching you tonight?
S: What I see is just creativity in a DJ at its highest peak. I've seen Cut juggle lunges. I've seen him play rubber bands.
CC: That's the Nu-Mark trick. He taught me that one. OK. I'll take this one though. I'm the one who did the beating on the dust cover. But I think what he's getting at is that I'm just a ham on stage. (laughter)
S: OK. I'll tell you when I realized that Cut was my favorite live DJ, was at a Future Primitive night in San Francisco. There was one DJ after another that was getting up there, being dope as hell, staring straight down, doing the same kind of little tricks that everybody else is doing, playing the same records that everyone else is playing. The crowd's kind of standing around because everybody thinks they're supposed to be there 'cause it's like this hip turntablist movement. So you have DJ after DJ after DJ after DJ, and a crowd full of people waiting for something, they don't know what they're waiting for, but they just know they're supposed to be there - cause the newspapers and everything tell them to. Then Cut gets up there, grabs the mic and launches into a re-creation of "Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" and instantly it's a party. As opposed to a bunch of people just getting up there practicing.
VE: Scratch masturbation.
S: Yeah. Knowhutimsayin? And man, I'm telling you. I left going, "Wow, that was dope." And it's the same when you're on the road and you see a lot of DJs and a lot of people have technique and blow you away. But Cut will just do some shit like - I look around and I don't care - I might be the only person in the whole room that's just going "Ohhhh. That shit is dope." Some people will get it later. Sometimes I'll get it later. But recently, like he was mixing "Renegades of Funk" and doing the original calls they were doing on it and I was just like up there going "Ohhhh shit. That's dope."
CC: And that's all I needed is from somebody like him. Somebody who's been DJing for like 15 years, who I know knows music like I know music. If they think it's dope, then I must be doing something right.
S: It's like the 45s show. We did it and it was just ill because we were pulling off some shit that we were like "Yo, people's heads are gonna trip when we do this." And it seemed like people weren't getting what we were doing, but like two months later, people wouldn't stop talking about it.
By: Craig Smith
"Who is playing tonight?" asked a curious barfly after glancing at the enormous line outside in the Baltimore rain.
"DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist" answered the bartender.
"I've never heard of them," said the barfly.
"It's a DJ guy," explained the bartender. "He does stuff with his hands, goes back and forth with flashing lights. It's not that good, but it's not that bad."
So not everyone knows about DJ Shadow, the man who's seen colossal amounts of press while remaining curiously reclusive. His work for Hollywood Basic in the early 90s and of course the joints for Solesides and Mo' Wax remain some of the decade's most groundbreaking and revered work on the turntables. Joining his friend and fellow DJ Cut Chemist, he provided an intense performance where he actually thanked the crowd with sincerity by letting them know, "I never forget how lucky I am." Cut Chemist did not perform that night - his records were presumed stolen and have yet to be recovered. [The records were eventually recovered. -Ed.] However, this unique situation allowed Cut to be a member of the crowd and afforded him a chance to reflect on his touring partner. I sat down with Cut first and DJ Shadow would join the conversation later.
Vinyl Exchange: What is going on with the Brainfreeze CD and its availability? It's selling on eBay for 50 bucks!
Cut Chemist: What happened was I stocked [Brainfreeze at] Aaron's Records in LA because I personally go in there like every week and drop them off. But once I found out that some guy went in there and bought 14 of them and put them on eBay, I stopped that shit right away. I don't stock them in the stores anymore. The only way you can get it is the shows. That shit is wack. Using our name to get over like that.
VE: You were added recently to this show, weren't you?
CC: I was always going to do the three dates on the West Coast and then I was just added to this leg. It's funny because this is the leg I lose my records on. But I'm lucky enough to be the light man.
VE: Are you feeling the lights like the crossfader?
CC: Kind of, I am. They have channels. It took me a while.
VE: Have you worked the lights before?
CC: I did it once for The Incline, which is Miles Tackett's old band at the Gaslight in LA.
VE: You've had a lot happen to you very quickly. All of a sudden, you find yourself in two different bands signed to major labels. What was that like?
CC: It was cool. Both of them started out as little experimental things... They both were kind of like not doing much, kind of brewing and simmering. Then J5 stopped, put out the EP andOzo got signed to Almo [Sounds] - I still was doing both. Then J5 got signed to Interscope and that's when I went with J5.
VE: What happened there? You stopped touring with Ozomatli?
CC: Yeah. Their dates were so rigorous and I had to go to the studio and work on J5's album.
VE: How did that decision come about?
CC: I always told them that. The manager of Ozo, ‘cause everyone was in other groups, she went around the room and she said, "You know, if it comes down to it, would you leave the group to be in this group?" When it came around to me I always said no. I wanted to be in Jurassic 5 or I always want to do my own thing. I love playing in the band, but there's more to my career than just that. I always wanted to dabble in this and that, but I never wanted to stick to one thing. Being in that group, their schedule made it impossible if not next to impossible to do both.
VE: You've been hitting the road a lot with Jurassic 5 too.
CC: Yeah. We just did the Word of Mouth tour. We sold out quite a few gigs on the tour. It was incredible. Dan our manager thought it would be cool to bring Dilated on, 'cause they're of the same origins and then Beat Junkies. We're all kind of friends and our heads are in the same place as far as hip-hop. We thought it would be cool to put together our own tour, finance it ourselves... For the most part, we didn't get any money from Interscope.
VE: They're not ready yet to back you on something like that?
CC: They were, but we weren't ready to take their help. We wanted to see where we stood on our own, kind of like when we put out the EP - test the waters, and we did well there. It was hard, but we did it.
VE: Can we expect a Cut Chemist album anytime soon?
CC: Most definitely. I just got my Zip drive for my 2000, so it's on.
VE: You are selling a lot of merchandise up here. The stand was out of t-shirts and Brainfreeze CDs 15 minutes after they opened the doors.
CC: I wish we had more to CDs to sell. That's the thing. Right at this eBay crisis when we need to fuckin' supply each show with like 200 CDs, we're sitting here with like ten between us.
VE: You pressed the album up yourselves?
CC: Yeah. B+ did all the art and my man Keith did the cover, he did the J5 cover too. That's my team, winning every time. There's nothing more rewarding than making your own work from scratch, selling it, and just watching people appreciate it by handing it to them.
VE: Is this album a live recording of the actual Future Primitive show you and Shadow did?
CC: No. It's the day before the show. We spent about five days preparing the set and the last day, when we had it all down, we put it to DAT. The next day we did the session, which was also recorded. Mark [Herlihy] from Future Primitive should be putting out a live version, with our approval. We haven't heard it yet. It had Lateef rhyming over the Spaghettihead 45 which is "The Wreckoning Pt. 2" beat. It's got me passing out Slurpees during the Slurpee break and acting like an idiot. There's also little things like a girl stepping on my turntable cord and turning it off. So like on the tape, if it comes out, you'll just hear like "Hey! Get off my cord!"
VE: Who else was there?
CC: Z-Trip was there. Killed it. Nu-Mark killed it. Cool Chris too. Romanowski, Rasta Cue-Tip. It was one of the best nights I've ever had DJing.
DJ Shadow enters the room, draped in a large yellow Cold Chillin' T-shirt. The two DJs hastily smile at each other as Shadow takes a seat alongside Cut Chemist on the dressing room couch.
VE: How was his light work tonight?
Shadow: It was dope.
Cut Chemist: I hope I didn't make you sick for the first ten minutes when I was getting warmed up.
S: Nah, nah. The strobes were the only thing. I just had to stop and was like, "Yo, can I please have some lighting, I'm about to hurl right now. You better turn the strobes off." (laughter)
CC: I had fun doing the lights because I kind of know the set a little bit and I kind of know where the pauses are. That was fun.
S: My right turntable just started bugging out. For a second there, I was like "Whoa."
CC: It seemed like you got pissed and just started really ripping it. All of a sudden, the crabs were tight. You did a nice continuous one, you caught it.
VE: Being on the sidelines tonight, what are some of the things you see from Shadow that just make you shake your head and say, "Damn"?
CC: I'll tell ya. As much as he downplays it (Shadow immediately grins and looks away), I think he's an incredible scratcher and he doesn't get as much credit as he should for that. But I think that after doing this tour, people will be like, "Whoa... ill." The combinations in general are just ill. And your Ls are getting tighter too by the way.
S: What does that mean?
CC: Bap, bap. Bap-bap-bap-bap. (Cut's hands rock furiously in an L-shaped motion referring to Shadow's quick switches from the channels to the crossfader.)
S: By the way, all the things he's giving me credit for are things I bit off of him.
CC: Not even. The "L" thing, maybe a little influence. But you're taking it to the next, so it's all good. But all that other shit, I can't even do it. So I don't know how he can bite it off me.
S: But yo, on the lighting tip, at the end, bringing down the lights completely, that was exactly what you were supposed to do.
VE: You guys just have some kind of connection.
CC: Well I just know how I'd want to do it. He likes to DJ in short sleeves just like I do, so I figured we can't be too much different. I figured this is how I'd want it, so let me just kill it and then bring them up slow.
VE: What else do you dig about Shadow?
CC: The variety of music he plays. It's really interesting. He can go from a hardcore rap record to something like "High Noon" in a matter of minutes. The juxtaposition of it, I don't think you can find that in any other DJ. They wouldn't be caught dead playing that dark and light that close together.
VE: You've got a lot of tracks that are not in just the typical 4/4 beat. Do you do this on purpose?
S: Well for me, this tour was really all about getting out there with a set and really... a set that really represents me well, on as many different levels as possible. Because it is sort of goodbye. Like every show is me saying sort of goodbye to every place I'm going to.
VE: What do you mean by "saying goodbye"?
S: I'm about to do my own next album. I haven't done that since 1996. It's been over three years since I did it and in between that, I'm always gigging or in the studio or gigging or in the studio. But when I do this next album, I'm going to be in the studio exclusively, which is something, like I say, I haven't done in a long time. I don't know if it's a good idea or a bad idea, I just know that it's something I'm going to try to do - to just really focus. Because it's hard when you get a little bit addicted to the adrenaline of doing shows.
CC: That would be me.
S: I think the best thing about DJing to me is that you feel like you're out there doing it and you feel like you're a part of what's going on. When you're not out there DJing, you feel like the world is passing you by. Knowhutimean? And like you're missing out on music, missing out on new shit, and you're missing out on whatever wave, you know. You read the press and they're talking about the next wave of shit, you're not in on it and you're like, "Damn, am I just going to be forgotten?" I think you have to give people more credit than that. As long as the records you do make are dope, then I think people will remember you.
VE: So it's like hibernation time for you.
S: Yeah. It's just got to be that way for me. I envy Cut because Cut just seems to have an endless reservoir of energy.
CC: But I have no album. (laughter) You're working on your second, so I'm... you know.
S: But it's different. Cut's probably played more live gigs. I'd have to tour for like 20 years to play that. 'Cause Cut gigs every three days for the last 15 years.
CC: At one point I was gigging every day. Between Ozo, J5 and my own shit. Every day I gigged. And I was going to school full-time.
S: That's something I've never experienced. And that's why he's as good as he is. When you're not out there, you don't know how good you are.
VE: Did you ask him to come out on this tour with you?
S: Yeah. When we did the 45s set, I think we felt really good about it and felt really good about the set, so we decided to do the CDs. The ball just kept rolling, people were really excited about it, so we just kind of felt like, "Let's just keep doing it." 'Cause I don't think anybody else is really qualified to do it. I mean, not to sound...
CC: Nobody is doing it.
S: There's not too many people who are obsessive about the kind of shit we're obsessive about record-wise and are DJs.
CC: It's either one or the other. Either you're a turntablist/DJ or you're a collector. But somebody like Shadow is holding all the cards.
S: But quiet as it's kept, Z-Trip is coming up through the rear, he's coming up fast.
CC: Yeah. I hope that live CD comes out on Future Primitive. He [Z-Trip] has a whole set, because then people will know... Of course Nu-Mark as well, has deejayed with 45s, and is good at it.
S: But once again, where credit is due, the first person I saw do it [spin 45s] was Luke [Cut Chemist].
CC: Really? When?
S: At that show that we did in Silverlake. You were mixing Chocolate with something?
CC: Oh yeah, with "Popcorn."
S: I just went, "Oh word? You can do that?" I thought you couldn't do that.
CC: Oh man, I thought you were out there already doing it up!
S: Nah. Nah.
VE: You guys are influencing each other.
CC: Every day. The practice sessions we have are just amazing. We learn so much from each other. And it's hard to get that. I've worked with a lot of other DJs. It's not that easy, but with him it is. You can just throw down all your ego and go, "Damn. How'd you do this? How'd you do that?" I've learned in one week, staying with him, more than I've learned in the last yearDJing. And it's funny. Going back to what he said about how you don't know how good you are until you go out there. Well obviously, he doesn't know how good he is until he goes out, 'cause he's always been good.
VE: What do you see in Cut, when you're watching like Cut was watching you tonight?
S: What I see is just creativity in a DJ at its highest peak. I've seen Cut juggle lunges. I've seen him play rubber bands.
CC: That's the Nu-Mark trick. He taught me that one. OK. I'll take this one though. I'm the one who did the beating on the dust cover. But I think what he's getting at is that I'm just a ham on stage. (laughter)
S: OK. I'll tell you when I realized that Cut was my favorite live DJ, was at a Future Primitive night in San Francisco. There was one DJ after another that was getting up there, being dope as hell, staring straight down, doing the same kind of little tricks that everybody else is doing, playing the same records that everyone else is playing. The crowd's kind of standing around because everybody thinks they're supposed to be there 'cause it's like this hip turntablist movement. So you have DJ after DJ after DJ after DJ, and a crowd full of people waiting for something, they don't know what they're waiting for, but they just know they're supposed to be there - cause the newspapers and everything tell them to. Then Cut gets up there, grabs the mic and launches into a re-creation of "Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" and instantly it's a party. As opposed to a bunch of people just getting up there practicing.
VE: Scratch masturbation.
S: Yeah. Knowhutimsayin? And man, I'm telling you. I left going, "Wow, that was dope." And it's the same when you're on the road and you see a lot of DJs and a lot of people have technique and blow you away. But Cut will just do some shit like - I look around and I don't care - I might be the only person in the whole room that's just going "Ohhhh. That shit is dope." Some people will get it later. Sometimes I'll get it later. But recently, like he was mixing "Renegades of Funk" and doing the original calls they were doing on it and I was just like up there going "Ohhhh shit. That's dope."
CC: And that's all I needed is from somebody like him. Somebody who's been DJing for like 15 years, who I know knows music like I know music. If they think it's dope, then I must be doing something right.
S: It's like the 45s show. We did it and it was just ill because we were pulling off some shit that we were like "Yo, people's heads are gonna trip when we do this." And it seemed like people weren't getting what we were doing, but like two months later, people wouldn't stop talking about it.