Origin: Southern, New Jersey
Representing: Philly, Jersey and D.C.
TOP 10 PLAYLIST
1. “The Winner” – Drake
2. “24/23” – Young Jeezy
3. “Ransom” – Drake feat. Lil’ Wayne
4. “Who’s Real (Ruff Ryders Remix” – Jadakiss
5. “Blow The Horns” – M.O.P. feat. Busta Rhymes
6. “Death Of Auto-Tune (D.O.A.)” – Jay-Z
7. “Successful” – Drake feat. Trey Songz
8. “Always Strapped (Remix)” – Birdman feat. Lil’ Wayne, Rick Ross, Young Jeezy
9. “Do It Now” – Drake
10. “Pokerface (Make Her Say” – Kid Cudi feat. Kanye West & Common
HipHopWired: How did you get your start as a DJ?
P-Cutta: Basically, as a child, I was always into music and got my first DJ set. It was really in college at Howard University when I got more into it. I had some friends of mine that were DJs and we had our little crew and we used to promote house parties. I was also a barber, but I really got introduced into the mixtape game while I was in college and I realized that was my calling. I always wanted to do mixtapes and in my later years of college I came up with the concept of Street Wars which was a little different from what the other DJs, at the time, were doing. From there it really took off. I got introduced to it in college from doing different promotions on campus, at house parties and stuff like that.
I didn’t used to have a title when I was first coming into it. Once I got into college and started doing the house parties the name was given to me because 1: I was a DJ and 2: I was a barber…so it kind of went together.
HipHopWired: What made you interested in creating Street Wars?
P-Cutta: The controversy. I was always into battle-rapping with different artists talking to other artists. I was into it on the level where people would do it subliminally where you have to really know these different artists or where they’re from or different songs with lyrics that they might have said in order to figure out that they might be talking about this particular artist. As I got into the mixtapes, there was a lot of that happening on the underground level and on a lot of different mixtapes. There were a lot of artists that weren’t putting out the clearance on their albums, but were just doing freestyles or live performances or putting it on other DJs mixtapes. That’s what made me come up with the Street Wars because I would be trying to explain it fully to people, as far as why the artists are going back and forth, but if you weren’t into mixtapes the way that I was then you wouldn’t know because you wouldn’t have heard all of the different rebuttals.
I wanted to basically put it all on one CD to tell a story and in the order in which it happened. It was like the barbershop scene because a lot of the beef and the controversy going on was talked about there and I just wanted to put something together so I might as well put it on wax. It was more or less just for the barbershop because I didn’t really know how to put mixtapes out there other than in the barbershop so I did that. After a while it became such big talk there that people started saying that I should put it out all around. At the time I was in DC and mixtapes from New York were reaching there so I figured that I should try and take it up there to New York. I went up there and they enjoyed it and after they started to call trying to figure out how I had put it all together so nicely.
HipHopWired: How do you weigh in on The Game’s recent lyrical attacks on Jay-Z? Do you think that it is necessary for Jay to respond?
P-Cutta: As far as that beef goes, I think that Game, from what I have been putting out in relation to what he’s said about Jay, has been going at Jay-Z for a reason that’s really unknown. He’s just been taking different shots at him and been trying to get at Jay for a minute. When he was asked about it he always was just like, ‘Nah, I ain’t going at Jay.’ When Jay had that line with him saying that he wasn’t talking about him, it gave Game the chance to really go in. Now that Jay said his name, other than calling him a groupie and saying that he wasn’t really dissing him, these days if you say somebody’s name then they take it like a diss. All you need is an inch and they will run with it. He’s kind of overboard off that small thing though. I think that a lot of it is just for publicity and some of it could be that he feels that Jay has been doing it for too long and wants him to sit down and let other artists shine. It’s more or less that he’s actually trying to shine and in any way that he can he is going to do it.
I think so just because of the fact that with Game going overboard with it, he should definitely address it in a line or two. I’m not saying that he should create another “Takeover” or use a whole song to do it though because I don’t think that Game is really on his level for that. And now it’s like, how relevant are you now that you’re not with G-Unit? He’s running with this like it’s real beef. I can understand what he had with 50 Cent and G-Unit where their beef could have turned into something actually happening and he had to go hard at them. With Jay-Z though, why are you really going that hard at Jay? What did Jay do? Don’t get it wrong though, since I do the Street Wars there’s times where you wonder why he’s going so hard, but this is what the people want to hear. If a battle did ensue between Game and Jay-Z, it would be a pretty good battle since Jay has been in classic battles.
HipHopWired: What’s going on with Rooftop Entertainment? Are you trying to open up a lane for new artists?
P-Cutta: Rooftop Entertainment right now is a marketing promotion company for new artists. I have a couple of artists that are signed to me that I promote and others that I am just trying to help break into the industry by helping on a consulting level. Eventually I would like to turn it into a label. As far as myself, I have an album that I have been working on which is more like a mixtape/album. It’s basically almost done and it features some of the artists that are under Rooftop Entertainment. I’ve been working with one of the artists called Illanoise and we almost have an album finished for him with a lot of features. I’m looking to really turn it into a label, but I just need to figure out if I want to do it on an independent level or mess with a major. I think the independent route would be a lot better because I can control a lot more, but I’ll still need that distribution on a major level. I want to do it where the project really gets out there. I’ve really just been marketing and promoting these artists. As I said I have Illanoise, then I also have Five and another cat from down South. It’s all in the works right now.
HipHopWired: Who do you feel people should be on the lookout for on the underground circuit right now that you give the approval?
P-Cutta: In DC there’s an artist named XO who is really making a lot of noise on the underground. He’s really on his business and has a lot of exposure out there. There’s another out there called Kingpen Slim that’s really on his grind and another that I have worked with. Recently I think he got shot so he fell back a little bit, but he’s a real intelligent artist from DC.
In the Jersey/Philly area there’s an artist named Kid Kaboom and he’s a battle rapper actually who is making a lot of noise out here. My artist Illanoise is from New York, but he’s been living in DC for awhile so he has a nice buzz in DC as well as New York.
HipHopWired: You spoke on stepping out of the mixtape circuit and releasing an album. Are there any details that you would like to elaborate as it relates to how much work has been put in so far?
P-Cutta: It’s probably about 60-70% done. Right now the title is in the works and the date should hopefully be before the year ends or early next year. I can’t really give a title just yet because I’m still sorting through things and even the artists as far as doing the clearances.
HipHopWired: Where do you usually spin records at?
P-Cutta: Really DC or New Jersey. I’m actually from the Jersey-Philly area so it’s really in Philadelphia where I do different spins. I still go back to DC and do different events there. New York is a place where I want to start opening the market to and do events there. I just came from Atlanta last week and that’s another city where I want to open up to.
In DC there’s nothing particular right now, but if I do something out there I’m usually at Love Nightclub. In Philly, there’s Fusion Night club and I also do events at the Trocadero.
HipHopWired: How do you feel about mixtape DJs and holding true to breaking new records whereas other outlets are strictly about what makes the dollar?
P-Cutta: That’s the art of mixtape DJs. I’m the type of person that comes from the old-school in mixtape DJing so the exclusives and breaking new records is being the first to have it and expose it. That’s what the game is about. There are DJs that are still grinding it out to get those exclusives and working hard for nothing, which is nothing easy especially in this day and age with the Internet and everything floating out there. It’s harder to get exclusives because once it hits the Internet, it’s not exclusive. I feel that I stay true to that, especially in dealing with new talent. That’s one of the reasons that I’m still into the game because that’s what it takes to keep the mixtape game going because if you don’t have any fresh new stuff it becomes harder to get more exclusives. Once artists become major their music is just put out there and they want everybody to have it as opposed to new artists, which are more underground, who stick to a certain level of DJs or exposure to help push them. I definitely like working with new talent though, or should I say new GOOD talent that is about their business.
HipHopWired: Where do you think you’d be now had you not been accepted by Howard University where you became heavily interested in Hip Hop?
P-Cutta: I don’t think I’d be too far from where I am right now just because of my love for the music. If I didn’t go to Howard, I would probably be somewhere with a Doctorate degree in a hospital. I would probably be doing something with medicine because I went to school for physical therapy in the medical field. It was more of what my family was in to. Going to school and getting influenced in music took me towards that direction as opposed to physical therapy.
