Interview with DJ Squirl Dee (The Silver Nation)


                                                         

DJ Squirel Dee (The Silver Nation)

                               
                                       conducted by Sir Norin Rad (The Intruders / Germany)


NORIN RAD:"Where in the Bronx did you live at when you first got in contact with Hiphop?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"I grew up on 176th & Montgomery...off of University Avenue on the west side of the Bronx."

NORIN RAD:"Okay and what was your first encounter with DJing?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"It started with me back in the 1970ies when I first came to the United States...I'm from England...and my uncle used to give his parties in his basement. So it all started in my uncle's basement."

NORIN RAD:"So your uncle was a DJ I guess?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Yeah, my uncle was a DJ. Actually, he was a Jamaican DJ. That was the first time I saw two turntables and a mixer."  

NORIN RAD:"Alright, and who inspired you to pick up DJing?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Actually that was my uncle. For years in the 1970ies he was doing parties like the first Saturday every month and I used to watch him do everything and I tried to stay close to him until one particular party he allowed me to play and I got used to it then and I continued from there on."

NORIN RAD:"What kind of DJ was your uncle? Did he play reggae music?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Yeah..he was a Jamaican DJ plus he played anything that was American also."

NORIN RAD:"I see. Now who was the first Hiphop DJ that you ever witnessed rocking beats in a park, gym or club?"


DJ SQUIREL DEE:"The first Hiphop DJ that I had the opportunity to witness was Grandmaster Flash in the 1970ies and he was doing a jam...if I remember correctly....at Walton High School in the Bronx."

NORIN RAD:"What kind of impression did that event leave on your soul?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Basically, I literally stood at the ropes and stared and watched everything that he was doing and I just basically said to myself," I could do that, too!"  

NORIN RAD:"So at that time you had already become aquainted with how to handle the wheels of steel?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Yes, sir!"

NORIN RAD:" Was the Silver Nation your first crew?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE: "Actually yeah. That was basically my first crew. You know, because I used to DJ with other DJs in the neighbourhood and so on and so forth and I showed them what I was able to do without them and I started my own little crew and started to call it The Silver Nation and you know we had some issues with Zulu and a friend who was connected to Zulu Nation went to Afrika Bambaata and told him about us and they said the only way we could start Silver Nation was to become a chapter of the Zulu Nation. "

NORIN RAD:"What kind of issues did you have with the Zulu Nation?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Actually we didn't have no real issues. They just didn't want another nation to start."

NORIN RAD:"Who were the founding members of the Silver Nation?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Myself, my brother...his name was Danny D and my MC...his name was Kool D and then we connected down the road with the Triple A Crew."

NORIN RAD:"Later on you also added DJ Grandmaster T to your crew, right?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Yeah, Grandmaster T came in down the road. We heard him one day and he became THE fastest DJ on two turntables back then. Larry D (MC of the Silver Nation) was a friend that we had known for a while and we actually heard him rapping and every time we did something we told him anytime he stopped through he could get down."

NORIN RAD:"You told me that you were also MCing for the Silver Nation.."

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Yes, I was a MC also."

NORIN RAD:"Right, so how did you divide up the time for the DJs of your crew when you were rocking in the parks back then and who would DJ when your were MCing?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"It was myself, Danny D and when we got connected to the Triple A Crew..it was also DJ Dr. Pepper and DJ Whitehead...so everybody would have their little sets and so on and so forth.....The one DJ that myself and Kool D would always MC to was DJ Dr. Pepper. So basically when he got on the turntables that's when me and Kool D got on the mic and started MCing."

February 8th, 1980: The Silver Nation is rocking at the legendary T-Connection

NORIN RAD:"What did MCing mean back then? I mean obviously it wasn't about stepping into a recording studio in order to produce some rap tracks but instead focused around the party. Did you perform any routines like the Furious 5 or the Cold Crush Brothers did?" 

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Yeah, we definetely did. We had routines where Kool D would start and then he would pass the mic to me and after I had finished saying my rhymes I would say something to pass the mic back to him...  or we would do the routine together and go back and forth and sometimes Kool D's rhymes, you know, when he was doing his rhymes I would just say little words of his rhymes just to back him up. Everything was basically geared towards rocking live crowds and everything we did came basically from two turntables!!!! You know, the DJ would cut the track for us live! We never went into a studio! EVERYTHING WAS DONE  FROM TWO TURNTABLES, RECORDS, A MIXER AND A MICROPHONE!!!! Today's rappers they can't do that."

NORIN RAD:"Nowadays cats are used to download their beats from the internet but what did take back then as a DJ then to acquire an arsenal of beats for the MCs to rock over?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Back in the day when we heard like a particular DJ with a certain beat that we liked we used to ask questions, "Yo, what beat is that?" Some DJs would tell us what it was and we would then try to find that beat and some DJs just wouldn't tell us so, you know, we just kept on asking questions until we got the information and once we got the information we went downtown....to Manhattan.....to Downstairs Records and they used to have all the beats down there." 

NORIN RAD:"Did you have your own sound system?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Yes, we did."

NORIN RAD:"Could you describe the components of that soundsystem that you used back then?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Back then like Crown amplifiers and stuff like that we didn't know too much about it....so basically I was able to get my hands on a Kenwood amplifier and that Kenwood amplifier pushed a little over 1500 watts. We had some bass bottoms called Voice Of The Theaters....we had Technics SL-B1s for turntables and we had a Gemini mixer and we had some small tweeter boxes that we used to put on top of  the Voice Of The Theater speakers and we used to put the speakers up on tables so that basically everybody could hear." 

NORIN RAD:"I see. How did you finance that soundsystem of yours? Would you invest the door money into building up your soundsytem?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Well, as far as the fees collected at the door a lot of that actually went to the place where the function was at. As far as equipment that I had I purchased it myself  from my own pocket 'cause I worked. Back then they had this thing called layaway so every week after I worked I would go to the store I had layaway and just dropped some money on the equipment until it was completely paid for and brought it home. And then down the road I met some people that gave me stuff."

 
NORIN RAD:"What was like the stomping ground of the Silver Nation? I mean at which park or community center would you rock at regularly?"


DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Our home was called 82 school yard and that was on University Avenue between Tremont Avenue and 167th."

NORIN RAD:"I see...and how many people would come to these parties at 82 school yard back then?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"82 school yard could hold at least three to four hundred people and every time we played in that school yard it was jam packed!" 

82 School Yard

NORIN RAD:"How would you describe the particular strengths of each DJ of the Silver Nation back then?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"I would cut but I was also a blender....I was a master blender....I could blend any track. I was the kind of person...even back then....some of the things that they are doing today...I was doing them back then...like where you would take the acapella of a Phil Collins and blend it with a drum break. My brother Danny D he was just a regular DJ..he cut beats and so on and so forth. Grandmaster T... he was the speedster...he was very quick on two turntables!"     



NORIN RAD:"Could you please explain how you got so close to the Triple A Crew?"


DJ SQUIREL DEE:"DJ Dr. Pepper, believe it or not, was dating my sister and matter of fact where I was living...DJ Dr. Pepper and DJ Whitehead was five minutes away from where I lived. So basically besides me jamming in 82 School Yard....the Triple A Crew used to jam in 82 and every time they would go out, you know, we always showed up to support them and vice versa and so one day we said, "Let's come out together!"We came out together, the party was off the chain and we just stayed connected ever since."   

DJ Whitehead (The Triple A Crew)

NORIN RAD:"Did your crew ever battle any other crew?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Yeah, we got blown out one time by Kool Herc....he blew us out of the park but we just enjoyed it and sometimes we would go to the park and some other DJs would be there and they would play for 20 to 25 minutes and turn off and then we would play for 25 minutes and turn off and the crowd would choose the crew they liked better."

NORIN RAD:"That's very interesting! What was your relationship with Kool Herc back then?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"I knew Kool Herc when he used to do jams in the schools.....Walton High School.....Where 82 school yard is about three maybe four minutes walk...he had a club there called The Stafford and we'd go there and hang out with him. Any time played in 82 school yard and he was doing a party he would ask us to stop playing so the crowd could come to his club and he would let us in for free." 


NORIN RAD:"Stafford's Place was on University Ave, right?"


DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Yes it was on University Avenue between....just a little bit after 176th street."

Kool DJ Herc & The Herculords rocking at Stafford's Place....( note Triple A Crew is also listed on that flyer)

  
NORIN RAD:"What were some of the most important jamming spots on your side of the Bronx (the West BX)?"


DJ SQUIREL DEE:"One was 82 school yard, the second one was called Cedar Park, another was called Poe Park, another one was called Aqueduct and then there was a place called Roberto Clemente State Park...we used to do functions there every summer."


NORIN RAD:"I've heard about that park. They used to play basketball there, right?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Yeah, they played basketball, weight training...all that stuff! There was also a school yard called 104 school yard." 

NORIN RAD:"What were your five favourite breakbeats back then?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Apache....this one called "Walk Like Sex"("Lovomaniacs" by Boobie Knight & The Universal Lady), "Catch A Groove", "I Can't Stop" and "Frisco Disco" 

NORIN RAD: "Would you like to shout somebody out at the end of this interview?"

DJ SQUIREL DEE:"Just a shout out to all the crews from back in the days....DJ Spice Nice...DJ Dr. Pepper...DJ Whitehead....my brother Danny D.....Butch Kid...we had a MC called Butch Kid he passed away..he was the MC for the Triple A Crew....Shout outs to all the DJs from back then!"