Words By: Hallway Jay
Edited By: Mike Waxx
I mean, the next phase is what the DJ’s make it man, if you stamp yourself as an individual it doesn’t matter how you get it in. You don’t just copy cat the next ni**a all the time and work hard until you’ll get it, the problem right now [is that] you can’t blame it on the internet, you can’t blame it on the music, on the album sales or anything, its just all about originality.illRoots.com: First off, thanks again for the interview.
Scream: Oh yeah man, whatever you need.
illRoots.com: With the success down south, hip-hop, and overall music wise, what’s the next wave of south artists coming out?
Scream: Well, there is different elements of the south, there’s street music that represents the hustle and there’s more club friendly music. More notable names, you got Plies doing his thing, Soulja Boy. I think they will continue to be around. The whole D4L Camp, they got Shawty Lo coming out and there’s some new names like Rocko, Young Ralph, Montana Da Mac, there all making noise in the Atlanta Scene. Then you got (artists) from Tennessee. Yo Gotti, he’s got cliques himself so you’ve got all these artists and they’ve got artists under them that are hungry and that’s really how the south has remained relevant within these past years. Like Shawty Lo being from Bankhead, he kind of came out before D4L and was representing Bankhead. Then you got Dem Franchise Boys and the Shop Boyz coming outta there too. So there's really so many artists that are making local hits. It’s just a matter of time before they get the right song and cross over to the mainstream.
illRoots.com: I wouldn’t necessarily say crossover because as far as my opinion, there is no real underground anymore with all the technology and the internet.
Scream: Right, Right, Right.
illRoots.com: Will we ever see DJ Scream official album?
Scream: I’ve been talking with some people, as of right now we’re already set to do something independently. Like the 2008 Heavy in the Streets Album. If I could run into a label that will let me do me, then yeah it could be a major album right behind the Heavy in the Streets DVD
illRoots.com: I’ve noticed as far as DJ’s go, alot of them are crossing over into the production game, like Clinton Sparks and so forth. Will we ever see you doing some production for some some big names in the future?
Scream: I’m allergic to beat machines, Fruity Loops, I breakout in hives, I start sweating. I have producers that I fuck with and I probably look forward to building a production team sort of like how Khaled did with The Runners and Cool & Dre. I gotta stay in my lane, I’m not content with just staying in one place though.
illRoots.com: What’s your favorite mixtape to date that you’ve put out?
Scream: That’s hard to say, I’d say the most influential in my career was definitely Heavy in the Streets Part I and II as well as the Plies and Soulja Boy mixtapes I did. I grasped onto Plies before he got big so to speak, same thing with Soulja Boy. Before people knew the big Soulja Boy craze got to the masses, I did the thing with him, then shortly there after he had the number one single in the country.
DJ Scream & Soulja Boy - Supaman
[Purchase at MixTrap]
illRoots.com: Since the internet is playing a big role in the mixtape game, what do you think is the next phase in the game?
Scream: I mean, the next phase is what the DJ’s make it man, if you stamp yourself as an individual it doesn’t matter how you get it in. You don’t just copy cat the next nigga all the time and work hard until you’ll get it, the problem right now [is that] you can’t blame it on the internet, you can’t blame it on the music, on the album sales or anything, its just all about originality. If you come with the shit that nobody else came with you’ll make it with the Drama’s, the Khaled’s, the Scream’s....
illRoots.com: If you could do one mixtape with one artist, who would that be?
Scream: I’d resurrect Bob Marley, I’d definitely do one with Bob. To me man, that would be a privilege.
illRoots.com: Oh man that would be a privilege for me to listen to. What's the biggest conflict with music today in your opinion?
Scream: Originality. I’ll say that again and regardless of who likes what and who doesnt, I don’t really care and I’ve been listening to music since 83’, so if its something I ain’t heard before I’m going to respect it whether I like it or not. It would be kind of hard for me to get into Hyphy and Go-Go and all that but I respect it. I like it because its different, so I think the biggest problem is originality and the next biggest issue is the respect of everybody’s culture. You don’t necessarily have to like it, but [you can] respect it. People always like “Oh I don’t want to hear that” and “There beats are different” and…
illRoots.com: Yeah, don’t put walls up where there ain’t none.
Scream: Exactly, exactly, that’s very well put man. Just going back to the early 90’s, people were just letting other people do them. Biggie respected Outkast, Outkast respected Biggie, Outkast respected Snoop, Snoop respected Outkast, Snoop respected Common. You see what I’m saying?
illRoots.com: What were your big influences DJing, since your strictly a DJ, you made that very evident.
Scream: I’m not strictly a DJ, I do marketing and promotion [as well]. We had a lot to do with the success of the D4L project and Shawty Lo project. But as a DJ my influences were really DJ Jelly, DJ Magic Mike, Funkmaster Flex, all the mixtape guys from Clue, S&S, Ron G., oh my gosh, Watts, Screw. I kinda just took notes and took what made each DJ successful, from the good and from the bad. I took what some people liked about the DJ’s and what they didn’t like about the DJ’s and put them together and just built me.
illRoots.com: Thanks Big Homie. For More information on DJ Scream check him out at myspace.com/4045405000 and djscream.biz. As always thanks to Kashi Kicks for making this interview happen. Go check them out at kashikicks.com. Signing Off Hallway Jay.
