Interview with DJ Afrika Issac (The Crazy 8)
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| DJ Afrika Issac (The Crazy 8) |
conducted by Sir Norin Rad (The Intruders/Germany)
SIR NORIN RAD:"Where exactly were you born and raised at?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"I was born and raised in the Bronx in the Monroe Projects on Story Avenue."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Okay and in which year were you born?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"I was born in 1960."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Are you of Puerto Rican descent?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"I'm biracial. I'm Puerto Rican and Polish. My dad is from Poland, my mother is Puerto Rican."
SIR NORIN RAD:"So to what kind of music were you listening to as a child growing up?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"As a young boy growing up I was mainly listening to Rock music."
SIR NORIN RAD:"What kind of Rock music was that?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"I was listening to stuff like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Kiss, Kansas...stuff like that."
SIR NORIN RAD:"So who was it that introduced you to all the Funk, Soul and Jazz breakbeats? Was it DJ Afrika Little Khayan (RIP)? "
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Yes, that was Khayan."
SIR NORIN RAD:“How did you meet him?“
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:“We met cause we were both first riding bikes. You know, dirtbikes...stuff like that. I ride motorcycles. So that’s how we met. He had a Suzuki and I had a 125 Honda. He rode and I rode and that’s how we met. We met in the projects cause we both lived in the same projects. Monroe Projects..He lived just a building away from me and he already knew Bam (DJ Afrika Bambaataa). So one day he said, „I wanna introduce you to Afrika Bambaataa.“ And that‘s how I met Afrika Bambaataa and his MCees of The Soul Sonic Force. Khayan was already DJing by that time. So when I saw him messing with those records I was introduced to Funk and R&B music. He was doing a lot of backspinning like Grandmaster Flash. There wasn‘t too many people that were doing that needle dropping. I got that from Grandwizard Theodore from The L-Brothers. He was the first one that I had seen dropping the needle at the beginning of the breakbeat again and again without ever missing the beat. I gravitated towards that. That became a part of my style.“
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| DJ Afrika Little Khayan (The Crazy 8) |
SIR NORIN RAD:"What was your first Hiphop jam experience like? Where and when did it take place?"
DJ AFRIKA ISAAC:"As a matter of fact the first jam that I ever went to was an Afrika Bambaataa jam at Bronx River. I went with Khayan and his guys, you know? So we was in Bronx River and this girl started talking to me. She called me up to her. We were in this dark corner talkimg to each other and then Bambaataa's own cousin stuck me up! He walked up behind me and pulled out a pistol and cocked it back. He tried to take my medallion but I wouln't give it to him. So then he forced me to give it to him. So then I left. They didn't know I left and I went and got my older brother an he came with his crew (chuckles). They had two pitbulls and they went inside Bronx River and put everybody against the wall and got my medallion back. Then after that me and Bam had a meeting, he spoke to his cousin and he got the whole shit squashed."
SIR NORIN RAD:"So your first jam experience was a rather negativ one?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Yeah, it was."
SIR NORIN RAD:"But nonetheless you went on to become a well-known DJ. What sparked your motivation to become a DJ?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Just watching DJ Afrika Little Khayan mixing. You know, going back to beginning of the beat, extending the beat. That’s what drew me in. Taking two records and making a whole different song out of it. That’s what I used to do. Like I would take the record „Scratching“ by The Magic Disco Machine and I would make a new song out of its break. That’s what sparked my interest.“
SIR NORIN RAD:“Where did you practice in the very beginning of your DJ career? Would you go over to DJ Afrika Little Khayan‘s house?“
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:“Yeah, yeah in the beginning I used to always go to his house cause his building was right next to mine. He lived in 1770 on Story Avenue. I went upstairs to his apartment, up to his room and we kept on practicing for hours on his turntables ‘cause I didn’t have turntables at the time. After we had met I started going to his house slowly and then more on the weekend. I just made it a habit. Then we started playing literally everyday.“
SIR NORIN RAD:“What kind of turntables did he have?“
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:“He had the belt drive Technics. Matter of fact we both had them cause after a while I went and got my own Technics turntables. From then on I would stay at my mom‘s house and I used to be playing all day and night. I decided to stay in my bedroom and to practice for hours.....countless hours. I wouldn't even go outside. People from all over would gather in front of my bedroom window and listen to me playing my music because I lived on the second floor. I was real close to the ground. Sometimes I would hear them cheering outside. That's how I got real nice. Everything else became secondary to me. “
SIR NORIN RAD:“So is it accurate to say that DJ Afrika Little Khayan taught you how to DJ?“
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:“He didn’t really show me no tricks but he showed me how to mix the records.“
SIR NORIN RAD:“As far as introducing new beats into Hiphop is concerned what was your method of finding breakbeats that no other DJ had ever played before in HipHop?“
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:“My method was looking into Rock music! I incorporated Rock beats into R&B. Every time I started playing I always started with Rock. I would play songs like „Kashmere“ by Led Zeppelin or „Keep Your Distance“ by Babe Ruth and I would mix those with R&B Beats. Remember Aerosmith did a song with Run D.M.C called „Walk This Way?“ They say Run D.M.C. brought Rock music into Hiphop but I was already doing that in the 1970ies. Matter of fact I used to play the original version of „Walk This Way“ back then. Playing Rock & Roll Beats was my signature style. Everybody knew I would start my set with Rock music.Always! I just loved the sound of it when it came out of my speakers. It always filled the air, you know.“
SIR NORIN RAD:"How old were you when you started DJing?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"I was about 15 or 16. Some shit like that."
SIR NORIN RAD:"So that means you were already doing it in the mid-1970s?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Yeah."
SIR NORIN RAD:"So you must have witnessed Hiphop before the advent of the MCees. When the parties were still all about the DJ and the B-Boys and B-Girls."
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Oh yeah, the B-Boys would always be at the parties waiting for us to play the heavy beats so they could get down and do their thing. They were always in the crowd forming circles where they would get down! I didn' t pay them too much attention though because I was too busy DJing, trying to keep the tempo up, you know?"
SIR NORIN RAD:"Are you familiar with a B-Boy from Monroe that was called Rick The Worm?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Yes, I know Rick The Worm. He's my friend. He was a B-Boy and also a troublemaker. A big troublemaker! He always wanted to fight somebody."
SIR NORIN RAD:"I was told that he would dance with a cup of liqour in his hand without spilling it."
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Yeah, I remember that! He was nice! Everybody liked his style of dancing. He was a dancer and a bodyguard (laughs)."
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| November 10th, 1979: DJ Afrika Issac rocks at the Bronx River Center along DJ Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Jazzy Jay, DJ Afrika Islam and the Soul Sonic Force MCs |
SIR NORIN RAD:“Please describe how you build up your own sound system!“
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:“Remember I told you last time we spoke that I used to build speakers. I sold a lot of those speakers to other DJs. They would buy them from me. That‘s how I got the money to buy my own sound system.“
SIR NORIN RAD:“DJ Lightning Lance told me that his first DJ partners the Thomas Twins bought speakers from you in 1978.“
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:“Right. I still do carpenter work now.“
SIR NORIN RAD:“So when did you start doing parties?“
DJ AFRIKA ISAAC:“The first party I did was in Monroe Center. A lot of people were coming to party. They had to pay at the door. I was doing it by myself. Then I went to JHS 123 to play. Then I played at a boat ride. Then I played at Bronx River. That‘s when I started to go to different places to DJ. Later on we also went against the Mac Dynasty Crew.“
SIR NORIN RAD:“Yes, we are going to address that battle later. What is the story behind that DJ name of yours?“
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:“Afrika Bambaataa gave that name to me. I don’t remember how that came about. I had started playing with him. He started to let me play on his set and he was impressed by what I did on the turntables. I know that he came up with the name and said, „We gonna call you Isaac“ He also said,“This is the son of Bambaataa!“ Khayan had already gotten his name from Bambaataa.“
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| July 28th, 1979: DJ Afrika Isaac rocks with DJ Afrika Bambaataa &The Soul Sonic Force at Castle Hill Park in the Bronx |
SIR NORIN RAD:"So Bambaataa put you down with the Zulu Nation because he liked your DJ skills?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Yeah, he just took a liking to me and then he saw that I was playing Rock beats and he said, "Yo man, that's good that you got your own style! You got a different style! You're different!""
SIR NORIN RAD:"Did Afrika Bambaataa tell you some song titles that had a nice breakbeat?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"No, he never told me any song titles. What he would do was he would sometimes pass me some of his records when I was playing on his set and he would tell me which part of which song I should play. He'd be like, "Play the beginning of the third song!" We were good friends."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Okay, and did he ask you about song titles since you had such a vast knowledge of Rock music?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Not really. He always had his own ways. He was never one to follow nobody. You know Bambaataa. Bambaataa is the leader. Everybody was following what he was playing. He wasn't following nobody.
SIR NORIN RAD:"What kind of relationship did you have with the numerous other Zulu Nation DJs like DJ Jazzy Jay or DJ Afrika Islam?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"We were all like cool with each other but I wasn't talking too much with them, you know? 'Cause they had their own different set. They all were Bambaataa's people that had their own set like me."
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| January 11th, 1980: Afrika Isaac & The Crazy 8 are rocking at the Adoubon Ballroom in Harlem along with Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul sonic Force and other Zulu Nation crews as well as with Kool DJ AJ and Lovebug Starski |
SIR NORIN RAD:"What was your home base? Like where would you throw most of your indoor and outdoor parties at?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"My home base was Monroe. Like I said I would do parties in Monroe Center. During the summertime I would play in 100 Park. It's a school...PS 100. They had a park in the back.....a playground. We would go right out there. It was right across from my building."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you have a security crew that had your back at those parties? I was told by different DJs and MCees that you had to have a crew because there was always the danger of cats trying to snatch your equipment and records."
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"That's true. Some people had crews but we didn't have security 'cause everybody knew us already. Everybody knew us!"
SIR NORIN RAD:"Who came up with the name Crazy 8 Crew and who were its members?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Curt came up with that name. We were all from the same projects. Me and Khayan were the DJs. Lisa Lee started out with us before she went on to MC for Bambaataa. Curt was one of my MCees as well. Squirpy La Rock was another one. That was my next door neighbour. Matter of fact that was my best friend in the whole team. He was our MC but he was also in charge of the equipment. He would put the wires together and he would even DJ sometimes. If Khayan didn't want to DJ he would spin. He was like the all around guy. He would help with the system, he would carry the system. He would help with the system. He was the main source! You know why? Because he was the closest to me! Later on Ice Ice and Lil Ikey Cee would also get on the mic for us from time to time."
SIR NORIN RAD:"What about Chipper Chip?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Chipper used to live with me. My mother almost adopted him. She never adopted him but his father threw him out of the house and he ended up living with me. He stayed in the same bedroom with me. So Chipper lived with me. He tried to rap but he did not have that knack for MCing. You know some people have that knack and some people don't have it. He was more of a fighter, you know what I'm saying? He would always have my back. The same is true for Loose. He was a troublemaker, a loose canon. He would take no shit from nobody but he was no MC. He was my boy but he wasn't really into the music. He was just there with us all the time."
SIR NORIN RAD:"When did the Crazy 8 Crew form?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Around 1978//79. That's when all these crews started to form all over the Bronx."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Would you say that you and your Crazy 8 Crew benefitted from the fact that you were down with the Zulu Nation?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:" Yeah, definetely!! Being down with Bam and everything like that it kept everything cool with us. I never had a problem with anybody except for when Flip did that craziness in our battle against the MacDynasty Crew. Jumping over their rope.....his foot caught the rope and that's what brought their speaker crashing down. Boom!!! It sounded like an explosion! It was real loud, you know?"
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| November 17th, 1979: DJ Afrika Isaac rocks at the Bronx River Center along with the Dynamite Brothers and the C.B. Crew |
SIR NORIN RAD:"Who exactly was Flip?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"He was just a good friend. He was like a roadie."
SIR NORIN RAD:"When I interviewed MC Hutchy Bee from MacDynasty Crew he told me that after their speaker had fallen to the floor a big fight broke out in Bronx River and him and his crew mates were basically jumped by the people of their own project...."
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Yeah, because everybody liked us! Everybody knew us! I was known from Castle Hill down to Bronx River, down to Soundview Projects, down to Cozy Corner......everybody liked us, they didn't like Mac Dynasty Crew as much as they liked us. Don't get me wrong...Mac Dynasty.. they was nice but the crowd liked us more. That's why that happened."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you battle any other crews besides Mac Dynasty Crew?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Yeah, yeah, we battled DJ Kenny Ken & The K-Connection Crew. Kenny Ken he lived very close to me as well. We also battled Steven Akins. There were a bunch of little crews all around that did their thing. It wasn't just four or five crews back then. There were so many of them that people don't talk about anymore. I met Grandwizard Theodore through the K-Connection Crew. Kenny Ken was the one that introduced me to Theodore. Me and Kenny Ken were close because me and his brother Timmy Tim used to hang out. Kenny Ken brought me to Boston Road where Theodore lived at the time and that's where I saw him doing the needle dropping."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Who won that battle between The Crazy 8 and The K-Connection Crew?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"I couldn't really tell who won. We battled but nobody ever decided on who won the battle."
SIR NORIN RAD:"What was DJ Afrika Little Khayan's role within the Crazy 8 Crew?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"He was my back-up DJ. He used to pick the records. He was the only person that was allowed to touch my records besides myself, you know what I'm saying? Him and Squirpy La Rock."
SIR NORIN RAD:"But you would also let him get on the turntables, right?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Yeah, definetely! Matter of fact when I first met him he was the only one. Then I started DJing. I was like,"Let me check this out!" He showed me how to do it just one time and I kept on doing it everyday. Playing with it, playing with it all the time, making beats. Then when Khayan saw that I had gotten real good he passed the number one spot over to me. That's when I became the number one DJ of the Crazy 8."
SIR NORIN RAD:"What was the relationship between Blacks and Puerto Ricans on your side of the Bronx like? Did they get along well?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"On my side they mostly got along well. I never had problems with nobody 'cause I'm actually dark-skinned. I'm copper red. I look like a copper penny. I never hung out with a huge bunch of Puerto Ricans. Besides the Crazy 8 I had another little crew of friends. Two of them were White and of them was Black."
SIR NORIN RAD:"What were your top 3 breakbeats back then?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"I always loved "Scratching" by the Magic Disco Machine. Then I also loved „Keep Your Distance“ by Babe Ruth. Another one I loved was "Frisco Disco" by The Eastside Connection. I had the colorful record...."
SIR NORIN RAD:"From your perspective.....Why was it so important back then to have a powerful sound system?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Because you always wanted to be the loudest person out there! I remember everybody used to love DJ Breakout's set. His bass was crazy and then DJ Mario came out with the Mcintosh and that shit was powerful, man! I'm talking about his amps. They were crazy!!! Then Breakout came out with the Phase Linear and those were crazy, too!!!! To be at a jam when those sound sytems were rocking that was the best! That's what everybody was striving for!"
SIR NORIN RAD:"How important was it to have beats that no other DJ had?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"It was very important. That's why DJs would black out the titles of their records because they didn't want you to know them. The science is they don't want you to get the same records they got. They black the names out! Like I might have a certain record, a certain beat that I liked a lot and I don't want you to get it, so that's why I get the Magic Marker or the tape to black out the name. The DJs didn't want nobody to play the same beats as them. Forget it! It was always a competition!!! They didn't even want other DJs to know where to find those beats. Nothing. And nobody let other DJs touch their records unless they were in the same crew. That was a no-no. That's why they kept a rope around the DJ set. Nobody ever stepped over those ropes because everybody knew what would happen but if they had done it they would have had problems."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Would you say that it is accurate to maintain that in the beginning of Hiphop the DJ held the most important position in the culture?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"Yeah, and that's what's so crazy to me, you know? I remember back in the days the DJ was way more important than the MCee 'cause without the DJ no MC could have ever rapped on the mic. Nowadays it's all about the Rappers. The DJ ain't shit now. It seems like he's the lowest guy right now. The music industry changed everything. They don't even need a DJ anymore in what they call Hiphop nowadays. Back in my days the DJ was the head of everything. He was the captain of the ship!"
SIR NORIN RAD:"Would you like to give any shoutouts at the end of this interview?"
DJ AFRIKA ISSAC:"I want to give a shout out to DJ Mario (RIP), to DJ Afrika Bambaataa regardless to what his problems are, to Kool DJ Herc, DJ Breakout, Kool DJ AJ, Curt, Squirpy La Rock, Chipper Chip, the whole Crazy 8 crew."
SIR NORIN RAD:"I wanna shout out my crew the Intruders, Sureshot La Rock (Thanks for the flyers-you're the man!!!), Andre Wilson aka Lil Herc for making this interview possible (Thank you!!!! It's a dream come true!!!), Princess Teela (RIP)!"
