DJ Spinna Part 1

Real name Vincent Williams, was born and raised in Brooklyn, USA. He is globally known as DJ Spinna. “It took three years to make. I did the deal with Papa Records right after the release on BBE Music. It took a while due to personal life changes, like my daughter being born and also finding the right artists to do collaborations with. Eric Roberson for example was so busy. It took almost a year for us to finish Butterfly Girl”, says DJ Spinna.

Peace And Quiet featuring Stephanie McKay is a strong song from his Intergalactic Soul album. DJ Spinna speaks about collaborating with Stephanie McKay. “She’s a sweet heart and very professional. I love her voice. The old school sound was done purposely”

DJ Spinna says how all his collaborations came together for Intergalactic Soul album, “I’m really tight with Phonte. He loved the Galactic Soul interlude on the BBE Music, Here To There. We recorded that song in 2003. It was initially going to be a single for that album but I held on to it and released Intergalactic Soul and Alphons Greer, is actually Joc Max, my producer partner in crime. If you do the history on him, he’s been part of every album I’ve done from Heavy Beats to Intergalactic Soul”

“Well, I’ve been making records since 1993 but I’ve been going to recording studios since 1985 and 1986. Working on past rap groups I was in”

His discography is vast, and his remix work is almost endless! From Roy Ayers, Agent K, Betty Carter, Moses McLean, Rita J. & Green Weedz to Donnie, Champion Soul, Alma Horton, and many more. DJ Spinna has remixed, or worked with many talented individuals. It all started…”Doing demo tapes etc. I was in several rap groups back in the days. 1985 and since then we were doing demo’s, trying to get record deals etc. Then Jigmastas formed in 1991. We were originally four people, Krim and me. I didn’t rap much; I was the DJ/producer in the group. I maybe rapped on four songs back then but I really hated my voice. If those tapes were found it could be perfect black male material (laughs)”

An LP would soon be released on BBE Music Here To There (which he mentions above). “It was my first full length LP. It was released in 2003 and was a great experience in the making. I got to work with Vinia Mojica. One of my favorite female vocalists ever. Also with Jean Grae and Shaun Escoffery”

“Nah. That LP was for the moment”, admits DJ Spinna in making another Here To There volume.

“Yep. Loads. I got myself into it”, says DJ Spinna on his remix work. “When I first started doing them it was a way of keeping my name out their while working on original production. My first remixes were De La Soul’s, Stakes Is High and Das EFX, Microphone Master. Both were done with Joc Max”

He then moved on to other genres, “Exactly, by 1998 I started doing more Electronic and house music. On the production side I started out doing hip-hop. It was easy for me. I’m apart of this whole culture of hip-hop. I dreamed of making hip-hop records since the inception of hip-hop records. When drum machines and samplers came into the scene it was all over for me”

Asking if he knows Osunlade, Kenny Dope, Miguel Migs etc, he replies, “Those are all friends of mine. I love all of those people. Kenny Dope especially has been very instrumental in my success as a well-rounded producer. He’s a very good friend of mine and he’s a good example of how a B-Boy can spread their musical horizons. Everything he does is from a B-Boy approach and that’s how I look at my career. Broken beat, house, Funk, jazz, hip-hop. A B-Boy is someone who respects and embraces the hip-hop culture from all aspects of it. Graffiti, DJing, to MCing. The thing that people must realize is, youth culture in the early 80’s here in the states was primarily hip-hop and as a DJ, we really looked for soul and funk music but soul and funk could be found in any genre. Latin, jazz, Funk, Rock and if it had a break in the song it just made things even easier for us. Someone like myself who constantly digs in the crates is always looking for the next record to expand our horizons. All those names you mentioned, Bugz, IG, Kenny, Osunlade and even Gilles. We have all one thing in common. We love good music. Across the board. That’s why we all connect and love each other. So, what I’m saying is, once you have knowledge and love of great music the next step would be to figure out, which direction you want to go and go for it. Study the music and figure out the tools you need”

DJ Spinna says, “London fur sure. People are more open-minded”

Pointing out that we don’t have the Aretha Franklins or Marvin Gayes. “That’s okay though because you guys have the Northern soul movement. That embraced our old singers more than we did. You also sought out people that never see the light of day in the USA. Believe it or not though, that’s the reason why soul music is so big in the UK. It seems like its really hard for the UK soul artists to make it big over there, and they get more love over here”

He starts to talk about the music business. “The music industry is just that, an industry. They care more about the dollar than the art. Fire everyone at the labels and hire people that really care about the music and all radio people as well. The world has gone crazy” But the music business has turned towards the digital world, he responds, “Weird. That’s what I mean by the worlds gone crazy. We are forgetting how to interact with each other. Before it was about hanging out, going to a club, hearing a jam, creating a buzz amongst your peers on a particular song and going to the shops the next day. No one goes out anymore. Only to pubs to drink, forget about Dancing. The industry is back wards and they don’t really care about helping an artist develop. It’s all about do they have a hit record? Okay, put them out. Luckily, there are some good DJ’s about. The thing is, good music by good DJ’s play by demand. If the music industry doesn’t dictate that someone like an Omar has a success story, it’s hard for DJ’s (on commercial radio any-way) to play it. Even if they like it, Gilles on the other hand is in a unique situation. He’s based his life on quality but how many Gilles Peterson’s can there be?”

“I’m a chameleon of styles”, says DJ Spinna about what makes him different. “I can go any-where genre wise and play it well. I played at Plan B last year in Brixton, in the middle of my house set I dropped reggae. I did a full on reggae set! Properly! Not many can do that. I played one or two Bob Marley records but my point is, anything I do I do it to the fullest. I try not to half step”

In 2006 we saw DJ Spinna release Intergalactic Soul, a futuristic soul hip-hop album, but in 2007 we have heard his Polyrhythm Addicts, his latest musical offering. DJ Spinna says, “Yes. Polyrhythm Addicts. I think you need all of my records to get the full scope. The last one is a hop-hop record. It’s our second album, the Polys put an album out in 1999 and is considered a classic underground hip-hop record, which is why eight years later we decided to do another one”

It features few but talented hip-hop artists. “Yep. Large Professor, Pharoache Monch, Phonte, and Planet Asia” I ask what was it like working wit Pharoache Monch? “That was my fourth collaboration with Monch. He was on the first, Polyrhythm Addicts album and a few other projects. I think he’s one of the best MC’s in the world. And my top five of all time for sure. Rakim, KRS1, Monch, Big Daddy Kane and Melle Mell”

“Pete Rock, Premier, Marley Marl, Large Professor, Bomb Squad (Public Enemy), De La Soul with Prince Paul and most recently Jay Dee a.k.a J Dilla”. Being his top ten favorite producers of all time.

AOL Chat Interview by Matthew Daniel

Soulisms 2008