DJ CHUCK T

» by June 23, 2009, 2:38am

Origin: The Carolinas: Representing North & South

Top 10 Playlist

1. "The Underdawg" - Young Jeezy
2. "Grind Flu" - Yung Joc
3. "5 Star" - Yo Gotti
4. "Do You Mind" - Lil' Brod (Columbia, SC)
5. "Dam*it I'm Fly" - Bettie Grind (Charlotte, NC)
6. "Sex, Drugs, Money and Murder" - Trae Tha Truth Ft. Maino
7. "Live My Life Alone" - T.I.
8. "Get Loose" - Young Daze (Greenville, SC) Ft. V.I.C.
9. "Certified Girl" - Marly Mar Ft. Marcus Allen (Charleston, SC)
10. "24-23 (Kobe/Lebron)" - Young Jeezy (Dissin' Gucci Mane)

HipHopWired: How did you first get into the game?

DJ CHUCK T: I broke into the game about 1999 when I first started rapping. It was so hard to get the right amount of support from the DJs so eventually I started looking into what it took to become a DJ and did some background on the actual culture. From there, I started to host parties, I started interning at the radio stations and then started to do production and that naturally progressed. After that I started mixing and scratching, learning how to work the boards and then I started to do mixtapes.

HipHopWired: As far as building your brand over the last few years, of course in the 90s you had the DJ Clue's and everything, how hard was it and what was that grind like where your name now is popular like theirs was especially with you coming from a smaller market like North Carolina?

DJ CHUCK T: Man, to be honest with you, I just took advantage of every opportunity that was put in front of me. I made a lot of mistakes, but everything was a learning experience. As far as my brand is concerned, the name of my premier mixtape series is called Down South Slangin' and that was the hook off of a Master P record featuring UGK that went, “Down south slangin, rollin with these hustlers/Trying to get rid of all you haters and you bustas.”

It was actually one of my favorite songs so I adapted the name from that song. From there, I just made sure that I had my logo straight and, with everything that I did, I just made sure to attach that name and logo to it. Eventually, it started to work and I started to build a brand and people started to look for it. I had to do a lot of traveling because I am from a smaller market so I had to get my hands on a lot of exclusives. Doing a lot of networking and politicking with artists just wasn't possible because we didn't have a lot coming through at that time. I did a lot of traveling, gave away a lot of free CDs, I did a lot of cross promotion with magazines that were on the come up at the time like O-Zone Magazine and I really worked hard. I spent a lot of money in the first three and a half years of my career going to music conferences, DJ retreats and I was just making sure I was everywhere that I needed to be. I worked two jobs to front my mixtape career and I got to the point where my mixtape career paid off enough to where I could quit my job. I had three different mixtapes and I had a very supportive family who helped me in the beginning so that I could concentrate on doing mixtapes.

HipHopWired: How did you feel when Lil Wayne said fu*k DJs? Overall what is your perspective on how this generation of DJs is being perceived by the masses that feel as though they aren't really doing it for the art and are only after the money?

DJ CHUCK T: You have to understand that's one of the main reasons that I got into DJ'ing and studying the art form because of the DJ's that were A) In it for the payola, B) not trying to break records or C) out in it for themselves and weren't in it for the good of the actual culture. They wouldn't learn how to mix, wouldn't learn how to break records, wouldn't learn how to scratch and were just in it for straight cash. It's a shame, but that's the majority of the DJs that are out here, so my goal was to look out for the independents and the people who were from a smaller area like me and were talented but just couldn't get the right look because their money wasn't extra long or they weren't running behind these DJs and making them think that they were bigger than they actually were. My main goal was to break records and a lot of people's goals in this mixtape game, or more of the DJ game, wasn't to break records.

My issue with Wayne came from the fact that he never had a problem getting records broken and never had a problem getting the support from DJs. When he was doing all of his mixtape music and he was freestyling over every last single record that came out, it made it on every mixtape. When he wasn't the hottest rapper out, he was able to get support. To me, it was more or less a slap in the face. There are a lot of artists who can generally say fu*k DJs and really mean it from their experiences and can back it up from their experiences. Wayne wasn't one of those people who could have said that and really gotten away with it because his whole career has been supported through DJs and he has always gave the support that other artists couldn't give.

HipHopWired: Having DJ Drama dealing with the situation with the RIAA about two years ago, how has that made you back off as far as releasing material? How do you feel about the record labels as they were quiet about it, but have clearly used you as a promotional tool in the past?

DJ CHUCK T: Well you have to remember that three years before Drama got hit, I got hit. That was in O-Zone Magazine, it was in The Source, but I wasn't as big as Drama so it didn't get a lot of the publicity and press that it should have. I was very aware of the consequences of putting out mixtapes well before I got hit and Drama got hit. We all know that the labels use us and that mixtapes are illegal, even though they shouldn't be. Those are just the consequences that come with it. We help the game; we break the new artists, we get the flood of artists going and we break the new music. We are basically free promotion for the label. I think that the labels just use….whenever the real DJs start teaching the younger generation how to do mixtapes and the purpose of a real mixtape. They are starting up the younger generation that is coming up here making bootlegs instead of mixtapes. The younger generation of DJs thinks that they can be a bootlegger, but will put a mixtape cover on it and call it a mixtape.

After a while, the game itself started to hurt. When you have albums leaking out, two or three weeks early, the DJ will take about 90% of the album and mix it into freestyles and call it a mixtape. It's not a real mixtape. The label started getting mad because it was like DJs were bootlegging their album and trying to call it a mixtape and get away with it. I think that pissed them off. When they started losing money, they started looking at people to point the finger at and they started to point at the mixtape DJs because we were out in the open. There are so many factors to why music is not selling the way that it was selling, but people prefer to go after what's right in front of them instead of finding the root of the problem. I do feel like we are to blame for that and that's why I work with a DJ academy here in Charlotte, NC because my main goal is to teach the younger generation what the real essence of DJ'ing is and putting out mixtapes. We start working together with the artists and then get back and work together with these labels rather than us being at odds with one another.

HipHopWired: I like your disclaimer on your site and how you sell the jewel case with the artwork. How did you come up with that marketing concept and why did you have to?

DJ CHUCK T: Man, I basically came up with it after my first run in with the RIAA. It was something that I think could have been easily fixed. They didn't really want me too bad, but they were actually just ticked off about someone saying that it was me. When they actually saw what I had, they were mixtapes. Basically I was told to stay underneath the radar and make sure that I kept my name cool and do what was necessary because it was obvious to them and me that I had obviously pissed somebody off. They weren't really too pressed about arresting me and taking me to jail. I had to pay a little fine, but the fine was because I didn't have copyright information or a parental advisory sticker on my CD. That's when I started to put the advisory sticker on my CD and I made sure that whatever disclaimer I could up with to keep them off my back, I would do. Saying for promotional use only doesn't seem to work anymore. I actually saw a disclaimer on another website so I just jacked it off of there and it has worked ever since. I'm pretty sure that they monitor my activities seeing as that I'm a whole lot bigger than I was when I first got hit by the RIAA so I'm sure that my name has come across their desk and that they are very familiar with who I am, but I'm not going to make it easy for them to use me as a scapegoat like they did Drama.

HipHopWired: I know that you initially came from radio. Are you still in North Carolina or on the radio at all?

DJ CHUCK T: I really have no desire to do commercial radio right now. I just pray that the name that I created was by being able to break records. That's why I'm so valuable to the mixtape game, as well as the music industry, because I am able to break records. I feel like the minute that I get on commercial radio, a lot of my power will be taken away from me and I feel like that would actually water me down. If I can get on a station that will let me have creative control over my show I would hop at the chance to do it, even if it was satellite radio. With satellite radio, it started to get to a format. At one point, satellite radio was something that you could just get on and do what you wanted, but now it is starting to get watered down too like commercial radio because the more money that is involved, the more things start to sort of get corrupted. If commercial or satellite radio came at me with creative control over my own show, I would be more than happy.

HipHopWired: Let's talk about the North Caroline market. What's some of the hot stuff that people should be aware of that's not on the radar yet?

DJ CHUCK T: The Carolina's are a hot zone for talent. A lot of people and a lot of labels just don't know how to market us because we are so different and in an area where the East Coast meets the South. You can be in one city, and everybody is southern and then be in another city and everyone sounds like they are East Coast influenced. The Carolinas and Virginia are very similar in that sense. The labels will come and sign artists, as we have a lot of artists who have been signed and are getting signed, but the labels drop the ball because they don't know what to do. They will take an artist and immediately move them to Atlanta or take an artist up towards New York thinking that will work, but it's not because you can't market a South Carolina artist in Atlanta or a North Carolina artist like he's from New York. They have to market us like who we are. We are also an area where reality means a lot, representing where you're from means a lot and staying true to yourself means a lot to us so as soon the minute we see these artists mixing and mingling with these people that aren't their own, we automatically don't support. Once we stop supporting, if you don't have your own cats, then you really don't have anybody.

So, a lot of labels have dropped the ball with Carolina artists and I feel like some of the most talented in the nation are here. We're also the biggest urban radio station market in the United States so it's like the talent and exposure is here, but I just don't think that the labels know what to do with artists that are from here. What they need to do is get someone that is from here to market these artists versus getting the people from Atlanta and New York to do it for us because they are going to drop the ball as well. We are a very unique market and some of the artists that are making noise; like Shelly B from North Carolina, Rain, who is making a lot of noise from North Carolina. The list goes on and on. There are artists everywhere throughout the Carolinas, but at this point, we are very guarded about what we do on the industry level because so many artists have been signed and flopped or they haven't been given creative control and they tried to make us out to be something that we are not. A lot of the artists out here have been turning down deals because they already sit here and make $150,000 a year off of shows so what's the point in signing to a label?

HipHopWired: With your Publicity Stunt Company, would that be a role that you would take on?

DJ CHUCK T: Through my record company, Port City Productions, I have publicity and access to the North Carolina record pool and all three companies are designed to take music from the Carolinas and present it to the world properly. We want to make sure that these artist's careers are handled properly and not have to worry about going to somebody that doesn't know what they are doing and can't handle the project. Publicity Stunt Marketing is payment for that united Carolina record pool. A lot of people can sit back and analyze the problem, but I'm one of the few people that analyze and actually act on it.

HipHopWired: What clubs do you spin at in North Carolina?

DJ CHUCK T: I just really started getting back into the club scene because the mixtape scene is very fast and competitive. You can actually catch me in North Carolina at Club Ice on Sundays. Basically, any other club that books me or anywhere throughout the Carolinas is where I am going to be so I want to make sure that I don't shout anybody out because I want to keep my schedule open.

MIXTAPES: