DJ SKEE (November 2006) | Interview By: Nima

       Dubcnn spoke to one third of the newly formed mixtape alliance Mixtape Monolpoly, DJ Skee. We discuss that collaboration with Snoop Dogg on the Blue Carpet Treatment mixtape, his recent projects, his radio show and other enterprises and also discuss what he has planned next. We also talk about his relationship with The Game, the new album The Doctor's Advocate, how he feels about the mixtape game, his work with DJ Crazy Toones, his favourite mixtapes of recent years and much more in the this exclusive interview



As always we have the transcript and the audio for you to check and please feel free to send any feedback regarding the interview to: nima@dubcnn.com



Interview was done by phone in November 2006


Questions Asked By : Nima


DJ Skee Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Check That Here (Audio)

Full DJ Skee Interview : Here

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Dubcnn: We’re here with DJ Skee right now, how about you go ahead and introduce yourself to everybody out there and let them know what’s up with you…

Yea you know what it is man, its DJ Skee, you know who I am you know what I do, not familiar check me out on myspace.com/djskee, djskee.com – yea just running things out here, trying to keep the westcoast alive – take over the world, all that other stuff man!


Dubcnn: Ok, tell us a little about the Mixtape Monopoly project with you, DJ Whoo Kid and DJ Drama, how did that come about?

Aw man, you know Snoop and them came to us and all his people to do it big and we were talking about just me and Snoop doing a mixtape, then they wanted to take it to the next level and capture all the other regions involved so they wanted to do something crazy and get the biggest DJs in each region which they felt was Whoo Kid, myself and [DJ] Drama. So they came back to us and was like let’s do this shit as a three and its like this ill combo concept, just cause of the affiliations myself and Whoo Kid have...Snoop was like lets put that shit to the side and really there ain’t no real beef between all of us so we just put out something that is timeless and classic and really gonna get peoples attention just out there so we can all make money together, its all love, Snoop’s the boss of the westcoast and a legend in rap, so how could we say no to him?

It made sense, now we decided to call ourselves the Mixtape Monoloply, to get a monopoly of the mixtape game, with DJ Drama’s running shit on the South, all the Whoo Kid shit over the years in the East and with my shit on the West recently then, that’s what it is, so you know we have some other shit in the works, its gonna be crazy.


Dubcnn: Tell us a little about the first mixtape, The Blue Carpet Treatment mixtape…

Yea that shit is crazy man, of course I mean Bigg Snoop Dogg put us together, came up with the whole alignment, came to Snoop, we’ve been talking about it for a second, so he got all his music ready, we went over to his studios in Hollywood, knocked it all out, he gave me all the shit and it turned out classic, get it now at DJSkee.com and wherever mixtapes are sold.


Dubcnn: Is it true that this is the first of many projects that the Mixtape Monopoly has planned?

Oh yea of course, I’m always working on stuff that’s gonna shake shit up so definitely look out for more stuff.


Dubcnn: What else is DJ Skee working on right now?

Oh man, you know I’m working on a new mixtape with Game soon, gonna be crazy, we flood the streets with mixtapes that are really like albums – that’s coming right after his album, once the buzz starts to die down, we drop it to bring it back up with that mixtape and shit…you know just take over the world man.

I got all my other businesses, I got stuff in development and in the works and on the DJ side, just keeping it moving and with Sirius its our third year coming up, so we switching the whole show up and were having a huge anniversary show in the next few weeks that’s gonna be retarded and expand it and on the radio front there’s some stuff coming up that I cant talk about yet but yea its some big shit, I really wanna expand it, take over the world and really put this monopoly stuff together


Dubcnn: How do you feel about The Doctor’s Advocate?

Oh man, it’s a classic, I feel like everybody feel, whether you hate or love Game, the music speaks for itself, the shit is incredible. I’m blessed having been in the studio with him over the past year, putting some of the joints together and its crazy to see how the tide has shifted with the label and everybody else and it’s a great album, great for the westcoast, great for Hip-Hop and the dude is so talented and behind the mic, yea the music speaks for itself.


Dubcnn: How do you feel the new album compares to The Documentary?

It shows his full growth I think…I mean with songs, you can even hear it in his voice when he’s making a song, like its really a maturing process. I mean Game has been through more than a regular artist from his debut to his sophomore album with all the beef stuff, with all the; is Dre working with him stuff and there is a lot of stuff to talk about, its maturity and you really see him grow on the album.


Dubcnn: Can you name some of your personal favourite mixtapes that are out right now?

That are out right now just of all time or what’s out in the streets right now?


Dubcnn: Past few years…

Past few years, um the ones that have really moved me, obviously the ones I did with Game and not just cause I did them but cause even if I didn’t I’d still be banging them with, um You Know What It Is Volume 3 and the 300 Bars and all that shit and that was so crazy that’s gotta be up there…I mean, yea and The Black Wall Street journal shit was hot…and one that I admire and look at is the DJ Drama and Young Jeezy one from a couple of years ago called um… Trap Or Die, that was incredible. What else is hot?

Man there’s too many to name…Green Lantern has a crazy one right now with Jay, shout to Green Lantern he always comes out with some crazy shit, DJ Drama holds it down, tons of shit out there, Clinton Sparks has some creative shit, that’s my man, there’s a lot of shit out there but those really stay in my mind. In terms of even the power though, the mixtapes of G Unit Radio, the ones that let 50 [Cent] off and showed and took the mixtape to another level with the popularity mainstream from those.


Dubcnn: How did the connection with you and DJ Crazy Toones happen?

Oh yea man, Crazy Toones is the dude so me and Reflex, who is my big partner out here on the radio, he got his shit with Damani too, and me and Crazy Toones always fuck with each other and we ran into each other and we were talking about it and he had this crazy idea and he wanted to stamp us on it cause he hasn’t done a mixtape in a minute so I helped him get it out there, link in with some stuff and it was great working with a legend like Crazy Toones and being from the Westcoast. It was a great look and a great mixtape a Classic and…that’s one I forgot right there, it’s a Classic, incredible, that’s an album right there…all the old school hip-hop heads really appreciate that all the creativity Toones put in that…he killed it.


Dubcnn: Are we going to see a CT Experience Part 2?

Yea I spoke to Toones just the other day, he's just waiting, he’s definitely working on some shit, so it’s gonna be coming soon.


Dubcnn: Who haven’t you collaborated with yet that you still want to?

Um...Ideally I want to, I got some shit going on, I’ve worked with a lot of people…especially doing the CD with Snoop but I wanna do a whole CD with like a [Dr] Dre or a Jay, a mega, mega stars and even some non-traditional stuff, stuff that people wouldn’t expect with like some other artists or even other genres.


Dubcnn: What’s your view on the mixtape scene right now?

Oh man…its still what it is, especially on the Westcoast, its not as big as it should be, there’s not as many outlets as there are on the East Coast but that’s one thing I’m really to build with my team with what we have going on so we can have that popularity that the East and everywhere has but um yea the mixtape game is always expanding and diversifying whereas a few years ago it was putting a bunch of joints on a mixtape when like DJ Clue ran the market and had like 20 different joints from 20 different artists, all that shit, whereas now the whole game is really like for one artist, when people do a mixtape its like a street album, like The Game, or how [DJ] Drama does with like T.I., Jeezy or whatever, mixtapes are like albums for the artists.


Dubcnn: Yea that’s true, but do you think it’s a good or a bad thing?

I think it’s a good an a bad thing…I think there’s room for both but its fucking artists up cause they all gotta put out two albums, a street album and a real album which is still like…there’s no real money and paperwork…in Rock you don’t have to do it but in Hip-Hop its like a necessity, Snoop had to do it, Game had to, 50, everybody from the Jeezy’s to the T.I.s.

It makes it tougher for new artists to break unless your in a crew…in a crew, like with Game he’ll have his Black Wall Street, couple of them on his mixtape, he’s not gonna put other artists on that are new and coming up…he does personally but an artist in general isn’t gonna be as willing to put a new artist on. Whereas in the past with like [DJ] Clue, he could break a Fabolous by having him on a tape with everybody else, right now there aren’t like tapes like that, there is but they’re not as hot…so you gotta really come out, so it hurts new artists.


Dubcnn: The Game always speaks highly of you as both his DJ and business partner, how do you view that relationship?

Oh man it’s a great thing, I mean, Game is probably only, the most, I’ll even go out on a limb and say he’s the most talented rapper that I’ve ever been around in terms of skill and ability and I still don’t think the public has seen his creativity to his fullest level and I don’t think they will until his third or fourth album but being in the studio and seeing, how quick and how witty and how smart and how he knows how to make a record and how to rap, its incredible. So I try and get him into the position where all he has to worry about is his creativity and I go and handle his buzz and getting in the streets with his records and you know were both about getting paper and making it happen.


Dubcnn: What artists are you feeling who have a buzz right now on the west?

Oh man, there’s a few, first up my man Omar Cruz, I did a mixtape with him that’s crazy early this year, he’s gonna be a big talent in 2007. Ya Boy, I just did a mixtape with, his shit is retarded, he has some shit, he has the potential to be a super super star. Obviously Glasses [Malone], Bishop [Lamont] that whole crew, Mykestro, there’s some stuff from Watts, my man Jay Rock got a lot of buzz from his song right now, K-Dot his other partner, can spit. I think 2007 is gonna be a big year for the westcoast, there’s gonna be more well known artists from the Westcoast, besides Game, Snoop, Dre, Xzibit. In the next year the Glasses, the Bishops, the Ya Boy’s, the Omar Cruz’s are all gonna shine and become more household names in Hip-Hop.


Dubcnn: Do you have plans for a DJ Skee album with exclusive tracks?

Oh yea, that’s always there, I’m just waiting for the right time and situation, I’ve had offers on the table, I could drop that now if I wanted to but I want to wait, I don’t feel the time is right with the music industry. With what I do, I wanna wait a little while, when I do stuff, I want to make something epic, people love it when I drop a mixtape, its an experience, I really drop some shit, I’m not just coming out...when I drop the album I want it to be an epic occasion so I have to make sure its done right...but it will come in due time.


Dubcnn: That’s it for the questions, is there anything you want to add?

Aw man, shout out to dubcnn for always holding me down man, you always come through with that shit. So stay tuned, I’m no where near even started, so don’t think I’m stopping, your gonna see a lot of stuff…I always come out of left field and kill it. Check me out on MySpace and at DJ Skee.com and you can see me and ill provide good music, anyone wanna reach out then reach out, I’m here, I’m holding it down.











 

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