Dilated Peoples

DJB: Yeah but I was putting them out back then on more of a local level. I've put out a couple over the past couple years. It's a series called Duck Season. But as soon as I get off this tour I'm looking to put out a street tape-nothing official though. I do it a little more legit now. All the music I put on them are cleared and licensed.

2NR: There's a crackdown on mixtapes now a days.

DJB: They say there is but I'm in New York right now and I've been to store where there's entire sections dedicated to mixtapes. It's outta control. I love the mixtape game but a lot of these tapes aren't mixed anymore. It's cool but to me part of being a DJ is selecting. A lot of it is about exclusives and exclusive dub plates.

2NR: What's a mixtape to you?

DJB: To me it's a blend of music where the DJ is going to take control and to a certain extent turn the music to keep the party going, keep it moving and keep it entertaining for the listener.

2NR: Do you see a difference between West Coast mixtapes and East Coast mixtapes?

DJB: A little bit. On the East I think a little more of the weight is put on exclusivity of songs and freestyles. I love it. I had to pick up some just to keep up. These guys are pickin' up music that isn't even going to come out soon if ever. It's something to get if you want to keep up with what's going on in the streets. The only qualm I have with it is that if you're not mixing and you're not DJing then let's just call it a compilation or something else. I'm nont trying to disrespect anybody. I love Kay Slay and all those others. But I come from a school of hand skills. It's an era where a DJ spoke with their hands versus their mouths. I appreciate a little bit of the hand skills. But you also have to appreciate all the facets of a DJ. You've got to have a good ear. You've got to have good taste. You gotta have timing and you have to have deep crates. I've got skills but I'll be the first one to tell you I'm not nice on the mic, and on a lot of those tapes that's what draws people. The hype-ness of these dudes screaming on the mic like, "Yo! New Shit!" I'm right there. I love it. I wish I could get on the mic and scream and holler to make it sound official like them. A good example to me is Tony Touch. I always liked how he flipped it. He gets busy on the turns and definably nice on the mic, great selection, great taste-all the classic qualities are there.

2NR: Who has the deepest crates? Whose do you envy?

DJB: Man. Um, I could go on forever. I'm constantly working on my collection. From the dudes in my crew like J-Roc, Rhettmatic, Melo-D and dudes I run into like Numark, Cut Chemist and Shadow, Madlib-it's endless. To me if you're a pure digger, an honest digger, you're always gonna have something in your crates that someone may not be hip to. I can on-Evidence, Alchemist...all these guys have illys man. I've given up on trying to have every record. I'm trying to have a nice controlled collection that I'm comfortable with.

2NR: What are your feelings on CDJs and analog?

DJB: I actually love the CDJs. I love the flux of technology these days and I think it's incredible. I know there're people that say stuff like the shit don't skip, it's not that hard, it's nothing like what DJs in the past had to go through-to me it's just another way to touch sound. What dawned on me was I was talking to my cousin and kids get computers before they even get sound systems or CD players. It's really an MP3-iPod type of world. I don't knock it but I used to go into record stores without a listening center or the internet. And I'd buy music on the strength of liking the group or how dope the cover looked or if someone I trusted said something dope about the album. Now kids don't even have to buy it. They could just download it and put it on their MP3 player. The point is that a lot of these kids have that same passion and love of the music. Just because it's not on wax doesn't mean the passion isn't there. The technology is going to open up a whole new generation of DJs with different tools but we're all trying to do the same thing. I'm still very much about vinyl. I can go on and on about how priceless it is and how people should keep it alive. But there's a lot of convenience to CDJs. Everyone knows how it sucks to fucking carry two or three crates with you. Now all you have to do is carry around a book of CDs.

2NR: How did the name Dilated Peoples come about?