DJ Cash Money Backstage At The Roots Picnic

00:00:00
Speaker 1: The Quest Love Show is a production of iHeartRadio. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, this is the Quest Love Show, and this one is for me, all right.

00:00:23
Speaker 2: This is for me, not you, This for me. We are live.

00:00:28
Speaker 1: Here in the illustrious Republic of iladelfh Serga, twenty twenty six. It is a beautiful last day of May intro to summer. We are alive at the Belmont Plateau. And there's a very very specific reason why we chose this particular ground that we're on to give you the presentation of what we now know as the Roots Picnick, the nineteenth Annual Roots Picnic. This place has history for Philadelphia, what Seguy Avenue means for hip hop and the Bronx. I will say that for Philadelphia, this particular ground that we're on is a seminal destination.

00:01:11
Speaker 2: For just a lot of the hip hop that raised us.

00:01:16
Speaker 1: And I cannot imagine another figure that should be on everyone's Mount Rushmore in terms of turntablism, creativity, pushing the envelope forward, things that you take for granted that you didn't know about. Our guest today has pioneered and as I've said on the show for ten years, Oftentimes, the pioneers never get the flowers, they never get the credit. It's usually the person that comes second or third that will look at the blueprint and say, oh, this is what I would do, and then they get the glory. But this is one of those moments in which we can elevate and correct hip hop history. This gentleman, if you ask any turntablist worth their grain of salt, who is the DJ that inspired them? I assure you if that DJ is worth their name and a grain of salt in terms of turntablism, our guest today will be mentioned in that list, and his name is the one and only DJ cash Money. Now I'm giving you a warning. All right, welcome to the show.

00:02:30
Speaker 2: Thank you, brother man.

00:02:31
Speaker 1: I'm going to do a proper DJ cash Money episode only because just next to Bismarcky, I don't know another person that has out nerded me on collecting. Like on pop culture alone we can go along, but on history we can go along. I want to do a very and the reason why I said this is for me is because I've been dying to get someone else's perspective from Philadelphia to give me the history that I've been dying to know. I grew up on these tapes listening and now get a chance to tell you. First of all, one, welcome to the show. Sorry for that long gear, your flowers away overdue.

00:03:13
Speaker 2: I want to know.

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Speaker 1: What does the Plat mean to you in terms of your art forum and the history that is Philadelphia and turntableism this way I started.

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Speaker 3: I mean, we were out here and I haven't been out here in years, but we came out here on Saturdays and Sundays. It wasn't about money, you know, A big shout out to all the guys that brought their equipment out for us to spin on.

00:03:43
Speaker 2: Okay, take me from soup to nuts.

00:03:45
Speaker 1: Yea, let's make this May thirtieth, nineteen eighty seven, okay, eighty six eighty seven.

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Speaker 2: What constitutes a I'm going to DJ at the Plat like?

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Speaker 1: Well, first of all, why would the Plat be chosen spot?

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Speaker 3: I don't know. I just know there was a meeting place when I was young. It was all about trying to find some girls.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 3: That's what was the force for being out there. Everything starts trying to find grass. So there was somebody that set up their speakers and stuff and had turntables and then they just allowed us to jump on.

00:04:21
Speaker 1: So there was just no city noise ordinance or like no well where would you get outlets to even set things up?

00:04:28
Speaker 3: Generators had generators like Disco Rat but it had an ice cream truck.

00:04:35
Speaker 4: Yeah, and he had the speakers in there.

00:04:38
Speaker 1: If you can briefly give me because the thing is, every time I'm online or whatever, I'm trying to tell people how pioneering Philadelphia is to turntablism culture. And those that know, all the DNC champions have said, look, you've been an inspiration. If not you, Jeff or whatever, but tell me what it is. It's like for me, my Mount Ropsmore you Jeff. I would put Cosmic Kevin there, like for you, can you school me on like how to turntable culture hit Philly first in a way that has hit other markets.

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Speaker 3: I think you know, I gotta go back, Yes, go back, okay, Grandmaster Nell, Yes, Cosmic keV. Where the Kings of Philly, like we used to go to their parties at the Hotel Philadelphia. And I gotta say this about Nell. Nell was like Cyrus from the Warriors. Wherever Nell went South, Philly was right there. With like supporting him, like, what year is this eighty one? Okay, now eighty because I was still in high school?

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Speaker 2: Gotcha?

00:05:47
Speaker 4: Yeah?

00:05:47
Speaker 3: So he had the Hotel Philadelphia, Jam Pat, Where's Hotel Philadelphia? He was on Broad Street Okay yeah, it was a big, big building.

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Speaker 2: So we started downtown. Okay, yeah.

00:05:59
Speaker 3: Man, So he had that and in a ballroom or there was a big ballroom. He didn't have no record, he didn't have no recorded material. He just had a name and the respect that he had from everybody from South Philly. It was like a mob that were following.

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Speaker 2: Man.

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Speaker 1: So this is eighty one though, which kind of means that maybe there's thirty forty hip hop records or whatever, like what's being played that could sustain an entire night of dancing in fun?

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Speaker 3: Do you want to go party by Casey and the Sunshine Band? A ring my bell?

00:06:36
Speaker 4: So disco?

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Speaker 2: Yes?

00:06:38
Speaker 3: Then you had those you know, of course, Sugarhill Gang, right, you know that type of stuff.

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Speaker 4: But man, it was he was cutting up disco brakes.

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Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, kind of like when you wig it down and all that breaks, let's go the drummers beating, But he was.

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Speaker 3: Doing it like of course flash and what they were doing up New York was our inspiration. But what Nell was doing, he was more getting more technical with it, and keV was extremely technical with it. Like keV had this scratch. We always called it a pat scratch, like if he took it's time, It's time, Like I never heard anybody do that at that time. Really, yes, Plus we didn't have the equipment that you know, the bells and whistles they have today.

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Speaker 4: You're dealing with maybe a big mixer.

00:07:26
Speaker 1: How hard were the mixers to mixers were you guys using back then?

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Speaker 3: Definitely Geminized, but they were the real big Geminis that probably had the echo on there. Yeah, I can't remember what I had those mixers as well, Gemini mixers definitely Techniques twelve hundred.

00:07:42
Speaker 1: Okay, So what year would a mixer that you're accustomed to? I know, like in the early stages of hip hop, you guys were using anything just to you know, write knobs or whatever, right, But for you, what was the year and which like technology is finally catching up in terms of like this is a the Gemini?

00:08:06
Speaker 2: Like when did the standard Gemini mixer?

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Speaker 3: For me personally, it was all I could afford right. It was able to probably like about seventy five dollars radio shack.

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Speaker 1: Uh.

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Speaker 4: No, I never had a radio shack mix it. Okay, never had a radio shack mixer.

00:08:21
Speaker 2: It was definitely.

00:08:22
Speaker 1: Acquiring at a radio shack. Like where would you get a Gemini mixer? Sound of a market? Okay, yeah, electronics, funkal mart definitely right, got so buy this mixer.

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Speaker 3: It was all I could afford, and I treated it the best I could. I mean, I put you know, w D forty in there to try to loosen up the faders and stuff. And then come to find out I was wondering why I was getting oil marks on my shirt, okay, because the oil just stayed at the bottom of it. And then my cousin told me I need to use non residue spray twoing spray, which would dry up.

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Speaker 2: With that damage the inside of the like putting that much.

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Speaker 3: Yes, it's too much oil, okay. But when I started using the radio chat tuning spray non residue because it would dry up, I never had that problem because it would dry up, but it would keep the fader lubricated. So what happened was I started listening to the Latin rascals they do those edits, Yes, yes, yes, I was trying to do those sounds with my hands.

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Speaker 1: I too thought that I were hear like One More Shot or the Beastie Groove or like any of the Latin rascals and thinking that they were scratching that shit and not nah they were doing spice they're doing I was trying to do that with my hand.

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Speaker 3: That's why I came up with the drag scratch. That's where the concept came from. So for me, it was about party rocking, but it was also about me making these sounds.

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Speaker 1: What was your practice regiment, like in terms of of how often would you scratch or practice like in every day every day? Okay, So the first time I heard you spend this is on Power ninety nine, okay, and you're cutting up ELL's get down, and you spent three minutes on call me a sucker boy, you pushing a broom and you turn that into call me a sucker sucker boy, Suck a sucker boy, Call me a sucker sucker boy. Right, And this is the last time I got in trouble with my dad because I heard that, And as with everything, You're like, let me try that shit. And you know, first of all, how do you find adults that don't scold you in terms of don't destroy my records or what are you.

00:10:48
Speaker 2: Doing to my equipment?

00:10:49
Speaker 1: Like how do you get them to put their weapons down?

00:10:53
Speaker 2: In terms of seeing what you're doing is an art form?

00:10:56
Speaker 3: Well, it came to a point where I had to start buying my own records.

00:11:00
Speaker 4: At that time.

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Speaker 3: See, I went from playing records for my dad's my mom and dad's house parties so I could stay up late, and I started becoming good being a selector, so that you know, I kept the dance floor playing. But see back then we weren't mixing. It was changed as soon as the record would finished, take it off and put a new one on, something different.

00:11:21
Speaker 4: So I was I was more of a selector.

00:11:23
Speaker 3: It wasn't until I heard tapes of Grand Master Flash that changed my life.

00:11:29
Speaker 2: Ever got you?

00:11:31
Speaker 3: And then I started finding those breaks that he was using. This is before the.

00:11:36
Speaker 2: Computations and breaks.

00:11:38
Speaker 1: Yes, so okay with Nell and Kevin, is this the astro funk period?

00:11:43
Speaker 2: Like what crew were.

00:11:44
Speaker 1: They in Kevin's with the Grand Master's the phone grand Masters of Funkers? Sorry, yeah, so would you say that they're probably the definitive beginning of what we know is at culture.

00:11:54
Speaker 4: Absolutely.

00:11:56
Speaker 1: Okay, So the most controversial question, I'm gonna ask you, where's the genesis of the transformer scratch or like what we now know as turntablism. Right, Like there's a point where he says, jigga jigg jig jiggle release, right, and then there's rhythmji get jig jigit. But then there's this period in the eighty six where suddenly I'm hearing these tapes.

00:12:20
Speaker 2: Are you guys comparing notes? Are you seeing each other?

00:12:22
Speaker 3: And well, we all get inspiration from something that we've seen, yes, And I mean.

00:12:27
Speaker 4: That's just way life is.

00:12:29
Speaker 3: You get inspiration, You get inspiration, but if you can't add to it and take it to another direction, then you shouldn't do it.

00:12:37
Speaker 4: That's where I come from. Right when I saw I saw, my.

00:12:41
Speaker 3: Cousin gave me this video tape of a spinbat from Philadelphia, and it was a new technique he was doing. He was just he was using the up and down fader. I think he had It's time.

00:12:53
Speaker 1: It's so even do it up and down and set of the side to side thing. Yeah, that's what he was doing. Yes, yeah, so he was like, it's time, It's time. It was real basic, but it was at that time it was something amazing. It was a new technique. I took that.

00:13:08
Speaker 3: And added all that drag scratch and rhythm and extending it and giving it a whole new bunk where it sounded like the actual cartoon. Like I don't know what he was calling whatever he was doing, but it was not a Transformer scrap. I coined, well, my MC coined that name. Nineteen eighty four at Central High School. I will never forget that day.

00:13:33
Speaker 4: Jeff was there. Man, my EMC had I'm gonna get to this point. We had a double date.

00:13:42
Speaker 3: We got there late, so Jeff had already performed, so they were about to close the place up, so they were to hurry up and get on. I got on on Jeff's stuff and I did this transformer thing. It blew everybody's mind that night, Like I think I did it on a dance to the Drummers beat where it has the symbol part, but I had extending it and my my MC ended up calling it a Transformer scratch that night. From that point on, everybody started doing this new scratch. But even before that question, before that scratch, I was cutting up It's time with jive rhythm tracks and they used to call the scratch the big of a scratch. I used to big a bick of a pick up, a big a pickup, a pick up a pick a pick up, a big up, a big a pickup er big a big up, a big up a pickup pick er.

00:14:35
Speaker 4: It's time.

00:14:36
Speaker 1: We that's that was the scratch that I created before that transformer got you.

00:14:42
Speaker 2: So uh.

00:14:43
Speaker 3: Then I started doing things like going back to back, it's time, time it did it, putting a fader in the middle, it's time, Like I was really about creating sound.

00:14:55
Speaker 1: Okay, So for each thing that you innovated, how many hours would you reckon that? I said, you reckon like I'm in the Tom Sawyer's day Jerom, you wreckon hell.

00:15:08
Speaker 2: But how your assessment?

00:15:10
Speaker 1: How many hours would you put like, how's it come to fruition? Like is it some of you practice the rhythm in your head that you want to do?

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Speaker 3: And then yes, because I'm a dancer, we had this dance called stepping right that it's not the step in from Chicago and it's not a fraternity step. We used to watch the Nicholas brothers, fred Astaire and we used to have this thing that you would see us at block parties dancing. So that's where my rhythm comes from. Like a lot of my friends called me the human metronome because I'm thinking in my head, keep it on beat everything Like for me, I like to get in between sounds, like if a person like how you drum right, it's that space that's where the phone is at.

00:15:56
Speaker 4: You have to find it.

00:15:58
Speaker 3: I mess with high hats and things that an air, and that gives me these crazy sounds.

00:16:15
Speaker 2: Okay, I hope you can get me this answer.

00:16:18
Speaker 1: As a West Philadelphian, I lived in fifty second Street and I would take the train to school and I get to forty sixth Street, go into the l and I would see this piece right before I go in the tunnel of a rabbit smoking to J and Eastro. And I had no idea who or what an Eastro was. So, you know, as I got older, I assumed and thought he was just a graffiti legend and that's it. And people were like, no, dude, like Eastro was the Neptunes and the Roots and every DJ and Philly wrapped in one Mantronics. Okay, he was okay, except my manager Shan Ge actually said he was Manatronics before Manatronics. Can you please, just for history's sake, explain to me, what have you seen Eastro rock live or whatever?

00:17:14
Speaker 2: Like what would he do? Like? What?

00:17:16
Speaker 1: Because I hear these tapes now and it sounds like Eastro My MC. I had two MC's, yes, marvelous and Coolbrey Steve. Okay, Coolbrey Steve was rocking with Etro. So that's how we became. I knew about Eastro, but that's how we became.

00:17:33
Speaker 4: Really really cool.

00:17:35
Speaker 3: He used to live at this fraternity house around Drexel and he had the room all the way in the back, and I never forget. I went there to his house and he had all these old like this isstro Yes, he went to Drexel. I don't know if he was weren't the dress. He lived in the back at the fraternity house. So we went back there. He had a guitar case and had all these little drum machines, these roles in three O three I think it is. Yeah, he had all these things. He had them all sequenced and everything. We actually did a record. We were trying to do a record. I'm had to let you hear that.

00:18:12
Speaker 1: So he recorded something, he was on a four track or something, but you know, we didn't have that much of it. So when he would do these parties, he would come with his with a suitcase and is it a drum machine?

00:18:22
Speaker 3: And it's now, it's a bunch of drum machines. You ever see those little rolling three o threes they like silver or whatever. Yet he had all of them in this case and he would have them all sequenced. One was a base that just had a bass sound on it, a bass tone. The other one was just a drum. He had all these different sounds and he would set this suitcase up and just go to work.

00:18:48
Speaker 1: Okay, so what venue structure could even host him? You know, like it's one thing just to get your turntables and a mixer inside of an amp to play for the people. But it's like, and again, are you saying that Philadelphia audiences were just as receptive, Like I'm assuming that party rocking as in, just play the record as I know it, don't do no fancy ship like nowadays, like turntable lists are something that we view as opposed to dance to so when he rocks a party, he's just making ship up on the spot or and he got the MC rhyming, So it's so he's literally the roots, the Neptunes, all of that.

00:19:32
Speaker 2: Listen.

00:19:33
Speaker 3: He'll he'll go and he'll replay a breakbeat like say, Daisy lady.

00:19:38
Speaker 4: Do do do do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do.

00:19:42
Speaker 3: Do do, But he'll have it with that bass tone and the MC will be like it was incredible, Like Perry p would be rhyming on some of his stuff, man, and then with what I'm gonna tell you, the real bugged out play thing about it. I didn't know he was the graffiti artist, e stro You didn't know that. See, I knew him only as the graffiti artist. I knew, but I never saw his face. So until that day I actually went on a night with him. Man, he scared the hell out me. You went on a mission with him?

00:20:17
Speaker 4: Yes?

00:20:18
Speaker 2: What was that?

00:20:18
Speaker 4: Like? I'll never do it again.

00:20:21
Speaker 2: He jumped.

00:20:22
Speaker 4: He jumped from the train on this on this roof, and I.

00:20:25
Speaker 1: Mean the forty sixth Street entrance when you get leave forty six street, and I was about to go underground. He has he has a tag there and I don't know how he's able to do this immaculate tag.

00:20:37
Speaker 3: He jumped from on something from a train. I was supposed to follow him. I said, the hell with that, man, Yep, the hell with that. I wouldn't be here today talking. Oh my god, Yo, this dude was incredible, man like and but his I gotta let you hear this this tape.

00:20:59
Speaker 4: Man.

00:21:00
Speaker 1: Yes, I recently there's a brother that recently put a Graham which is a funk block party like on YouTube. And this is the first time that I'm hearing like a young cosmic keV.

00:21:14
Speaker 2: I didn't know he was that fast with scratching or whatever. Like.

00:21:18
Speaker 1: It's a history that I'm obsessed with now. I also know that you more than anything more than just being the just the godfather of turntabilism as far as like different techniques and whatnot, but you are also a historian. Yes, can you give me your top five capture moment? Like when when did you start like capturing? Like how deep does your history go in terms of capturing various shows or block parties or whatever like that you've done.

00:21:52
Speaker 2: I know you've been a tech head.

00:21:53
Speaker 1: Yeah for the longest as far as capturing my cousin who was extremely big time techie guy. Okay, he always had equipment that was that I didn't know about. Do you have any of those shows from like the fifty second Street Why or or like of.

00:22:11
Speaker 4: I even got the flyers from it?

00:22:13
Speaker 2: Oh god, man, what is man?

00:22:15
Speaker 4: I'm telling you?

00:22:16
Speaker 2: Bro?

00:22:17
Speaker 3: He yeah, I cut listen. I keep everything I've ever done. I'm so glad that I've done it because now it's part of my story and I can show you.

00:22:26
Speaker 4: Right, you know, what.

00:22:28
Speaker 2: Are the five most valuable things that you own?

00:22:30
Speaker 3: That there's like I've been collecting eight tracks, man for the longest time. Look, I got the Skull Snap's album on eight tracks.

00:22:41
Speaker 2: Really, you know what?

00:22:43
Speaker 1: You are maybe the fourth most valuable twelve inch I ever purchased. Someone sold me. I finally found a pump me up. Okay wait, yeah, see, this is the thing I want to get in your history. But I want to give you your own show. I'm not going to ask that. Okay, allow me to ask one question because I'm not going to ask about DNC or okay whatever. This was to be a mini episode, Okay, Okay. So one of the earliest records that I missed out on that. I should have gotten that later. One of the first twelve innures that I had to pay, Yeah, I think, yeah. I had to pay seven hundred plus for this and it was in Japan of all places. Okay, is you cutting up? Trouble Funks pumped me up for good ten minutes or so. Yeah, just you cutting up? Give me from soup to nuts. The whole story of how that happened.

00:23:39
Speaker 3: There was a guy named Kid Fresh you might know him, might front yet Yes, right, He wanted me to do some scratches on a record. Ok We were at Virtue Studio, which was in North Philly. Okay, right, Well, this guy comes in the studio says, hey, could you do a mix for me?

00:23:56
Speaker 4: We had these bunch of these records.

00:23:59
Speaker 2: I was like make sure.

00:24:00
Speaker 3: I mean he paid me like five hundred dollars or something, which was big money for me at that time.

00:24:05
Speaker 1: It was all one take, one take, and you just cutting up pumped me up for ten minutes. It's hilarious. This story is so crazy. Quest The guy's name is Max Kidd. Okay, and I'm real cool with Big Tony from Trouble Punk. Yes, right, that was Trouble Funk's manager. He was bootlegging his own group.

00:24:28
Speaker 3: Wait, what if you look at that, it says DJ cash Money and Doctor Funkenstein.

00:24:33
Speaker 4: Yes, doctor Funcustein is a fictitious name.

00:24:36
Speaker 3: So what happened was I had somebody who found out that the record was selling, so I tried to get in contact with the record company and they said, you know what, we're gonna take your name off of it. So they just left Doctor Funkers sign. So that's why the the press came out set out the name on it.

00:24:52
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:24:52
Speaker 1: The first ten seconds of Fight the Power, when we hear it bumped the bump, that is from that record.

00:24:58
Speaker 4: It's from that record.

00:25:00
Speaker 1: Wow.

00:25:00
Speaker 2: And I know you had like forty two trillion more of those. Yeah.

00:25:04
Speaker 3: So every time you heard comedy Depth Jam come on TV, that's what I heard. Really, so everybody thought it was terming their X, but no, it was me.

00:25:13
Speaker 2: I got it. I got it.

00:25:15
Speaker 3: But that story about Trouble Funk it is crazy because he was bootlegging his own group and Big Tony and them didn't even know.

00:25:23
Speaker 2: Dude. When I heard that, my mom was just.

00:25:27
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that you were able to celebrate this with us here.

00:25:33
Speaker 2: Yank you for having like we.

00:25:34
Speaker 1: Always wanted to bring the picnic to the plat proper the previous thirteen years.

00:25:42
Speaker 2: Yo.

00:25:42
Speaker 1: Man, finally we got that moment to happen. And you know, to have you here to do this, man is our train. We thank you, guys. Man, fantastic job. And again this is just the beginning. If you don't know this brother is follow him on social media, search him on YouTube. There's so many like, there's so much history here. I know, like every DJ worth worth the grain of salt of their.

00:26:07
Speaker 2: Name knows who you are. Man.

00:26:09
Speaker 1: And now I'm glad you're getting this moment. Brother, Thank you so much. All Right, we'll see you on the next go around. DJ cast Money

00:26:34
Speaker 2: Quest Love Show is a production of iHeart Rating