A Powerhouse DJ Movement (KRATE DIGGAZ)

PHL: How long have you been a DJ?


KRATE DIGGAZ: I actually started dj'n late, I started in 1997 in Houston Texas while on the road working for Dj Kid Capri! Kid's road manager Jim asked me if i would help out and open dj for the crew due to the fact that i knew where all of kids records where since i had the distinct job of putting them all away at the end of each night he performed, and set them up during sound check. At first I just played records that I knew Kid wouldn't play and then i started to develop a style by watching Kid and then later on the current opening dj Technician the DJ.
I started in the game 6 years earlier with Redhead Kingpin, with the intention of becoming a rapper in the game. but I soon changed my mind, after David "Redhead Kingpin" Guppy, taught me that the real money was in the background positions of the game and not in front of the lights and camera's, so i then chased the dream of becoming the next Berry Gordy, Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs (who I happened to go to the same high school as him in the bronx Mount St. Michael Academy), or Andre Harell. During my pursuit to being a mogul, I eventually met Kid while I was working for Andre and Kevin Brown the 2 owners of the Uptown Comedy Club, managing their last location in Harlem on 12th ave. by the cotton club. they had to close the club due to some fire damage to the back of the club and during the hiatus Kevin Brown had an opportunity to sell merchandise on the Def Comedy Jam Tour, and asked if I would go on the tour and rep the Brown Brothers. That was the end of one career move and the beginning of a new career working with Kid Capri. ever since 1996 I have been friends and worked for David "Kid Capri" Love. I stopped working with Kid due to My mother becoming ill with cancer and I took it upon my self to help take care of my mother and ended up moving to Albany Ga where i currently reside.


PHL: Where are you from? 


KRATE DIGGAZ: I am originally from the Bronx NY, born May 18 th, 1971 in Manhattan hospital. I then moved to Teaneck NJ in 1977 until 1985 when I moved back to the Bronx and started going to Mount St. Michael (parents got divorces and I stayed with my cousin until my father got a big enough apartment).


PHL: What artist have you worked with?


KRATE DIGGAZ: I worked with Redhead Kingpin, Brice Willson of Grove Theory, One Life 2 Live, Intelligent Hoodlum, tone and poke of trackmasters, Diamond D, Mark the 45 King, Little Cease, D-Dot, Raz Kaz, and DJ Kid Capri


PHL: How do you feel about the hip hop being played on the radio stations today?

KRATE DIGGAZ: To be honest I rarely listen to the radio I got tiered of hearing the same songs over and over and due to me being in a much smaller market than what I once was in NY, there are not a lot of choices to choose from. I believe I only listen to the radio when I am checking to see what records that radio are now playing after receiving much of the radio singles in advance I sometimes find myself slowing my self down when I listen to the radio cause I usually get music anywhere from a month to 3 months prior to being released for radio. I listen to the NY radio stations every now and then through the internet to see where my home town radio sounds are at. It makes me so home sick, I love New York radio.

PHL: What projects are you working on as we speak?

KRATE DIGGAZ: Right now my life has changed over the last 4 years, once my mother told me they had found breast cancer for the second time, I thought I was finally finished with the entertainment business. Then my greatest achievement my son Brandon was born which totally changed my life and motivated me to get a regular 9 to 5 that I have had for the last 2 and half years working as an I.T. at AT&T. Then my second greatest achievement my daughter Brielle was born and so my family has been my biggest project that I am working on. Despite all of these changes in my life, the one constant was my desire to make a difference in this entertainment game not just hip hop, i never wanted to limit my self I want to make an impact in the entertainment industry on a whole. I knew that since Hip Hop was a passion with me that I would make my way into the Game through Hip Hop. Since Kid Capri was the last person I worked with and DJ'n was a new found passion and love of mine I created a DJ servicing company called KrateDiggaZcom after creating my first company KnowzEnewZ.com an online Entertainment Magazine. The DJ'n service took off much better than the online mag so I decided to concentrate on KrateDiggaZ first then build on the mag. We look to have the official site for KrateDiggaZ.com up by the end of February 08, we are actually building our own server starting it with at least 4 Terra bites of space. Essentially creating a myspace like community for DJ's only. We currently maintain a music blast email list of over 3500 DJ's World Wide, if there is anyone who is a DJ reading this interested in joining please email me at knowzenewz@gmail.com

PHL: Do you have any people that you would like to recognize?

KRATE DIGGAZ: There is a whole lot of people that I would love to recognize that influenced my life. First and foremost I would like to thank Redhead Kingpin and DJ wildstyle, they taught me the game in '91 and introduced me to the people that helped put me deeper into the game. I would like to recognize ICU who was apart of boogie down productions for showing me the streets of the game back in '91 special shout out to Larry O and K-Def who was in the struggle at the time trying to get a record deal, and Fatman Scoop who at the time I knew him he was called Scoop Roc and was affiliated with the new jack swing group Wrecks in Effect, he was one of the nicest freestyles i knew at that time in the early 90's before I heard Biggie. I want to thank Jimmy "Henchmen" Rosmond of Czar Ent. for giving me a job and taking me in to the company like a family member in '93. Definitely have to thank the Brown Brothers, Kevin and Andre Brown along with the rest of the Brown Family (Ms Brown, Mr. Brown - mom & dad, and sister Lashawn Brown) who gave me my opportunity in the comedy game as both head of promotion and then later in the mid 90's gave me the opportunity to manage and work at a higher level in the entertainment game. If they had not put me under their wings (Kevin & Andre Brown) I would have never met the legendary Kid Capri who inspired me to do what I am doing today, which is running an up coming powerhouse DJ Service and Movement called KrateDiggaZ.

It's a StrugGle 2 get Deep (Arsun F!st)

PHL: What is the title of your album? Give us the name(s) of  the producers you have worked with. Tell us are you signed or unsigned?

ARSUN F!ST: The name of my album is called It's a StrugGle 2 get Deep. It features production by The Unknown, Fatman & Tropical, Choppy Chope Sounds, and Natestrumentals. I've also completed songs and/or projects with FLO*, Suff Daddy, Blank Beard & Dubby Waters, Percy Flith, and the Jazz Addixx.

And yes, I signed with Domination Recordings in August of 2007.

PHL: How long have you been an entertainer?

ARSUN F!ST: I've been grinding off the radar for about 12yrs. In that time, i've learned alot about the ugly side of the music game. Whether it  be lying ass concert promoters, studio engineers who hate hip-hop, or group members growing apart and eventually breaking up...I've seen my fair share of drama and sunshine.

PHL: Where are you from?

ARSUN F!ST: I was born in Panama City, Panama (latino por vida!) but due to me growing up in a military household (Pa Dukes was in the Navy) I kinda bounced around from place to place coming up. I've lived in California, Hawaii, South Carolina, Florida, and Maryland over the years.

PHL:  What are your best attributes to the entertainment industry?

ARSUN F!ST: Hmmmm...good question. I would have to say that my patience and free spirit are some of my stronger qualities. I really believe that to be successful in music and life in general, one must be patient. It's very easy to miss out on the finer points if you rush or are too eager to accomplish your goals. Remember, the Tortoise won the race, not the Hare. 

And by me being a free spirit, i'm not afraid to experiment and jump outside of the box when it comes to creating music. I know we all have preferences and that's fine, but if nobody challenges the status quo; how can we truly grow?

PHL: What are your views about hip hop being dead?

ARSUN F!ST: From a fan's perspective, I don't think Hip-Hop is dead, it just needs some balance to inject  new life into the culture. It seems like everybody has a new dance step, or new slang to describe selling drugs on record. There really hasn't been a lane for Hip-Hop created without that "mainstream" formula in a long time.

While from the view of an artist, the culture can seem very cruel if you do not buy into the industry's view of what "good" Hip-Hop should like. Because of this, we've had an influx of monotonous material flood the airwaves. Imagine if every time you decided to eat, you were fed the same meal over and over for years. Some people might be like cool, at least i'm eating and keep it moving but you have some out there who will eventually grow tired and demand to be served something different. I find alot of similarities to Hip-Hop in that analogy.

PHL: What does it take to make it in this "rap" world?

ARUSN F!ST: I always felt that raw skill and talent were enough to get your foot in the door, but it's your grind/work ethic that determines how long you allowed to stay in the house that Hip-Hop built. If this is what you REALLY want, one must be willing to go hard or not at all. And surrounding yourself with a  strong team and not a bunch of "yes men" won't hurt either.

PHL:  Do you have any words of wisdom for success in the hip hop industry?

ARSUN F!ST: I wish I could speak more on this question, but to be honest, I have yet to achieve a majority of goals I set for myself in the industry so I don't want to pass out advice prematurely lol. Yeah getting signed was a big deal, but now the real work starts and I believe that success is earned not given. So I will definitely revisit this question after a few more grind sessions...

PHL: Are their any people that you would like to recognize?

ARSUN F!ST: Yeah, I like to send some positive energy out to Reign, Em-Eye-See, B-Nak, Ian, Boogz, Diggz, Roh, Cami, Ria, and you DJ Risque for showin' me nothing but love since we linked up. Plus everybody who has and will continue to support me on my musical journey.

Forward Progress (Dat Bul)

SN: This was my very first interview while living in South Korea.

PHL: Tell the people where you are from. 

DAT BUL: I'm from a small hood on the outskirts of Philly named "Richlieu".  I loved growin up there.  We had the same struggles that any other hood has, but for me the good times outweigh the bad.

PHL: How long have you been rhyming?

DAT BUL: Well I have been rhyming since the 80s, but I was just a child and it wasn't nothing serious.  I was just imitating my rappers.  I'd say I've been rapping at a high level for about 100 years now.

PHL: Who or what inspires your flow?

DAT BUL: My flow is inspired by experiences of my life.  I like to sit back and absorb what is going on around me then funnel it into my flow.  Sometimes I won't write for a few weeks and I jus let it build up until It's gotta come out.  Then I grab the notebook and just go crazy wit it.

PHL: How do you feel about the hip hop industry today?

DAT BUL: Ahhh the hip hop industry is overwhelming!  It's at a point where I don't even want to be involved.  I've dreamed of being a big time rapper my whole life and now I'm at a point where honestly I don't know if its worth it.  The bad thing is once you get that fame, you can't escape it.  I'm not a dude who really wants the fame.  I just want to influence lives with my music in a positive way.  The industry is designed to keep the artist in debt and secluded from ordinary life and that wasn't part of my dreams.  I will always be writing rhymes and spitting flows but unless there are major changes with the industry I want no part of it.

PHL: You have a song titled smile, what were your thoughts as you wrote that song? 

DAT BUL: Well my Mother passed away this past year and it really hit me hard.  I was overseas when I got the freak call that she was on her deathbed.  I went home to Philly to regroup and be with my family and of course put my Mother to rest.  I stopped rapping and lost my fire for life.  However, one of the last important convos I had with Mother was how she was telling me that whatever I do I must keep rapping.  She said "I gotta try.!  I gotta do me and keep at it."  She said my msuic touches people of all races and ages.  I had to wrtie a positve song mainly for myself.  See, alot of my music is for my own personal therapy to help me cope with the pain that we all deal with.  So maybe someone else out there can relate to me and take something positive from a song or a verse.  Whenever something bad would happen my Mother would jus tell me to push through it and find the blessings in disguise.  She said smiling makes you feel better on the inside and Lord knows I needed to feel better.

PHL: So, what does the future hold for Dat- bul? 

DAT BUL: Honsetly, I don't know.  Haha.  I'm at a point in life where I can only take it day by day.  Everytime I make long term plans somehow they get screwed up and I begin to blame myself.  I strongly believe God has a plan for all of us so, all I can do is go along with his plan and accept the path he has chosen for me.  Of course, I'll be making music but who knows where I'll be and what I'll be doing.  I'd like to start a family one day but, I'm sure not gonna force anything.

PHL: Dat-bul is a unique name, what's the 411 on the name?

DAT BUL: I was in a talent show back in 1999 and I didnt really have a name.  So, before I went on I told the host of the show to introduce me as Dat-Bul.  She said "OK Dat-Bul what?" I was like that it's just Dat-Bul.  Then I gave a very controversial performance where I spoke to the judges of the contest in a very vulgar way.  I didn't like how they were showing favortism to the gospel groups and not giving the hip-hop and rR-n-B acts credit, so I let them have it. Hahah! It was very immature of me to act that way, but hey thats life.  Anyway, the name stuck with me ever since.  Dat-Bul (that boy) is a Philly word meaning any person who is at the top of their game.  Anybody can be Dat-bul (or Dat-Girl  ) at whatever they do as long as they do it to the best of their ability.  Just try not to spell it the same as me haha! I know how alot of those rap dudes be swagger jacking all crazy!

PHL: Do you have any people that you would like to recognize?

DAT BUL: Yea my family.  The HImalayas.  Legendary emcees from Philly who never got the credit they deserve but, its all good.  We get respect in the streets.  Philly stand up!  Richlieu Whatup, I luv u. Everybody locked down hold ya head.  Every body in the struggle keep fighting your battles.  Peace!