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Radio Raheem, the Detroit Michigan native whose boisterous personality and distinctive style is burning up the airwaves, first burst onto the Hip-Hop radio scene during college. After moving to Virginia for school, Raheem found his calling and ultimately landed a spot at VA’s 103 Jamz. His name pays homage to the infamous Spike Lee joint that inspired him to follow his dreams and bring good music to the masses and this trendsetter sat down with HipHopWired to tell us exactly how he plans to do just that.

Origin: Detroit, Michigan

Current Location: Norfolk, Virginia

1. Clipse ft Camron -Popular Demand

2. Jay Electronica -Exhibit C

3. Consequence ft Big Sean, Kid Cudi, John legend, Kanye, &Common- Whatever You Want (Remix)

4. Wale ft Gucci Mane -Pretty Girls

5. Trey Songz ft Fabolous – Say Ahh

6. Ryan Leslie- You’re Not My Girl

7. Bun B ft. Talib Kweli & Colin Monroe- Dont Die

8. Big Boi ft. Gucci Mane- Shine Blockas

9. Timbaland ft Drake- Say Something

10 J Cole – Lights Please

HipHopWired: Your name Radio Raheem is obviously a play off “Do The Right Thing”, tell me about how the movie inspired you to get that name.

Radio Raheem: I got the name from the character because he had a passion for music. He carried a boom box everywhere and he was real adamant about the pizza shop, about putting Black characters on the wall at a non-Black establishment. Ultimately he died for what he believed in and that’s how passionate I am about this music. I’ll die to get people this good music.

HipHopWired: Right. Besides “Do The Right Thing” and Radio Raheem, what DJs inspired you growing up:

Radio Raheem: DJ Fingaz, Cool Herc and Grandmaster Flash.

HipHopWired: Tell me a little bit about your college radio show.How did you go from college radio to 103 Jamz?

Radio Raheem: Well I started off doing college radio and I was an announcer but I lacked a DJ. I always wanted a DJ on my show and that was missing element that I could never do. Originally I was always the hype man at a party on the microphone but ultimately DJs weren’t DJing correctly or at least what I consider correctly.

HipHopWired: *laughs* What is “correct DJing”?

Radio Raheem: *laughs* Everybody has their own opinion of what a good DJ does but the main issue would be song selection. You’d hear a hot song then a wack song and then a mediocre song and it just didn’t flow. So I figured if I could do better, then why not do it?

HipHopWired: Okay. Well tell me a little bit about your time slot at 103 Jamz, what’s your show like?

Radio Raheem: Well I hold it down on the weekends. My show is Saturdays and it’s called ”The Boombox’ from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sundays I do a show called ”The Sunday Hangover’ from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

HipHopWired: And what’s the format?

Radio Raheem: It’s Hip-Hop/ R&B and it’s really improv. My show is really whatever the mood is, whatever’s going on in the news, whatever I feel is compelling to my listener is the subject matter. It’s really all about the music.

HipHopWired: What’s the main difference between college radio and 103 Jamz?

Radio Raheem: The main difference is that it’s on a different scale. With college radio there’s less regulations, less oversight and there are less rules. With commercial radio it’s a different ball game. It’s like going from college football to the NFL, you gotta step your game up and get with it.

HipHopWired: Right. So with you being a DJ in VA, what do you think influences the Virginia music scene the most? Is it East Coast? Is it Down South?

Radio Raheem: Well Virginia’s actually a melting pot with so many people in the military and in college and then people who just migrated here. So you have cultures from everywhere. People from Cali are here so there’s hyphy music and there’s go-go and east coast, Baltimore and Jersey club, any type of music is here because everybody that’s from Virginia is from other areas.

HipHopWired: So do you agree that since Virginia’s in the middle between north and south that it doesn’t really have its own musical identity?

Radio Raheem: Yeah it doesn’t really have its own musical identity and that’s the beauty of it.

HipHopWired: Are there any new Virginia artists that we should look out for?

Radio Raheem: Her name is Tisha and she’s a R&B artist from Hampton. She has a song in heavy rotation called “You Are.” Also there’s Kenny Kenny who’s also from VA. His song is “You In The Way.”

HipHopWired: Okay cool. So besides radio, what are you getting into? Are you DJing for anyone? Are you doing any mixtapes?

Radio Raheem: Yeah I got a mixtape coming out called “Radio City.” It’s going to be songs you hear on the radio and some songs you may not be familiar with. It’s basically just good music.

HipHopWired: Okay, so let’s go back. Tell me about the Detroit hip-hop scene I know you guys listen to a lot of house music…

Radio Raheem: It’s up-tempo. We play a lot of up-tempo music.

HipHopWired: So how does it vary from the VA music scene? Do they play a little bit of everything up there too?

Radio Raheem: In Detroit they listen to a variety of hip-hop. Reggae isn’t big here and club is just getting up there. The reason why is because it’s faster so it’s closer to our music. It’s not as much as a melting pot in Detroit either.

HipHopWired: Right. So tell me, what makes you different from other DJs?

Radio Raheem: What makes me different from other DJs is that I have ethics when it comes to music. I don’t feel like just because it’s a popular song, it’s a good song. I’m not gonna play a song just because I feel that it’s a popular song. If I feel that the song is detrimental to society and misleading people, I don’t care who requests it…I’m not playing it. I understand that a lot of music is fun party records but when are we gonna wake up and realize that this music that we’re listening to shapes our characteristics and forms who we are as a person. If we keep taking in garbage music then you can expect to be a garbage person. If I don’t feel like playing it, I’m not playing it.

HipHopWired: Okay last question. Let’s move past some music you don’t like to play. Who are some artists that you think have good music right now?

Radio Raheem: Big Sean, Drake, The Clipse, Colin Munroe. Any type of music with lyrical creativity, any type of music that’s gonna stimulate the mind. Anything other than “my swag.”

HipHopWired: Right. So let everyone know the best way to keep up with Radio Raheem.

Radio Raheem: The best way to keep up with Radio Raheem is on twitter. Twitter.com/RadioRaheem1200 or email me at RadioRaheemWowi@aol.com.