With a career spanning nearly two decades and a passion for music that runs as deep as his Trinidadian roots, Baltimore based DJ Phaze is breathing new life into an almost lost art form. Part educator, part historian and complete entertainer, DJ Phaze brings an unconventionally eclectic approach to the turn tables. I recently had the pleasure of chatting with DJ Phaze about the lack of real Hip-Hop on the radio, the universal language of music, and why soon we won’t use the term indie artist.
SK: So when you’re creating mixes, where does your inspiration come from? How do you blend your love of so many different types of music?
DJ Phaze: I think my function as a DJ… seriously is part therapist, educator, historian and entertainer, and to do all these things as best as possible at the same time. Let’s say it’s a crowd that is typically listening to the latest Hip-Hop and R & B. I can blend the original sample so the audience can actually hear where the song came from… then I got ‘em! I have fun with it. That’s one of the things I try to do. If you listen to my mixes on Music Addicts or Grown Folks Music.com they are meant to take you on a trip. I try to give the listeners good music that is an alternative to what they hear on the radio. I enjoy the sharing with the listeners. There’s a lot of great talent out there that doesn’t get signed and doesn’t get in rotation, so it’s really important for me as a DJ to expose the artist to new ears.
SK: Do you think the role of the DJ has changed over time?
DJ Phaze: For me the value of the DJ is underrated and not respected and sometimes it’s the fault of the DJ themselves because they don’t know their own value. Back in the day being a DJ meant something. Somewhere along the line the DJ became a second thought. Instead of being leaders a lot DJs became followers and you lose credibility because you aren’t setting trends, your following trends. Before you would actually pay homage to the DJ if you wanted to be a star (and) you would be at every club giving the DJ a record or a CD or a tape of your work. They don’t do that anymore so therefore the DJ’s role has changed. It has become devalued. But I think it’s going to come back, we have a place in the music industry that no one else has which is actually giving life to your record.
SK: We’ve talked about “indie” artist a bit. Do you think that term applies to Hip-Hop as well?
DJ Phaze:I think it expands to Hip-Hop too. In my opinion, disclaimer, for anyone who reads this (laugh) DJ Phaze said it. What they are playing on the radio is NOT Hip-Hop. It’s so is not Hip-Hop… Hip-Hop runs a range of socioeconomic and historic events that have been put into poetic form in such a manner that it causes you to think and excites you to a certain cause of action. That’s what Hip-Hop is. Hip-Hop was about being the wittiest guy on the block. If you could rhyme, if you had wit and if you’re a poet it was about that art form of poetry and being able to express yourself with similes and metaphors intelligently because it had to make sense. Hip-Hop artist back in the day studied Aristotle and philosophy in order to come up with some of the stuff they put into their raps. Like Krs-One for example.
SK: We do have younger Hip-Hop artist who are trying to do something positive. But it seems hard to find that on radio & T.V., which is why I suppose we do have indie artist.
DJ Phaze: Well umm… I think pretty soon we will stop saying “indie artist” because what’s going to happen is that record labels are going to die off. I say that because at one point record labels were backing artist who didn’t have the resources to get themselves out there so they served a purpose. And now what’s happening with the advancement of technology and social networking, all those great devices, there’s no longer a need for the backing of a record label. And as the consumer we ended up getting whatever the record companies wanted us to hear rammed down our ear and no longer do you have to get that rammed down your ear, you can choose. And with the power of choice comes the demise of the record label.
SK: At the end of the day what is it that you want people to know about DJ Phaze?
DJ Phaze: There is more power in sharing knowledge verses keeping it to yourself, and I apply the same thing to music. What purpose would it serve for me to know all this good music and play all this good music and be selfish with it? For me my humility comes from the fact that my hands have been blessed with this talent and at any time I could lose that. So it’s so not about the ego for me it’s not about me it’s about what I have done to help the music, the art form of DJing and to help promote responsible music. It’s about the legacy of service.
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Awesome, awesome interview. Thanks for introducing me to this cat.