DJ B: There's going away completely.
DJ Rap: There's watching something decline steadily. The whole scene is in trouble generally, music wise. Everybody knows how CDs are selling and all this stuff. But there are new things that are emerging because of the way things are, which I think are good, because of Napster there are new things like Apple I-Tunes, there's BeatPort coming out. It's now getting to a point where music is really affordable and downloadable at a click of a button. I'm very excited about Beat Port that's coming out January, my label will be on there. It's a whole new way of selling music to the public and Apple Tunes has proved that it's successful. So, there's a lot of new things happening and I think that people want to see something new, but my main gripe is that if the music doesn't change and people don't push the envelope, then people have seen it all before and it is boring. I think that people need to collaborate and do more interesting things with the music in order for it to be something where people go and see it and it's like wow, that's never been done before, that's really cool. Like the tour I'm doing with Irene called Chicks on Decks, where it's the two of us playing music we've never played before. It's not what she plays, it's not what I play, and we're in each other's music remixing live and it's a really cool concept and it looks great, visually interesting. Doing different tours with different people like Ferry where I was crowd surfing on crowds and doing stuff like that is what I am trying to do.
DJ B: Yes, I saw that on your web site.
DJ Rap: It's fun to do, because it gives people something different to look at and it's all about having fun. When did it get so serious that we couldn't share each other's music? If someone played a record that belongs to someone else they get beaten up over it, what the hell is that crap? I'm not into that.
DJ B: You were talking about new things and I see that you have a show on one of the coolest things I think to come along since sliced bread, satellite radio. So, what got you interested in XM and how are you liking that?
DJ Rap: Well, I've been a fan of like anything new that brings music, so I've been a supporter of XM for probably two years now. They approached me and, I liked the idea.
DJ B: What channel are you on?
DJ Rap: Do you know what, they changed channels so it varies sometimes, so I can't actually give you a definite answer.
DJ B: So are you on like the system or XM live?
DJ Rap: It's the electronic channel, that's all I know. They've moved the show around so many times, because the show is on once a month and then they repeat it every week. Now they've approached me to do an actual show every week, so I think starting from January, it will be a set channel and it will be a show every week.
DJ B: That's actually my favorite channel, eighty-two. Then there's another one, eighty, which is The Move, which is more mainstream.
DJ Rap: I'm on The Move, but they do change it around. I like that and they're going to give me my own show which is going to be great, like once a week, so I'm looking forward to that which will befun. I also do a show in Chicago called Q101 which is a strictly drum and bass non-speaking show, which is great as well, so it's good to do these things.
DJ B: I wanted to ask you about your name, how cool is it to be DJ Rap? It would be kind of like having, you know, sex.com or something like that, I mean it's just such a great name for someone who does…
DJ Rap: Absolutely nothing with rap.
DJ B: Right.
DJ Rap: Well, the name actually started off in England because I would always mix hip-hop and breaks underneath house records. People would be like oh, look at DJ Rap, and they would laugh and it would be a joke. The name just stuck and that was really all it was. Looking back, I'm like oh, what a terrible name to pick when you don't play rap at all, but I was a huge hip-hop fan and it was the old NWA and records like that and I would mix the beats under these house records.
DJ B: I bet you look cute with your hat on backwards.
DJ Rap: Yes, I bet I did. So, you know, that's how it all kind of came about.
DJ B: Speaking about shows, what's happening with the show on Spike TV.
DJ Rap: The remix show that I was supposed to be doing has actually just been cancelled. I don't know why, I think Spike maybe feel that doing a show that promotes electronic music is risky. I'm sure they have their reasons but they're definitely not supporting this particular show.
DJ B: Better luck next time, I'm sure something else will come along.
DJ Rap: Yes, I'm sure something else will come up. We only found out this week, so I'm quite disappointed about that because we all worked six months on it and we were due to shoot the pilot on the 15th. It's a great idea and a great concept.
