DJ TJ THE KING has been gracing turntables since he was a kid. His love for good hip-hop and provocative, progressive minded music brought me to inquire, and the result is a series of quick answers to accompany the mix he made for Veg Selects, here. Catch him on the decks live at St. Andrew's Hall for the official concert of the 2010 Hip Hop Congress National Conference & Summit Saturday June 26, 2010.
MM: What made you first place your finger on the fader?
DJTJ: Ever since I was in the single digits my uncles have been calling me DJTJ and it stuck with me growing up. It's like it was meant to happen -- it's kind of crazy if you look at what people call you as a young child and it becomes a genuine reality.
MM: You occupy a pivotal place in the timeline of hip-hop music. Your work alone and with Jay Electronica is blazing a trail for independent artists. What's the best thing about being a hip-hop DJ in this current musical climate?
DJTJ: The best thing is that I get to express good hip hop music that will carry on for a lifetime and I don't have to work a 9 to 5 anymore.
MM: Do you think hip-hop as it's represented in mainstream media needs to change?
DJTJ: No, I think that the areas that aren't being heard need to step it up.
MM: What does it mean to be a tastemaker right now?
DJTJ: It means to have an opinion that is heard and matters.
MM: What do you listen for when you hear new music? What does it take for an artist to get on one of your mixtapes?
DJTJ: Any artist with good music can get on my mixtapes -- I don't discriminate. I listen to the combination of the lyrics, beat and delivery.
MM: What are you listening to right now?
DJTJ: I'm really feeling Danny Brown, Black Milk, MarvOne, Guilty Simpson of course Jay Elec. I think they have messages that the masses need to hear.
MM: What were you doing before you met Jay Electronica? What was your first show together like?
DJTJ: I was doing Grind Season Mixtapes right out of Greenfield Plaza. Our first show was rough because it was in front of a very big crowd for our first time together -- but after that, we golden.
MM: What do you want to do next? What's the next project you're working on?
DJTJ: I'm going to continue the Grind Season Mixtapes starting with artists from Detroit, then I'll start to hit other hoods in the nation that are simular to Detroit.
Here's the mix featuring great music from your favourite Detroit artists like J Dilla, Danny Brown, Black Milk, Guilty Simpson and many others. It's free: here's the link! http://www.sendspace.com/file/ijqnen
Check out the rest of the lineup for the HHC Concert!
Find out more information about the HHC Summit June 26 to June 28 at the University of Michigan Detroit Centre. All panels and workshops are free to attend if you register in advance. You'll hear from some of the artists from this huge event and it couldn't be at a more interesting, landmark moment in music history.
Hit up www.hiphopcongress.com for more details.
As an added bonus, tune in to Minced Meat tonight live from 12AM-2AM to win a pair of tickets to see DJ TJ The King and Jay Electronica live on stage. You'll have to identify some lyrics to win them so study up! Here's the link to the live stream: http://stream.cjam.ca:8000/listen.pls or adjust your FM radio dial to 99.1.
The number to call in is 519-971-3630 but wait for the contest rules to drop before calling!
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