Interview with MC Donald D (The Funk Machine)


                                                                       

                                                                

Donald D (The As-Salaam Brothers/Three The Hard Way MCs / The Funk Machine)

                                                                                                                                       

                                       
                                  conducted by Sir Norin Rad (The Intruders / Germany) 

SIR NORIN RAD:"From which area in the Bronx are you? I think you hail from Lambert Houses. Is that correct?"

DONALD D:"Right. Right. So basically Lambert Houses is in the South Bronx, probably a ten minutes walk to Bronx River Projects. Back then Lambert Houses they had some other legends that lived in that project complex like Sha Rock  from The Funky Four and Rahiem from The Funky Four /  Furious Five. Tony Tone from the Cold Crush also lived there." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"The legendary Style Writer Chain 3 is also from Lambert if I'm not mistaken."

DONALD D:"Yeah, and also there was another group called The M&M Crew which is like an unsung DJ crew that not too many people talk about. "

SIR NORIN RAD:"DJ M&M and his brother DJ Kool Joe."

DONALD D:"Right. Exactly! They lived right across the street from me. So yeah man, it was a lot of us young Hiphoppers in that project back then."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Who inspired you to become a MC?"

DONALD D:"Well, basically I had no one inspiring me because I had not seen any MCs in the beginning. The only person I saw on the mic was Kool Herc and he didn't say any rhymes to make me inspired to wanna do it. So basically it was me going to a party that a friend of mine who I played basketball with had told me about. He lived in the Soundview Projects and he was like, "Yo, there's a party going on over there with this DJ named Disco King Mario." So I'd go to check out Mario and Busy Bee Starski was on the microphone. So he basically was the first MC that I heard actually saying rhymes over the beat in rhythm. So that's where my inspiration came from. I remember it to this day.... they used to have this thing called the local bodega which was a store on the corner....I ran to the store, asked the guy in the store,"Can you give me a paper bag?" 'Cause back then they didn't give you stuff in a plastic bag, they gave it to you in a paper bag. So he gave me a paper bag and I also got me a pencil and I basically wrote down everything I heard (Busy Bee) Starski saying. That was my introduction to rhyming. So when I did my first party I was saying Busy Bee's rhymes!"  

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where did you see DJ Mario and Busy Bee Starski at?"

DONALD D:"123 Park."

SIR NORIN RAD:"I guess this must have been around 1978/79, correct?"

DONALD D:"I think it was 1978. I have to go back and look at some of the flyers. I don't really remember."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So what were your next steps towards becoming a MC? How long did take you to form your first crew The As-Salaam Brothers?"

DONALD D:"Me seeing Busy Bee is in the beginning of us starting the As-Salaam Brothers. I mean we're having this group called The As-Salaam Brothers and I'm rapping but not saying rhymes. I'm more like what I heard Kool Herc doing,"Yes, yes y'all! Clap your hands everybody!" I'm more like doing chants, nothing extravagant. So probably it could have been like a week later when my friend Andre asked me to go check out Mario. That's when I heard it (the rapping over a beat in rhythm) and then we would be coming up to our first party because up until then we didn't have any parties. We was just basically in DJ Rashid's house practicing, you know? He is cutting up beats and me and Easy AD is rhyming or whatever we called it at the time. We basically lied to Rashid, because he asked us,"Do you know how to rhyme?" and we said, "Yes!" And we had never done it (laughs)!!!  

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where did that name As-Salaam Brothers come from? As-Salaam is Arabic and means "Peace". Did you choose that name because you were Muslims?"

DONALD D:"Nah, I wasn't no Muslim, none of us was Muslims. Now I'mma tell you how this name came about!  First the name of this crew was The Hoe Avenue Crew which was the street where there was this boy's club.....basically the place where that big gang meeting took place to stop all the violence back in the days with The Black Spades, The Peace Makers, The Ghetto Brothers and all the other gangs.....basically Hoe Avenue is that street. So DJ Rashid lived on that street and he basically named his crew The Hoe Avenue Crew but now this is before me and Easy AD know him. It was him and he had his wife DJ Stephanie and a MC by the name of Frank Nitty.  During this time there was a guy that just hung out with the crew who was studying Muslim things and he came up with the name The As-Salaam Brothers. His name was Dave. So basically when me and Easy AD came aboard the crew was already called The As-Salaam Brothers."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did the As-Salaam Brothers ever get to perform outside on a regular basis?"

DONALD D:"Like I tell you, when I wrote down all Busy Bee's rhymes that would lead to our first jam which took place in this abandoned building. Many people saw this movie "Beat Street"...they know how they do these parties in buildings where nobody lives.....you know, we did the same thing. You put your extension cords together, get the power from the street lamp and we would set up in one room of this apartment. People would basically be dancing in another room. We could not actually see the people and I was back there rhyming Busy's lyrics off the paper while Rashid was cutting up the beat and then somebody called me out and said, "Yo, you're saying Busy Bee's rhymes!!!" and "You're a biter!" From that day on is when I started writing my own lyrics. To this day I could tell you the first rhyme I ever wrote. I sat on the stoops of my building and I wrote to some beat that Rashid was cutting up on a cassette. And the first rhyme I wrote was, "Dip dive recreate, there's not a MC that I imitate. Got my own style, my own rhyme to show that I can rock your mind! I'm not telling a tale or fantasy, I'm just Donald D from the top of the key. When I shoot the ball through the net, put your money on the table and place your bet! If you win, if you lose, if you lose or you win, don't forget you can do it again! So party people get in the groove as I rock to the beat, I do it smooth! 'Cause the microphone I rock, the money I got, from the bottom of the sea to the World Trade top. I'm a rhyme designer, the women finder, the virgin breaker, the money maker! Donald D rocking the house!" That's the first rhyme I ever wrote!"  
  
SIR NORIN RAD:" Nice! I must say that rhyme already sounds pretty advanced."

DONALD D:"I don't know, man! I just knew I had to try to come up with my own style and it's funny because I put that rhyme on a song for my "Let The Horns Blow" album called "The Way It Used To Be".

SIR NORIN RAD:"I see. How long did the As-Salaam Brothers stay together and what was its main stomping ground?"

DONALD D:"I mean we didn't really have no stomping ground. We was kinda like gypsies, we roamed around wherever we could find a place to set up the soundsystem. I mean we basically stayed in that community in between 174th Street and 173rd.....Hoe Avenue, Vyse Avenue, Bryant Avenue. So they had empty lots where we would do jams in.....like I said...abandoned buildings. Now we did a few parties down like in an area called Freeman Street which was where the club The Dixie was at which is what they see in the movie "Wild Style" where they do the club scene. So we was doing parties down there and I remember that we did a party off Freeman Street and some stick up kids came in there and tried to rob the party and then one of our guys that was down with us named Stan pulled out his gun and once they saw the gun they ran. You know, we was just trying to get our name out there and as we were saying tried to do parties with the big-timers. We always looked at people like Bam & The Zulu Nation or Grandmaster Flash or The L-Brothers or Kool Herc and them or Breakout and Baron and them as the big-timers. We were still like way below all of them, we were just basically trying to pay our dues and earn our stripes. We almost thought we gonna get there when Easy AD and I saw Kool Herc walking down the street on Grand Concourse one day which we couldn't believe 'cause up until then we only saw him at his jams and we were always on the other side of the ropes. So to see Kool Herc approaching us was like...I guess it could be equivalent to somebody seeing Michael Jordan walking down the street in his heyday, in his biggest time ever and we basically asked Kool Herc if we could do a party with him.  He was like, "Okay, youngbloods! What's the name of your crew?" We gave him the name and he was like,"Yo, I'mma be doing this jam at this place called The Sparkle. I'mma put your names on the flyer!" So we was like,"Yeah!" and we would tell everybody that we were going to do this party with  Kool Herc. 'Cause one thing I always loved about Kool Herc.....he gave everybody a shot. He never felt like, "I have started this and I'm bigger than everybody!" He was like willing to put everybody on. He would let you present your art to the community. So we basically was gonna do this jam with Kool Herc but it never took place because the club burnt down before this jam could ever take place. So as As-Saalam Brothers we didn't have a long run at it, we probably did no more than 10 or 15 jams. And then it all came to an end when DJ Rashid decided that he was moving back to Jamaica with his family." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"So DJ Rashid was a true Hiphop DJ? Digging for doubles and cutting up breaks?"

DONALD D:"Yeah. So this is how we met Rashid.... as I say we used to go to the Hoe Avenue Boy's Club and that was a place that kept all of us young ones off the street....it prevented us from getting into trouble 'cause back then you had all the street gangs and as you know some of these gangs had younger divisions. So we went to the boy's club and we played on the basketball team, we played baseball...whatever the boy's club had. You could swim, shoot pool, do arts and crafts. It was a lot of things going on in the boy's club. So DJ Rashid worked at the front door and basically you had to have a membership card to get inside this boy's club and on your membership card it had your number on it. And he sat at the front door with a sheet of paper that had every member's number, so when you walked in through the door he checked it off so that the people knew that you entered the facility. But he would be sitting there with this giant boom box with all these breakbeats playing, you know? "Apache", "Catch A Groove", "I Can't Stop", "Scratchin'" all the classic breaks at that time. A few times we just went in and he never said anything to us but then this one particular time he asked me and AD, "Do you guys know how to MC?" And we said, "Yeah!" So he was like, "Aight, come up to my house!" Which he lived right next to the boy's club. So a few days later we went up to his house and he was cutting up beats and he gave us the mic. Like I said we didn't have no rhymes we were just going by what we had heard, "To the beat, y'all! Rock rock, y'all! Clap your hands!" That was the start of our hiphop journey, man!" 

Easy AD & Donald D (The As-Salaam Brothers)

SIR NORIN RAD:"I have seen a couple of flyers featuring DJ Afrika Islam and his partner, the late DJ Ed La Rock (RIP). The name of their crew is listed there as The Mayberry Crew. Were they still called The Mayberry Crew when you joined them?"

DONALD D:"No. Aight, so this is how this came about and I'mma first tell you a story about Ed La Rock. Ed La Rock went to elementary school with me but I never knew he was a DJ after that. After elementary school we didn't see each other no more 'cause you had to go to junior high school and all of that. I didn't even know he was a DJ till years later after I got down with Afrika Islam and them. So as this story unfolds I told you Kool Herc wanted to put us on this party..... the club burns down it doesn't happen. At that same time  DJ Rashid's family is moving back to Jamaica and he goes with them. So now we are not in no group.....me and Easy AD! So basically I was just doing nothing but in Lambert Houses there was a community center and there would be DJs in there playing music. I can't remember if it was the M&M Crew playing that night or if it was a guy from my building named Rod but I happened to be in that community center rhyming that day and there was this girl named Kim Anderson hanging out there. She was from my building, she actually lived on the floor above my apartment and she heard me and she was like, "Man, you're really good! You sound good!" and I was like, "Thank you!"  So then she was like," I want to introduce you to my boyfriend." And I was like, "Who is your boyfriend?" And she was like,"Afrika Islam." Now I had seen Afrika Islam going into the building before but I never knew he was going to see her. I saw him but I was too intimidated to say anything 'cause I always looked at him as one of the big-timers. He was part of the Zulu Nation!  I had already seen some of their parties when I went up to the Boston Secor Community Center and I saw him when they were known as The Mayberry Crew. He had a MC called Ell-J rhyming on the mic. So basically she said she wanted to introduce me to him. I meet him and he tells me,"Aight, why don't you come and try out for my group?" So I tell him, "No, I got another MC that rhymes with me named Easy AD." So he was like,"Aight, both of y'all come!" So we go the next day to DJ Superman's house which was a short walk from where I lived and we go in this house and go down to the basement and down in the basement is Afrika Islam. Once I got in there I was like shocked 'cause I saw all these big speakers and everything and I was like, "Yo, these speakers look like the ones I was seeing in Bronx River Center!" 'Cause I didn't know they was building this stuff themselves. So in the basement was Afrika Islam, DJ Jazzy Jay and DJ Superman. So we go down in there and DJ Jazzy Jay is on the turntables and he puts on "Seven Minutes Of Funk" and they basically ask me to rhyme and I'm rhyming, going off, saying whatever rhymes I can say. After I rhymed they asked Easy AD to rhyme. After we rhymed they told us to go outside....I guess they were having a little discussion. Then they called us back in and they was like, "Ok, we like you but we don't like him." So they basically liked me but they didn't like Easy AD. So my whole thing was like, "Yo, let's go, AD! We're out!" So he basically told me, "Yo D, this is your chance to get down with a known crew! Do it!" I was like, "How come y'all can't put AD in the group, too?" And they was like,"Nah! We're only looking for one other MC, we already have two MCs." Which was Kid Vicious and Ell-J. But I'm thinking like,"Well, there are other groups that have four MCs!" The Funky Four had four MCs, there was The Furious Four in the beginning and whatnot. So I was thinking like,"Why can't they put Easy AD in the group?" But AD was like,"Yo, just do your thing, man!" It was the unknown for me because now I was thinking,"I'm getting down with people I don't even know." But then they embraced me, you know? Ell-J welcomed me into the group 'cause actually he lived right near to where I lived in Lambert. So that made it easy for us to get around. So next thing you know I'm getting down with the crew. So basically when I got down with the crew was kinda when they shifted the name from The Mayberry Crew to The Funk Machine."  

April 7th, 1978: DJ Afrika Islam & The Mayberry Crew are rocking at the Boston Secor Community Center in the Bronx

SIR NORIN RAD:"From which part of the Bronx was Kid Vicious?"

DONALD D:"Kid Vicious was more on the Westside (of the Bronx). He was over there....Webster Avenue.....between Webster Avenue and Grand Concourse. So he would be more in that Kool Herc territory, not far from the P.A.L. where we did a lot of parties. It was funny because I was intimidated by them because I thought that they were more advanced than me because they were more experienced than me obviously. They had already done all these parties way more than me. Plus they were also on stage with Pow Wow and Mr.Biggs and Lisa Lee and all of them. So they had a lot more experience than me but they welcomed me with open arms and basically showed me the ropes and I fit in. We sat down, we would write routines and all of that, man."   

The legendary MC Kid Vicious (Three The Hard Way MCs /The Imperial Four/ The Funk Machine)

SIR NORIN RAD:"When did you join Afrika Islam and his crew?"

DONALD D:"That was about late '78 going into '79."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where would the MCs meet up at in order to come up with routines and to rehearse? Would you meet up at DJ Superman's house or at DJ Afrika Islam's house?"

DONALD D:"We were doing both. Either at DJ Superman's house or at Afrika Islam's house 'cause now Afrika Islam lived in a community called Parkchester. We all basically lived in the same community. If you're going to the other side of Tremont you're in the community called Mayberry which was where they all started. So we would rehearse in Afrika Islam's house and make up routines. You know how MCs did it when you listen to the Cold Crush Four or The Force MCs. You kinda take stories..it could be from a commercial, it could be from a TV show. I remember we took one that was part of the TV show "Giligan's Island". We did it in a harmoninizing way and it used to go,"Just sit right back and you hear a tale, tale of some old school raps that started in the Boogie Down. We're taking you way way back! Kool Herc and the Mighty Herculords were the first to show us the way. Afrika Bambaata, Zulu Nation, DJ Jazzy Jay" and on and on and on.  So yeah that was one of the routines we did and we took Shananananana Anananana Eeeheeeeheeeehh Funk Machine!!! So we had little routines back and forth that we used to do, man! Little dance routines also..We were just trying to make our niche in that community back then because at that time you already had Rahiem as part of the Furious and they were on top of their game. They had set the standard. I was at the jam when they did "Flash is on the beatbox".......the original version....at Bronx River Center and that took us to another level! Seeing them doing,"Just stepped in the party.....", just them doing all of that! Rahiem could sing! They had it down!! So we was like, "Man, we have to step up our game!" Then you also had the Funky Four Plus One doing their thing after Lil Rodney Cee and Jazzy Jeff got in the group. Jeff and Rodney used to be at the boy's club playing basketball with us. You know, I remember the Ni**er Twins coming up in the boy's club playing basketball.....I also saw Waterbed Kev and Master Rob from The L-Brothers playing basketball there. I remember seeing them.....funny story....at 63 Park and I went and I was like, "What?!" 'cause I remembered Kevin (Waterbed Kevie Kev) from playing basketball at the boy's club. When I saw them I was shocked. They was kinda like the second wave of MCs that I saw. After Busy Bee I saw the L-Brothers. My high school was right down the street where (Grandwizard)  Theodore lived and then Keith Cowboy (from The Furious Five) lived right across the street from the main entrance of my school. It was funny 'cause when I used to go to school in the morning I'd be seeing Mele Mel and Kid Creole and Cowboy and them standing right in front of the building. I didn't know them at the time. Basically I was like,"Damn! Those dudes are the big-timers!" Going back to the As-Salaam Brothers days...'cause I left this out. We were supposed to do a jam at this place called The Black Door. So we basically gave out our flyers which said that we were going to be performing at this club The Black Door. So the night of the jam the owner said we couldn't do the party. We were like,"Why???" He said, "'Cause Grandmaster Flash is having a party." So basically their manager Ray Chandler kicked us out of the place and put them. So we was thinking, "We gave out all these flyers so the people that are coming to the club they are coming to see us!" (laughs) So I remember standing there on the other side of the rope watching them. Me and Easy AD we were mad, man!  I was mad to the point where I started talking crap to Mr. Ness. At the time I was like, "Y'all ain't even that good!" I 'm telling Mr. Ness this story, "One day we gonna be better than y'all and you gonna need my help!" But watching them I got a full education on how to become a MC 'cause each one of them gave me something different. Kid Creole showed me the art of rocking the echo chamber. Cowboy gave me the technique of how to rock the crowd....get them involved. Mele Mel showed me how to be complex with the rhymes and then Mr. Ness...and also Cowboy...they were the first to show me how to make the rhyme into a story. I remember seeing Caz one time before he was with the Cold Crush when he was just Casanova Fly.....DJing and MCing...he did a rhyme about Jaws, about a shark and I was so intrigued with that story! But then when I heard Cowboy say the rhyme about the mouse on the hill.....He said,"There was a little mouse that lived on a hill. She puffed the joint like Buffalo Bill until one day I went for a ride with my echo chamber by my side." So he was the first that I heard say a story that made me visualize more than hearing somebody bragging about himself or jump in the O.J. whatever whatever... So basically I got educated that night that we didn't get to do this party. I learnt all these different techniques to become a MC."   

SIR NORIN RAD:"When you joined Afrika Islam's crew the name of the MC squad was Three The Hard Way MCs, is that correct?"

DONALD D:"Right. Yeah, that was the name that Afrika Islam gave us to identify us within the group. He took it from the "Three The Hard Way" movie back then."

SIR NORIN RAD:"That's what I was about to ask you 'cause I got the soundtrack to this movie which was done by The Impressions after Curtis Mayfield had left them...."

DONALD D:"Right. He gave us that name, man! Afrika Islam always had a vision of different things to incorporate within us and he told us about the technique of passing the mic around....everybody say a part... which he had also learnt from The Furious. I'm pretty sure The Furious got that idea from listening to groups like The Temptations.....going back to songs like "Ball Of Confusion" where each member is saying one part...the five of them...and at the end everybody come in together. So we basically incorporated that technique and we were just there doing all these parties, man." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"There is this clip of The Temptations on youtube where they are performing "Papa Was A Rollling Stone" on Soul Train. It's amazing to see them doing all these choreographed steps and hand gestures..."

DONALD D:"That was the blueprint of being showmen on stage for the first generation of MCs. We had to rehearse, man!! It wasn't like today. Now you can just make a record in your bedroom and just go on the stage and have no experience and don't need to know how to really perform. We rehearsed many, many days, man! We would just perfect our technique and you could see when The Furious 5 did their parties back then or The Fantastic 5 or The Cold Crush Brothers or The Force MCs......everybody was on point. Even The Funky 4......there was no half stepping when it came to showmanship on stage." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"So I guess the members of the MC squad were expected to show up on time and to really work hard during those rehearsals?"

DONALD D:"Yeah, 'cause you know a group could be hard if not everybody is on the same page.  You see within a lot of the early groups the sense of unity eventually vanished because of various reasons. A group is the hardest thing to keep together, man! In my house my mom played The Temptations, James Brown, Sam Cooke. Even as a kid my mother took me and my brother to our first concert. We saw James Brown, The Temptations and Jean Knight at The Apollo back in the 1970ies. This is when Dennis Edwards was the lead singer of The Temptations. So I got to see first hand all the movement on stage and this was even before I thought about being in any music group."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What was the main stomping ground of the Funk Machine Crew? Was it Bronx River Center?"

DONALD D:"Yeah, basically the same places that Bambaataa did jams we were there and I have to put this in there because when I spoke about all the MCs that gave me the education I forgot to mention Pow Wow. He also played a big role. Love Kid Hutch, Lisa Lee, Sundance (RIP)....they all played a big part at that time. Watching them, checking out their techniques.....all that educated me. So we basically played in Bronx River Center, The Webster P.A.L., The Ecstasy Garage, Boston Secor...you know, places uptown. The Stardust Ballroom...we was all over the Bronx. We even went out to Queens and did parties with The Disco Twins. You know, we was up in Manhattan. Wherever there was a party we was there, man!"

February 16th, 1980: Afrika Islam & The Funk Machine are rocking at the Ecstasy Garge along with DJ Rockin Rob & The Mean Machine

SIR NORIN RAD:"What about the parks? Was there a specific park where you would play at regularly?"

DONALD D:"We did a lot of parties at 118 Park, 129 Park.......123 Park...that's outside of Bronx River Center...we did a lot of jams there. Basically we was all over. We went trough many changes though. When we were The Funk Machine we later on added a fourth MC and changed the name of the MC squad from Three The Hard Way to Imperial Four."

SIR NORIN RAD:"You're talking about Elroy, right?"

DONALD:"Yeah, with Elroy in the mix. Elroy was a guy who worked at the Downstairs Records Shop. I think that's where Afrika Islam actually met him on one of his journeys to go and find vinyl with Bam and Jazzy Jay. So we brought Elroy in the mix. Caz even got down with us for a little bit 'cause he was one of those roaming MCs. He would just come and get down. This is way before the Cold Crush became known. If you go back to the original Cold Crush Four Caz wasn't in that group. They started with Whipper Whip and Dot-A-Rock (RIP) and two other guys along with DJ Charlie Chase. So Caz and J-DL came a little later 'cause remember they were The Notorious 2 and before that Caz was with DJ Disco Wiz. So Caz also got down with us for a little bit, you know?"

Elroy & Afrika Islam ( The Funk Machine)

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe the style of each MC of the Imperial Four as well as the role that each MC had within your squad! J-DL of the Cold Crush 4 told me that in his crew he was in charge of getting the crowd hyped up and that Easy AD was like the pretty boy who had all the girls screaming for him...."

DONALD D:"He was the girl taker, he became Prince Of The Hiphop." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Yes, and Caz was their super lyricist. So please describe the role of each MC within the Imperial Four!"  

DONALD D:"Well, Kid Vicious was our motivator. He would set it off, get the crowd involved. Kid Vicious had this unique voice, man!!! He was that,"I'll start and get everything popping!" You know, shouting out Islam,bigging up the DJs and everything and then Ell-J was more of that smooth MC. You know,"Ell-J rocking on to the break of day!". And then I was more of like that storytelling MC. I always incorporated my sport into my rhymes...just little things like that...and I would just tell a story.....either facts or fiction. Then later on when Elroy came in, he basically just fitted in. 'Cause then when he came in we kinda split up. When we did routines on stage we'd split into two groups. Elroy would be with Kid Vicious and me and Ell-J would be together. Then we would all come together. At that time Afrika Islam and Jazzy Jay were the first DJs to do tagteam routines together on stage. They were doing routines that were way ahead of their time. No other DJs at that time were doing what they were doing 'cause most crews didn't have two DJs that was really good. If you look at Flash...yeah he was Grandmaster Flash but then you had EZ Mike and Disco Bee. They didn't get on at prime time and play. Theodore was basically the main DJ of the L-Brothers. You had Mean Gene and Cordie-O but Theodore was the main attraction of that group. So with us Jazzy and Islam were great when they would do these routines together, man.  I always thought Jazzy Jay was ahead of his time. I just used to love his DJing at the parties especially when he cut up songs like "Bustin' Loose". Some of his mixes.... I'd be like,"Man, this dude is incredible!"

The legendary MC Ell-J (Three The Hard Way MCs/ The Imperial Four/ The Funk Machine)

SIR NORIN RAD:"What exactly was the role of DJ Superman within your group? I've heard that he helped to build up Afrika Bambaataa's soundsystem but he wasn't exactly that type of DJ that would cut up breakbeats at the parties, was he? What kind of music did he play?"

DONALD D:"He was more like a Disco DJ. He'd probably throw on some disco. He would be playing when people were showing up at the party, coming to the place. But Superman was the architect of the soundsystem. All this stuff was being built in his basement. So he had that knowledge to build the speakers, get the amps together. So he was our soundsystem man. He played that part. He was more what EZ Mike and Disco Bee were to Grandmaster Flash." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"What was it like to perform as a MC at Bronx River Center for the first time?"

DONALD D:"That was the first time I ever did a party with Afrika Islam and them as The Funk Machine. That was in Bronx River Center...outside....and I was scared to death because I had told a lot of my friends, "Yo, I'm gonna be having a jam in Bronx River Center!" They thought I was lying, they thought I was crazy because they was like, "Come on, man. Those guys are the big-timers!" They were like, "Yeah, yeah right." I went many times to Bronx River..like I said I was on the other side of the ropes looking up at that stage, watching  Pow Wow and Mr.Biggs and all of these guys gettin' down. So when I got there as a MC they welcomed me, man! I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that I was amongst all of these MCs..standing on the stage with all of them 'cause as you know back then in the Zulu Nation there was like a thousand MCs. So once you said your rhyme you was not gonna get the mic   passed back to you for a while. That's why back then everybody said rhymes that were very long. There was no 16 bars, you did your whole arsenal of rhymes up until you passed the mic to the next MC and then you waited for your turn again, man. But then when you think those parties went on all night. It was not like a one hour jam. It would probably start at 8 and finish at 5 in the morning. I used to always like that. You know, sometimes we did parties where we made just enough money that we could go eat White Castle after the jam, man! It was fun, man! It was innocent." 

October 24th, 1980: Afrika Islam & The Funk Machine are rocking at the Ecstasy Garage along with Touch Of Class

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you also become a member of the Zulu Nation when you joined the Funk Machine?"

DONALD D:"Yeah. So once I got into the Funk Machine I became a member of the Zulu Nation. Now I'mma tell you a funny story though it wasn't funny at the time.... The area where The As-Salaam Brothers were from was more like the turf of The Peace Makers and being that gangs were basically over but there was still some claiming the name...like The Fun City Peace Makers and so on. So basically when we broke up as the As-Salaam Brothers and I got down with Zulu they were basically like, "Yo, you ain't allowed around here!" 'cause they didn't really like each other. And the crazy thing is that my girlfriend at the time lived in that area on Bryant Avenue. I remember one night I was leaving her house and I always used to cut up Hoe Avenue to walk back towards Lambert. So this particular night I walked 173rd Street, past the boy's club, past Hoe Avenue and I remember looking to my right and I'd see police cars and an ambulance and I just kept walking and I was like,"Man, what happened!?" So I found out the next day that one of my friends that I grew up with and who was basically kinda like security of the As-Salaam Brothers group got shot and died. So I was like,"Man!!!" From then on I was just a member of the Zulu Nation."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you have to go through a special initiation process to join the Zulu Nation?" 

DONALD D:"Well, initiation......my initiation was that I was down with Afrika Islam. Whatever initiation they had prior to that I don't know nothing about.  You know, I would just go to the meetings every now and then. It wasn't like I went to all of them. I was more part of the Zulu Nation on the music side. Whatever took place with the guys that were part of the gang life or the security I never really mingled with none of them. I would see them at the party and I would know who Spider was, who Monk was.....you know, B.O. and all of these dudes. You know, Smitty.....Smitty was the guy who rocked the echo chamber for us. If you go back and listen to all those Zulu or Funk Machine tapes, you always hear,"Smitty is on the echo!" He actually controlled the echo chamber as we were rhyming on stage. Whatever was the bad side of Zulu I never was part of that, man."     

SIR NORIN RAD:"What kind of things were discussed in those Zulu Nation meetings?"

DONALD D:"History lessons, things to uplift the community...you know, keeping everything in a positive light to get the kids off the street whether they were into drugs, crime or their family didn't have enough money to eat. Just basically uplifting the community. It took a whole shift from what originally was.....from the Black Spades to the Organization to where it became a positive image of just partying and  having fun and bringing peace within the community."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Kimba from the Infinity Four once showed me a flyer dating back to December 1979....."

DONALD D:"At the P.A.L?"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Yeah, exactly. Was that some type of competition?"

DONALD D:"Yeah! To this day Kimba and D.St don't own up to it that we smashed them that night.  We smashed them! I'm telling you. Lyrically they couldn't compare to me, Kid Vicious and Ell-J. Shahiem was good but they were not.....I don't think...on our level, man. I mean D.ST was an incredible DJ as we all know but Afrika Islam and Jazzy Jay were also great at that time, so I don't think he had the advantage. But they won't admit it. I wish I could find the tape, man!"

October 6th, 1979: Afrika Islam & The Funk Machine are battling Grandmixer D.St & The Infinity Squad at the legendary Webster P.A.L. in the Bronx

SIR NORIN RAD:"Could you please explain to the people out here in Europe how original DJ/MC battles went down?"

DONALD D:"Basically it was based on the routines that the MCs were doing. You may have some stuff in your rhyme that is talking about that crew that you're going against 'cause I think we had one party....I think there is a tape out...we did a party at Bronx River Center against The L-Brothers and we did a routine......an Apache routine that was directed towards Master Rob, Kevie Kev and them. Kid Vicious was kinda like the bandleader and then me and Ell-J was coming in with the routines and Afrika Islam was doing this Apache cutting in and out against them. So basically that's how you did it, you did routines. Like if you go back and listen to the night when the Cold Crush 4 battled The Fantastic 5 at Harlem World, basically that's how it was. We did routines like that. It was also based on whose soundsystem was the loudest. So basically if you battled Kool Herc you would lose because he had a soundsystem that was very loud at that time. I also think that when we did that party in Bronx River against the L-Brothers our soundsystem was way louder than what the L-Brothers had. We were on the main stage and they was set up down where the people where, but to the right of the stage... . Those were good times, man!"

October 19th, 1979: DJ Afrika & The Funk Machine are battling against The L-Brothers at the Bronx River Center. 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe your process of writing rhymes back then!"

DONALD D:"A lot of them I wrote with no music. Just sitting in my bedroom, looking out my window. Just writing....but then a lot of them I wrote where Afrika Islam would give me a cassette tape of him cutting up breaks and I would just sit and write. But when we did routines like as the group we did it all together. We would be at Afrika Islam's house in his bedroom and coming up with routines....sitting up in there. I tell you another thing even back then I would still get down with other groups. Like help some of the DJs and MCs that were in my community. Like later on I was in the group called The Mark V MCs....."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Master Tee's group......"

DONALD D:"Yes, that was Master Tee's group and then who started out with them....that came ouf their camp was Just Ice and they were part of DJ Kenny Ken."

SIR NORIN RAD:"The K-Connection."

DONALD D:"Right. So that's that area, so I was down with Master Tee and Raydeen and all of them on that side. Then over by the boy's club I was with The Fabulous Five." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"At the beginning of our interview you mentioned a lady by the name of Kim Anderson...."

DONALD D:"Yeah, so Kim Anderson...it's funny there is some footage of her....there is a scene  I can't remember which movie it's from but there's a scene where there is Sha Rock and Lisa Lee rhyming back and forth together. No music they're just rhyming  and Kim is there with them. So Kim was always there, hanging out with Sha and Lisa. She played a big part. Her name was Taste back then."

SIR NORIN RAD:"That's what I wanted to ask you about whether Kim Anderson was known as Taste. Cholly Rock told me about a B-Girl from Lambert that went by that name...."

DONALD D:"Yeah, exactly. That's her. Like I said she was the girlfriend of Afrika Islam and she introduced me to him."

Zulu Queen Taste

SIR NORIN RAD:"What do you remember of the time in Hiphop when there were no MCs, when it was still all about the DJs and the B-Boys at the jams?"

DONALD D:"Yeah, I mean going to Herc's parties. Like I said there was nobody really MCing so yeah I saw like the Ni**er Twins gettin' down there and then later on when I went to Bam's parties I would see like the Zulu Kings gettin' down. I'm talking about before I'm knowing Afrika Islam I'm seeing him dancing, I'm seeing D.St gettin' down. You know Cholly Rock and all of these dudes. There was a whole generation before the Rock Steady Crew and all of these guys that was gettin' down, man."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please name your top five breakbeats to rhyme to!"

DONALD D:"First and foremost "Apache" (by The Incredible Bongo Band). I get on that and say my rhymes and say the "Ikey and Mikey" rhyme. Bob James "Take Me To Mardi Gras". "Catch A Groove" (by Juice),  "Seven Minutes Of Funk" (by The Whole Darn Family), "Funky Drummer" (by James Brown) and I gotta throw in "Impeach The President" (by The Honey Drippers). Also "Kool Is Back" (by Funk Inc.)......ah man, that could be up there at the top of the list, too."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Would you say that Afrika Islam benefitted from the fact that one of his MCs namely Elroy worked at Downstairs Records?"

DONALD D:"Yeah, I mean but they would go in there before Elroy was even working there. They were out record hunting everywhere. I been on some record hunts with Islam and Jazzy Jay they were just basically going any and everywhere digging for records. But yeah they probably did benefit from Elroy because he probably either always gave them records for free or sold them at a real good price."

SIR NORIN RAD:"When the MCs got together with the DJs to plan a show how would the process of selecting beats go down?"

DONALD D:"Islam would basically come out and he would say, "You know, you guys rhyme over "Apache"when we throw it on. Okay, let's make a routine to this beat!" Now remember how we did it where me and Ell-J would go,"Funk Machine is on the scene, known to make the ladies scream!" Afrika Islam would cut in BOOM BAP BOOM BOOM BAP......Then we would say, "We got three DJs going all the way: Islam, Superman and Jazzy Jay!" We would basically make up routines according to the breakbeats that Islam and Jazzy Jay came up with."


SIR NORIN RAD:"Damn! So who was the captain of the Three The Hardway MCs / Imperial Four MCs?"

DONALD D:"Like Grandmaster Caz was the captain of the Cold Crush? Kid Vicious....he was more like the captain of the group." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"The younger generation out here is not aware of the various challenges which MCs had to face back then when they were rocking in the parks with their DJs. How would you handle such critical situations as the skipping of the needle or stick up kids robbing cats in the crowd?"   
   
DONALD D:"To go to the first part when the record would skip...basically we learnt how to keep it going whether you still keep on rhyming or you just get the crowd going,"Throw your hands in the air and wave'em like you just don't care!" and then Afrika Islam or Jazzy Jay would come right back in on whatever you're saying. You know, they would just bring it right back in. So we would never..... like I see a lot of artists in recent years...something happens on stage they panic and either they stop rhyming or they get mad at the DJ and whatnot and I be like,"Yo, you as a MC...Master Of Ceremonies....you should know how to do it!" I see a lot of today's artists don't have that technique because they have never been in parties to either practice it or learn how to do it. Like I said today's rappers they can make a hit in their bedroom and never been on stage or at a party ever. They get on stage and don't really know how to perform. With us we learnt how to really MC. As for the stick up kids..yeah, they were there, man. I mean at our parties there was no guns being drawn. Zulu Nation's whole thing was, "Come In Peace Or Leave In Pieces!" So there wasn't that much violence going on. I was lucky that I never got any of my stuff taken back then whether I was wearing Adidas or Pumas or Pro-Keds or a Cortefiel Coat or any of that.  I never got stuck up for any of my stuff but they were there."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Out of all the numerous MCs that were down with the Zulu Nation ranging from The Soul Sonic Force all the way to The Devastating Four who were your top 3?"

DONALD D:"Oh, my top 3? 1. Donald D 2. Donald D 3. Donald D."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Alright." (laughs)

DONALD D:"Nah, I'll tell you. Now my top 3 is Pow Wow, Lisa Lee and Sundance (RIP). Those are my top 3, man."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Would you like to give any shout outs at the end of this interview?"

DONALD D:"Man, I just give shout outs to basically all the guys that I started out with: Easy AD and Rashid. All the Funk Machine: Islam, Superman, Jazzy Jay, Kid Vicious, Elroy, Ell-J. All the people I worked with pre records. Also Bam back in the day, man. I wanna thank you for your time, man, and all that you do. Put all these interviews out there with some of the unsung heroes that many people don't know about or forgot about. "

SIR NORIN RAD:"Thank you! Shout outs to my crew the Intruders, Sureshot La Rock for all the flyers and Troy L. Smith!"