DJ Ike G Da is North Carolina DJ who describes himself as a “DJ’s DJ”, utilizing his knowledge of different regions to diversify his musical genome and to please crowds. Fresh off the court of his basketball challenge, this Core DJ sat down with HipHopWired to tell us why he calls his state the “Middle East”, his plans to strengthen the Carolina music scene and to reflect on Fayetteville’s hometown hero, J.Cole.
Origin: North Carolina
Current Location: Fayetteville, North Carolina
HipHopWired: How’d u get started DJing?
DJ Ike G Da: My cousin DJ Tony Tone was a prominent DJ out here and he took me under his wing. I started opening up for him, started carrying crates for him into the club like most DJs started out. It kind of took off from there.
HipHopWired: How long have you been DJing?
DJ Ike G Da: Since ’95 so for about 15 years now…
HipHopWired: What would say is your style of DJ? Are you more of a mixtape DJ, more of a turn tables DJ?
DJ Ike G Da: I’m a DJ’s DJ. I’m very versatile; I don’t have a specific genre that I concentrate on just because I’ve lived in so many places. I’ve lived on the East Coast, the West Coast and I’ve always been exposed to different types of music. I gotta be able to play Baltimore Club, Down South, Reggae, everything.
HipHopWired: Being that you are from Fayetteville, North Carolina what do you think about J. Cole? He’s really putting you all on the map.
DJ Ike G Da: I think he’s a breath of fresh air. A lot of people never knew that North Carolina had talent. They heard Petey Pablo but for so many years we’ve been skipped over. They always skipped over the Middle East—-that’s what I call it, the Middle East. I call it the Middle East because the South doesn’t really claim us, the North doesn’t claim us. We gotta have our own lane. Depending on what part of this area you’ve grown up in it determines how you flow. J. Cole has an East Coast flow plus he tells a story with it. That’s what I try to tell everybody. In North Carolina you’re gonna get a versatile emcee. He’s gonna be lyrical but have a Southern swagger to him. J. Cole embodies all that.
HipHopWired: Back to you though, I heard you hosted your own basketball challenge a few weeks ago…
DJ Ike G Da: I did DJ Ike G Da’s first basketball challenge. It was DJs versus Carolina artists. My thing is building unity within the Carolinas with the artists and the DJs I think that’s hwy we’ve been skipped over for so long because everyone’s doing their own thing. I just figured I’d do a basketball challenge to bring everybody together, have fun, shoot some hoops and build some relationships.
HipHopWired: So now that you’ve done your basketball challenge, what’s really next for you? Are you doing any mixtapes? Working with any new artists?
DJ Ike G Da: I definitely plan to do some mixtapes, I’m looking for some new artists to work with. Right now I’m doing a North Carolina and South Carolina Paint Ball League and we’re gonna do tournaments. I’m getting together the hottest artists to put together their squads and we’ll travel to different markets and have these tournaments and at the end of the day have a party, come together and fellowship.
HipHopWired: Do you have any last words or shoutouts?
DJ Ike G Da: Be on the lookout for Dirty Den that’s one of the up and coming artists I’m working with, Ricky Ruckus, my Core DJ family, my partner in crime—DJ Izzy Nice, anything I’m associated with, he’s associated with. We call ourselves the Wright Brothers, First In Flight. We’re going in, we’re trying to put a good imprint on the Carolinas to show that Hip-Hop is still alive and we embody it in the Carolinas.
HipHopWired: Okay and do you have any contact info for anyone that’s looking to book you?
DJ Ike G Da: They can hit me on twitter @DJIkeGDa, on Facebook at DJIkeGDa910 or hit me on my email DJIkeGDa@DJIkeGDa.Net
