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“I met her after her second album” said DJ Spinna about when he met up with Erykah Badu for the first time. He continues, “She came to a rehearsal I had with Mos Def when I was DJing for him back in 1999. That’s when we met” DJ Spinna is a Brooklyn based DJ and is one of Americas most highly respected DJ’s. He plays every year for Stevie Wonders big tribute parties, and has released hundreds of impressive songs. “That’s a hard one” replies DJ Spinna regarding his main musical inspiration. “Stevie Wonder is the answer to that for sure. I do tribute parties for him every year. Those are big events. I’ve done a remix for him as well. He’s my favorite of all time. It was more like a compilation of two volumes called ‘The Wonder Of Stevie’. I did those with my partner Bobbito” admits DJ Spinna. From BBE Music compilations, to remixing just about every artist to forming his own hip-hop group. DJ Spinna is also a musician and producer, and has just about made music from every genre. “Acid, Psycadelic, Rock, Krautrock, Punk, Old School and New Wave like Depeche Mode and Soft Cell. Some 80’s pop. As long as there’s soul in the music. I loved The Police. My introduction to them was black radio in 1980″ At the time, I couldn’t understand how The Police fitted in to Black radio, as they where White artists and far from soul or R&B “Black Radio is simply radio that plays primarily black music, soul and R&B. Back in the days before rap. There was a station in New York, WBLS, which was very influential to me. They’re still around actually. There’s one guy, Frankie Crocker (R.I.P) that really changed the face of Black Radio. He played this track, ‘Voices Inside My Head’. It was funky as hell. So it didn’t matter” replies DJ Spinna.
And Bobby Caldwell? “He’s another one. People were bugging when they discovered he was white as well. The funny thing is. The album with that track ‘What You Won’t Do For Love’ probably didn’t have his face on the cover for that same reason but that’s a big tune. Still gets into my soul when I hear it” DJ Spinna expresses his views on what he feels about the term blue-eyed soul. “It was just a way to put a name on that brand of soul. Basically, white dudes doing soul music. It went back to Tom Jones and The Righteous Brothers” He says, “Neo Soul is another brand that the industry came up with but it’s a lame term. It was at first but then people realized there is nothing neo about soul. Before D’Angelo and Erykah Badu there was no soul? That’s crazy. The people that are considered Neo Soul artists hate that term. Soul didn’t need to be up dated because it never stopped. It’s all about marketing” Rumors had been spread that Erykah Badu did not want to be labeled neo-soul, DJ Spinna says, “She’s been saying that. It puts you in a box as an artist. And she didn’t start it, Kedar did, the person who signed her and D’Angelo. Honestly, that conversation should be with her. I can’t speak for her but I know that term s lame and everyone that was branded Neo hates it”
DJ Spinna will be performing in London soon, he compares Camden to Brooklyn “Brooklyn is the largest borough in NY. It’s not comparable at all. It can take you more than an hour by car to go from one end to the other but like anywhere. There’s stinky parts as well as clean and safe parts. From poor to rich, many ethnicities, many cultures, In Brooklyn alone” he says. “New Jigamastas album and hopefully a full-length soulful house album. Haven’t done that yet. Can’t say I’ll be back. I never stopped making them (House music). All of my albums have house tracks on them. ‘Intergalactic Soul’ has three. ‘Here To There’ has one with Shaun Escoffery” DJ Spinna is a passionate music maker, who’s past experience within music and the music industry appears to be endless. The refreshing thing for DJ Spinna is his variety in influences, in African music, artists such as Hugh Masekela and Fela Kuti. DJ Spinna says, “I listened to all of that growing up. Especially Hugh Masekela”
DJ Spinna admits the things he’d like to see changed in todays world, “No more war. Violence is so unnecessary. To resolve matters” and finally, he says what he enjoys doing most outside of music “Spending time with my three-year-old daughter”
AOL Chat Interview by Matthew Daniel
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