A. That feeling of being in control of the party crowd. It’s a great free feeling. I live for the party.
Q. What is one of your special moments you had being a DJ?
A. Winning my 1st DJ battle. The person I was against was much more experienced. We were neck and neck the whole night. At the end of the night, they announced me the winner. Awesome feeling.
Q. What differentiate you from the rest of the DJ’s?
A. The customer service I provided to the people.
Q. Who would you consider to be a DJ Legend?
A. DJ Jazzy Jeff. Pretty sure many will say this. But just watching him coming up and the talent he has, it’s motivating.
Q. Can you give any advice to upcoming DJ’s?
A. Practice Practice Practice and stick to your price!!
A. I got the name She She while I was interning at the time. The promotion director at the time couldn’t remember my real name so she called She She. It was a name that stuck with me throughout my professional career. So, when I decided to DJ, I just used the name.
Q. What made you want to be a DJ?
A. I always wanted to be a DJ. I grew up watching Spinderella, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Kid Capri, DJ Premier etc. and said I want to do that.
Q. What differentiate you from the rest of the DJ’s?
A. I hate to be cliché’ but the music I play. I have such an eclectic sound that I play everything from EDM, house, hip-hop, soul, funk, pop, top 40, R&B, inspirational…If you name it I can play it and have no problem with blending all genres.
Q. Who or what influenced you to be a DJ?
A. The different genre of music is what influenced me, but Spinderella inspired me to become a DJ.
Q. Can you give any advice to upcoming DJ’s?
A. Learn the business side of the industry and practice your butt off. Any DJ will tell you that practice is the key when it comes to rocking a party.
Q. Do you think that it is hard for women DJs to get gigs?
A. In some ways yes. I often see events that are catered to women that have a male DJ involved. There is a lot of work that should be done by the organizers to ensure a female DJ is there.
Q. What made you want to be a DJ?
A. I was always involved in music since I was 4 years old. My uncle was a DJ and I always put together mixtapes for my friends. It turned into me creating playlists for events. I decided to find a mentor to show me the technical aspects of being a DJ.
Q. Who is your favorite DJ of all time?
A. DJ Jazzy Jeff of course. He is from my hometown Philadelphia, PA. I was able to see him live recently. My style is similar to his.
Q. What or who inspired you to be a DJ?
A. My uncle inspired me. I used to watch him or steal his tapes secretly because I was a music fanatic.
Q. Can you give any advice to upcoming DJ
A. Practice as much as you can. Watch instructional videos. Seek mentorship with someone that is established and has the time for you. There are DJ schools out there.
A. Actually, I was 15 years old and was a member of my uncle’s promotional street team/setup crew. The DJ that was booked for the party was “Running Late”. At first, we thought he was just on some “Wanting the party to be crowded when he arrived” type of ego trip. Little did he know that we always had a line of people waiting to get in before the doors opened. So, my uncle gave me records to play as “Door Opening Music”. The DJ never showed up, so I was the DJ for the whole night. Evidently, I did pretty good because I was the DJ from that point on. So honestly to answer your question. I was forced to DJ to save the family’s business is how I like to put it.
Q. What are some of the challenges you have being a DJ?
A. I’m at a place in my life where being a DJ is not challenging to me. It’s actually more fun now than in my past. It was strictly business to make extra money, but now it’s more of a fun-loving hobby than I get paid to do.
Q. Can you give any advice to an upcoming DJ?
A. Remain humble and always remember, there will be someone coming after you so please pass the knowledge.
Q. Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
A. In the next 5 years, I see myself behind the scenes involved in T.V. shows, and movies.
Q. How do you feel about where the music is right now?
A. We like it. It’s always growing as we get older. Music means something different to us. Music means to us differently than the kids we think. It’s time for Hip-Hop to give some harmony to the older generations. Even on Netflix, you got shows like “The Evolution” that are really breaking down what Hip-Hop is. If you like something different, you can go to SoundCloud, we think this is a good time.
The time is good with Hip-Hop, we like to look at how it used to be called the golden era. When I was appreciative of what was going on, and now it’s the new era. Some people complain about how things change. It evolves, and the evolution of Hip-Hop is a dope thing to see and experience while we are living within it.
Q. What have you all been up to these days?
A. Working on life, and we still make music. We been making beer and getting into the craft beer to a place we all get. We can appreciate it and the diversity. The industry and different beers are changing the world.
Q. How did you get started with beer?
A. It started with liking beer and trying different flavors that turned into a business opportunity. We drank it, tried different brewers, went to different places, and it was all about us trying different beers that led to starting Atlantucky. That is our beer brewing company. We had 2 beers that we did with Monday Night Brewing. We tour 100 to 150 days out of the year. It started as going around the country. Before the shows we would go find a brewery. We visited about a hundred or more breweries over 5 or more years. We learned more by trying new flavors and brewing in the country. We went to cool places people would never go to. We got an opportunity with Monday Night Brewing to do our first beer called “Front Porch Parallel”. It sold out everywhere.
We found another revenue stream. Beer is something that will be around forever, even if we stop rapping, beer will still be around. If we can make that, we can still be creative as an artist. We saw it as a business opportunity and a passion project. Beer is sold everywhere. The beer industry is booming. It’s a $40 billion dollar industry a year. A lot of people are bringing the urban side to it. Nappy Roots are more than just a name on a can. We know how to make it.
Watermelon Chicken & Gritz is in about 4 states. Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana, and New York. The goal is to do a collaboration as well as travel, so we can do more meet and greets. We are also doing a T.V. show about it called “40 Akerz and a Brew”. Craft beer is about creativity and there’s a science to it.
Q. What is “Nappy Roots” doing differently?
A. Being “Nappy Roots” and doing beer is different. They need more diversity in Atlanta.
A. I am originally from Las Vegas, Nevada raised in Houston Texas. My family has a background in music. Everyone sings. My mother sang lead for a group called “The Platters”. She introduced me and my siblings to music. We married young and didn’t really get to explore our musical paths. But now that we’ve raised our kids, we’re revisiting music and creating a platform for our message on love, relationships, and marriage.
Q. Let’s get the background of the song “Sophisticated Freak”?
A. A lot of times people tend to put their cards right out on the table. You see exactly who they are, or who you think they are. So, I’m saying that just because a woman is not marketing her sexuality right off the bat doesn’t mean that she’s not a problem in the bedroom. Looks can be deceiving.
Q. Who is the artist that influenced your career?
A. Diana Ross, she is the personification of a pop star. From being a recording artist to a performing artist. She is the prototype and total package. Even my modern-day influences, like Brandy, Beyonce, Mariah Carey have pulled from her blueprint.
Q. Who would you like to collaborate with?
A. Definitely, Cardi B.
Q. How do you feel about women in the music industry and how men do not take them seriously enough unless they are passive. What is your observation on it?
A. I’ve had to deal with push-back, but not a lot. I come to the table to do business, and I refuse to let my gender be treated as a negative or a limitation. Also, I have the right people on my team.
Q. What was the inspiration behind “Blue Sunset” and its title?
A. As you know the song talks about feeling good about who you’re with and giving off positive energy. You might have a messed-up day, and at that moment everything goes out the window, but you can continue to have positive vibes. As for the title, blue is my favorite color. Sunset is like the essence of feeling good.
Q. What projects are you working on?
A. My biggest focus right now is an album. It is called Blue Leisure. I also dropped a new song with Whodini. I’m doing television and movies, and I also have my own company.
Q. Do you think being a music producer that you don’t get the credit you deserve working with so many people?
A. I do now, but at one time I think I had a chip on my shoulder. There was a time when I was doing so much for other people, and I wasn’t getting much love back. Now, the industry is embracing me a lot more. Fanbases are bigger. It shifted and now I am a full artist.
Q. Out of all your projects, what is the best one you worked on in terms of production?
A. Hmmmm……that’s hard. It’s hard to say because I take pride in all my work. One is the Fetty, and Johnnie Record I did with Frank Ocean. I am also proud of the work I did with Whitney Houston. God rest her soul.
Q. What was the inspiration behind your song “She Fell in Love”?
A. I wanted to make this song creative, so I looked at it as if she fell in love with me. So, I flipped the concept of it so that it can be looked at from a hustler’s point of view that she’s a gold digger, or the fact that she’s just digging me.
Q. What does the name T.R.U.B. Chef mean?
A. T.R.U.B. stands for “Truth Real Unique Blessed”. The chef part comes in because I treat my music personal and perfect just like a chef treats his food. I am working on the cooking part though, lol.
Q. With you being in the industry from 11 years old until now. What avenues would you give to artists now to put themselves on a platform?
A. The platform that you need to get on right now in this time is social media. Start with the simple ones that you can do yourself like YouTube, which is especially helpful if you don’t have the money right now. Just invest in yourself the best way that you can now. Work your way up from there by letting people take your brand seriously. Don’t be afraid to ask questions of people of importance.
Q. What is the music scene like in Memphis right now?
A. It’s coming up better, but there’s still not enough unity within the rap community.
A. In the music industry, I noticed social media played a part in how you can feel alone when doing things. Everyone wants to be followed on social media, but you don’t feel like people are following and sharing your music. You get emotions and feelings like you’re doing it all by yourself and like you’re all alone. I dealt with individuals in my life who said they were going to be there with me, and then they never stuck around.
Q. So are you a producer and artist?
A. I started out as an artist. I love rapping. I am from the Bronx, and I would watch rappers and DJs. When starting off as a rapper, you’re always going to need a producer. Back in that time, you could not find as many people who could make music, so that’s how production came about. The first artist I worked with was Rob Base.
Q. How did you get up with Michael Bivins?
A. Michael Bivins was looking for an artist. Michael liked my writing and then I was like his road buddy and his mentor. I saw his capability to do great things. He is a genius and a great businessman. He started up Boys II Men and Another Bad Creation (ABC). Michael was great and he knew how to capture the culture and the industry. They went Platinum 14 times.
Q. Do you keep in touch with everyone in the industry?
A. Yes, I just did a track with Rickey Bell and his wife. They had a song called “Goal”. I remixed it and we released it for the tornado they went through. We were going to donate all the money to Puerto Rico.
