Interview with B-Boy / DJ Caliph 09 (The Magnificent Seven / South BX)

                      Interview with B-Boy / DJ Caliph 09 (The Magnificent Seven / South BX)

                                

B-Boy / DJ Caliph 09 (The Magnificent Seven / South BX)

                                           conducted by Sir Norin Rad (The Intruders / Germany) 

SIR NORIN RAD:"When were you born?"

CALIPH 09:"I was born in 1962."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Okay and where were you born?"

CALIPH 09:"I was born in the Bronx, New York."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where did you grow up?"

CALIPH 09:"I started out on Tiffany Street in the South Bronx. I lived on Tiffany Street for maybe the first seven years of my life with my grandmother but my grandmother passed away and I had to go live with my mother in the Soundview Section of the Bronx in the Sack Wern Houses."

SIR NORIN RAD:"To what kind of music were you exposed when you grew up as a child?"

CALIPH 09:"Well, you know in the household we were exposed to a lot of artists like James Brown, Mandrill, The O' Jays, The Spinners, Joe Tex. Just a lot of Soul Music."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What about those super singing groups like The Temptations, The Supremes or The Four Tops? What kind of influence did they have on you?" 

CALIPH 09:"The thing about it is that their music really appealed to me. I gravitated towards the music 'cause I grew up listening to it in the household. So you know I would mimick the songs and I would watch Soul Train. That's how I learnt all the dances and all that stuff because the latest dances were always being done on Soul Train."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Do you recall the first record that you ever bought?"

CALIPH 09:"Yeah, the first thing I ever purchased was a Jackson Five record. What was the name of it? I think it was ABC."

SIR NORIN RAD:"When did you witness a DJ playing breakbeats and B-Boys goin' off for the very first time?"

CALIPH 09:"This would be in the summer of 1975. This is my earliest memory, right? They was throwing a party in the schoolyard down the block from Tiffany Street. It was in the back of a club called 1111 Fox Street. Now 1111 Fox Street was a boxing ring, right? It was also a place where they used to DJ at and throw parties at. I went there with my friend Stevie Steve and my cousin Little Shotgun Rob. And at this particular party Grandmaster Flash, DJ Mean Gene, DJ Disco Bee were throwing a party in the schoolyard in the back of the club. And that was my first Hiphop party that I ever been to where I witnessed DJing and them playing music. And Flash was on the turntables and he threw on this record by James Brown called "Give It Up Or Turn It A Loose" and when it got to the point where they say, "Clyde!!!" everybody dropped to the floor and started breakdancing and I was like, "Oh, Shit!!! What the fuck is this??" because I had never seen anything like that before. That was the first time I ever saw breakdancing."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did attending that party affect you?"

CALIPH 09:"Oh, it affected me profoundly because I had never seen anything like that before. And then he threw on "Apache" after that.  Right then and there I fell in love with it and I knew that that's something that I wanted to do!! So after that party I told Stevie Steve,"That's what we gonna do! We're doing that!" Believe it or not that was the formulation of what would later become the Magnififcent Seven. That's how it all really started. From us leaving that party and me seeing that and that's how much of a profound effect it had on me that I knew that we was gonna do that."

SIR NORIN RAD:" How many people attended that party and how many B-Boy circles were there?"

CALIPH 09:"I could say if I was to give an estimate I would say anywhere from 100 to 150 people were in there. And now as far as the groups of B-Boys at that time...like the way it seemed to me almost everybody in that party dropped to the floor and started breakdancing and I'm talking about including B-Girls. Even the girls, you know what I mean?"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Was that dance intriguing to you?"

CALIPH 09:"Oh yeah! It was! Because to see all those people drop down on the floor at the same time and start breakdancing and then they were all in sync with each other! It wasn't like everybody was battling but it was like everybody knew instinctively to drop to the floor and start breakdancing at the same time."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did they break in a circle or did they go off right where they were standing at?"

CALIPH 09:"Pretty much. Yeah, right where they were at they dropped. And then there were some people that breakdanced in a circle. Like there would be a circle around and one individual person would be going off. You know, on the floor and everybody would be clapping for that person while they were going off on the floor."

SIR NORIN RAD:"You told me that you were a B-Boy back then, too. How did that came about?"

CALIPH 09:"It was a progression. I'mma tell you something, too. EVERYBODY started out as a B-Boy! Mean Gene, Flash, Melle Mel....you name it! Mr. Ness....but yeah, I started out as a B-Boy because when I left that party I started emulating what I was seeing.  So I started practicing B-Boying because that was like the progression. You started out as a B-Boy so you started to do that. You wanted to do that and you wanted to become really good at it because you wanted that recognition. You wanted the crowd to form around you, you know what I mean? So you started out B-Boying. Now me and my cousin Little Shotgun Rob we started out as B-Boys and then I progressed into becoming a DJ and he progressed into becoming an MC. Stevie Steve just started DJing."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Which parties did you attend as a B-Boy?"

CALIPH 09:"Okay, so it was 63 Park, Fox Street, 23 Park. That's where I used to go B-Boy at. I used to B-Boy in Bronx River....in the back of Bronx River Center. I used to B-Boy there. I also used to B-Boy in St. Mary's Park."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Wasn't St. Mary's Park the stomping ground of Kool DJ AJ?"

CALIPH 09:" Yeah, AJ, yeah..but before AJ Flash used to DJ there. Back in the days Flash used to DJ there. Flash used to do 23 Park, 63 Park and he used to do St. Mary's Park."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Your name appears on an official membership list of the Bronx River Organisation which was compiled by Afrika Bambaataa if I'm not mistaken. Please describe how you joined that organisation!"

CALIPH 09:"Okay, I can explain that. Now remember I told you when I was a youngin'  I was living with my grandmother on Tiffany Street till she passed away. So then I had to move with my mother over on Sack Wern which is the Soundview Section of the Bronx. So now this is 1970.  There was gangs in New York. So you had to be a part of a gang. You know, they were still wearing colors back then. So I was jumped in to the Baby Spades because I lived in the Soundview Section of the Bronx. You see, right across the street from me was Soundview Projects, right? Down the block was Monroe Projects. Across the street from Monroe Projects was Bronxdale Projects and across from that was Bronx River. That was all Black Spades territory. So in order for me to maneuver and walk around in the neighbourhood I had to be part of something. So I got jumped in to the Baby Spades. Now to take it back to your question....I went from being a Baby Spade where they were wearing colors to the Bronx River Organisation. They stopped the gangs in New York. They stopped wearing colors and all that. So they started the Bronx River Organisation and in the Bronx River Organisation I became a part of that with Bambaataa and them, right? That was a little bit later on in life that I became a part of that. So it was like a crew but it was pretty much a bunch of the old Spades members and they just weren't wearing colors anymore. We still looked out for each other and protected each other and protected the neighbourhood. So you was able to walk through the neighbourhood. 'Cause the Bronx was very territorial back then. You couldn't just maneuver in the streets like that. You had to be a part of something or you might get jumped or something. So I used to hustle in a supermarket like A & P and all that stuff and in order for me to get around in the neighbourhood I had to be part of something."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did you get that name CALIPH?"

CALIPH 09:"I got that name from Afrika Bambaataa. Bambaataa took a trip to Africa and when he came back from Africa he decided that he was gonna end the Bronx River Organisation. We weren't gonna be the Bronx River Organisation anymore, we was gonna be the Zulu Nation. So I became a Zulu."

Afrika Bambaataa's membership list of the Bronx River Organization - Caliph is to be found in the eight line from the bottom 

SIR NORIN RAD:"So that means that you must have witnessed the Zulu Masters and the Zulu  Kings when they were going off in Bronx River?" 

CALIPH 09:"Yeah, Amad,  Lil Monk, Shaka,  Cholly Rock, Pow Wow...all of them. I used to see them 'cause I used to go to the parties in Bronx River. See, let me tell you something. Even though I lived across town I was a part of it because  like I said I was in the Bronx River Organisation. So I would go to Bronx River all the time and sit in the circle with Bambaataa, Pow Wow, Mr. Biggs and them. When they used to throw parties in the back of Bronx River I used to go over with Bam to Mario over in Bronxdale and help him carry stuff back to Bronx River so he could throw parties in the back of Bronx River Center. In fact, I went to my first DJ Mario party with Bambaataa."

SIR NORIN RAD:"You said  that you were B-Boying in Bronx River, too. Please elaborate on that!"

CALIPH 09:"Yeah, I did. I B-Boyed at a couple of parties there.  I wasn't as known as Cholly Rock and them. You know, they had that crew (The Zulu Kings) and they were the best B-Boys over there in that area. I wasn't on their level."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What did B-Boying look like when you were doing it?"

CALIPH 09:"There is that myth about how we (the Black B-Boys) didn't go down. That's not true. We DID go down to the ground. We would start like with the Uprock and then we would kick our legs and wind up down on the floor.  We'd be on the floor, spinning around on the floor  kicking our legs. We started that way back!!! Now you gotta remember, Norin, I started B-Boying in 1975 but there were B-Boys that preceded me and that were doing it already in 1974, 1973, 1972!!!! There were B-Boys already doing this before I started. We definetely went down to the floor. I witnessed many B-Boy battles. I saw Cholly Rock battling other B-Boys and I also saw Amad. It was crazy. Bam had the best B-Boys. I don't wanna exaggerate but that's how I feel."

SIR NORIN RAD:"You said that your B-Boy partner was Lil Shotgun Rob...."

CALIPH 09:"Yeah, Lil Shotgun Rob. Shotgun Rob was his bigger brother. He was our security. He was a notorious stick-up kid back in the days. You might have heard about him. His little brother Lil Shotgun Rob he was down with us in the Magnificent Seven also. Me and him started out B-Boying together. We went to all the parties together."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe how you transitioned into DJing!"

CALIPH 09:"Okay, so going back, right? I told you about that Flash party in the back of 1111 Fox Street. So when we left that party  I said to Stevie Steve and Lil Shotgun Rob, "Yo, we gonna do that!" Now remember the whole winter of 1975 going in to the summer of 1976 we were breakdancing but Stevie Steve moved from Tiffany Street to Prospect Avenue. He used to live on the first floor on Prospect Avenue. He had his little thing that he used to do in his mother's house.  He would put his little closing plate in the window. It was a little closing plate and it had two turntables to it. One on the bottom and one on the top, right? And he didn't have any headphones and he didn't have a mixer or anything but that's how he learned how to DJ. He was practicing on that. It was me, Stevie Steve and Lil Shotgun Rob. That was the first members of the Magnificent Seven...what would become the Magnificent Seven. So Stevie Steve was on Prospect Avenue. Shotgun Rob brought Lil Rodney Cee to Stevie Steve and introduced him. Stevie Steve had met Kevie Kev through a girl named Shirley that we knew from Tiffany Street. So it was Little Rodney Cee and Kevie Kev. This is the people that he met from Prospect Avenue. Kevie Kev became our record boy. His cousin was Davey Dave who would also become an MC of the Magnificent Seven. And then Lil Rodney Cee brought in Jazzy Jeff and DJ Shaft. That became the Magnificent Seven. Now as far as the DJing thing goes...Stevie Steve's brother Jerome went into the navy and when he was in Japan he sent back speakers and amplifiers. Kenwood speakers and a Pioneer amplifier. And that was our first system. The speakers looked like house speakers but they used to kick! One time...I'mma tell you a story....one time we were in 63 Park and we were setting up the system and Mean Gene of the L-Brothers came by and told Stevie Steve, "Take those house speakers back in the house, man! You can't bring that out here!" Stevie Steve turned the system on and Mean Gene was like, "Oh, shit!" That's how our system used to bang! Yeah! Yeah! We threw many a parties with that system!!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"How many watts did your system pack?"

CALIPH 09:"I would have to say...and this is back then.....it had like 1200 watts. I would say easy. And this is back then. This was considered high quality back then. We're talking about Kenwood speakers and a Pioneer amp. So we progressed from that. Stevie Steve found out that Flash and them was using a mixer and headphones. That was all it took. Once Stevie Steve progressed to the headphones and the mixer it was over! He had Technics turntables and a Gemini mixer. That's what we added to our system. And we later on added microphones and a echo chamber. Now as far as the records...I gotta tell you about the records, Norin! Back in the days the thing with the DJs and the records was that it was a sacred thing. Now you gotta remember I'm across town. I'm in the Zulu Nation so I'm basically being mentored by DJ Afrika Bambaataa. And this is back when it was Afrika Bambaataa and DJ Afrika Zambu. This is before DJ Afrika Islam came in. Zambu was Bambaataa's first back up DJ. I used to go to Afrika Bambaataa's apartment in Bronx River on the first floor. He used to have his system in the kitchen. It was me, Mr. Biggs, Lil Monk and Bam would DJ in the kitchen. I would watch him with the records. He knew I was in a crew across town but I was also down with them. So now I used to watch Bam. They used to cover the records with a black marker. Flash and them used to do the same thing. They didn't want other DJs to know what they were playing because it was all about who had the best beats and whoever had them first. So the record thing was very sacred. Stevie Steve trained with Flash for six months and Mean Gene grew up with us on Tiffany Street. Flash gave us the names of a some records and I would be getting records from Bambaataa but on the low. He didn't know I was going through his crates looking at the records. Now I'mma tell you another story, Norin. You know about Bob James' "Take Me To The Mardi Gras", right?"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Yes."

CALIPH 09:"They call it the Breaking Bells. Let me tell you a story about that. One day me and Afrika Bambaataa were together, right? We left Bronx River, we went to Westchester Avenue and it was a little luncheonette underneath the L station. We got on the train and we went to a store called E.J. Korvette's. It was just me and Bambaataa. And Bambaataa bought "Take Me To The Mardi Gras" by Bob James. You know,  Bob James "One". He also bought "Phenomena Theme" by the In Search Of Orchestra.  Now I didn't know what he was buying 'cause he was trying to hide it from me but I saw the album cover and I went back to Stevie Steve and I said,"Steve, I don't know what this record is but it's a golden arm and it got an apple. You gotta get that!" I was with Bam when he bought that. Shortly thereafter we battled the Harlem Magnificent Seven and we went to Harlem and we killed them! Rayvon, Spivey, Johnny Wa and them dudes. This was the first battle 'cause we had two battles with them. We were battling them for the name Magnificent Seven. So we were battling them and I said to Stevie Steve,"Yo Steve man, play that record!" He was like, "I can't play that record, Caliph." And I was like, "Why?? What you mean you can't play the record? Play the record, man! Play the record!!!" So then he told me, "Yo, I was showing it to Lil Rodney Cee and he dropped the cigarette ash on it. He burnt my copy!" So we only had one copy and that's why he couldn't play that beat at the battle. We were already killing them. That would have just been the nail in the coffin if we had played that beat 'cause like I told you nobody else had that record."

SIR NORIN RAD:"When did you battle the other Magnificent Seven?"

CALIPH 09:"That battle took place in 1977. In the winter of 1977 we wind up battling them 'cause what happened was Stevie Steve was working downtown as a messenger. His brother was a manager in a messenger place and Stevie Steve worked there and DJ Spivey (Harlem Magnificent Seven) was working there, too.  So Spivey told Stevie Steve about he got a crew and they're called Magnificent Seven and Steve told him, "Nah, man!!! We're the Magnificent Seven!" Now you gotta remember they were from Harlem, right? Like I told you New York was very territorial back then. People from the Bronx wasn't really going to Harlem yet. It wasn't like that yet. We didn't go outside of the Bronx. So we were the first crew to go outside the Bronx and go to Harlem and battle, you know what I mean? We battled them in Harlem in their own backyard and we tore their heads off. "

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did that battle end?"

CALIPH 09:"Okay, at the end of the first battle their crowd was yelling, "Stevie Steve! Stevie Steve!" Spivey and them they were over at our turntables. They were looking at Stevie Steve 'cause they couldn't believe what they saw and heard him do. Let me tell you back then Stevie Steve had a reputation for being almost as fast as Grandmaster Flash back then."

SIR NORIN RAD:"I guess you guys must have been one of the first to witness Grandmaster Flash's introduction of the backspin."

CALIPH 09:"Let me tell you something and I don't know if Flash will confirm this or not but Melle Mel was witnessing this also...Stevie Steve...like I told you he was spinning on that closing plate, right? He was spinning back 45 records just on the felt alone!! Now Flash was spinning back 45s  but Flash was putting them on top of a 33 1/3 in order to spin them back. And then Melle Mel witnessed Stevie Steve doing it without the 33 1/3 and he said, "Oh shit! How you're doing that Steve??" And he went and got Flash out of the bedroom and said, "Yo, Flash!! Come here! You gotta see this!!!" And he showed Flash what Stevie Steve was doing. Stevie Steve was spinning back the 45  on the felt without the 33 1/3. He's the one who showed Flash that! And that's word on my mother, man!!!"

DJ Stevie Steve's first DJ set.

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please name the spots in which the Magnificent Seven would be performing on the regular!"

CALIPH 09:"Okay, so the first party that we ever did was in 163 schoolyard which is right across the street from the building that Stevie Steve and them lived in on Prospect Avenue. And then we gravitated to 63 Park after that. We played St. Mary's Park. We played St. Augustine. We played the T-Connection. We played the Sparkle. We played Parkside Plaza. We played down there in Harlem twice with the Magnificent Seven. And to give you an end story on that... the reason we battled them twice was because we found out that they were still using the name Magnificent Seven. They lost so they were supposed to change their name but they didn't do that. So we found out and battled them again and beat them again. So they changed their name to the Harlem Magnificent Seven."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you encounter any problems with the local cats after winning these battles?"

CALIPH 09:"There was a wrinkle after the first battle. So you know when you're doing a party, right?  Shotgun Rob was supposed to be our security, right? So he was supposed to be at the door but they had their own cat called Mousey at the door that was collecting the money. All the people that came to the party they had to pay like 3$ to get in. So usually after a party we would divide up the money, right? And we had a packed house. So there had to be about 200 people there.  So normally we would have received a lot of money but what happened was Mousey stepped off with the money while we were battling the other Magnificent Seven. So we had to go back to the Bronx on the train with our system, you know what I mean? Everybody carried a speaker or a crate."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What was your role in the DJ section of the Magnificent Seven?"

CALIPH 09:"I was DJ Stevie Steve's back up DJ. We brought in DJ Shaft to kinda balance it out at the end. Stevie Steve was the cut guy. He would cut up those beats. I would play stuff like "Seven Minutes Of Funk" by the Whole Darn Family or "Mr. Magic" by Grover Washington Jr.. Beats like those. I was more of a DJ Baron type of DJ. I would cut those beats and then Jazzy Jeff would rhyme over those beats. I was good at that. I was more of a blend cat.  Bambaataa was a blend DJ, Mario was a blend DJ, Herc was a blend DJ. It wasn't until Flash came up with that quick mix theory and him, DJ Stevie Steve, Grandwizard Theodore and later on DJ Jazzy Jay started to do this new technique that DJing changed. I would be the one to throw on "Got To Be Real" by Cheryl Lynn or "Before I Let Go" by Frankie Beverly to get the crowd into it. I would also throw on the Hustle records 'cause back then they used to do the Hustle."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did you feel when Jazzy Jeff and Lil Rodney Cee left the Magnificent Seven in 1979 in order to join the Funky Four after Rahiem had left that crew for the Furious?"

CALIPH 09:"Put it like this it was heartbreaking for us but I considered them my brothers so I wanted to see them win. But it was hard. Now let me give you some background here. KK Rockwell, Lil Rodney Cee, Keith Keith and Jazzy Jeff they all used to go to Lehman High School. Now Lil Rodney Cee told KK Rockwell to use the name KK Rockwell. The original Funky Four MCees were Rahiem, KK Rockwell, Keith Keith and Sha Rock. Sha Rock was the first female MC. Let's be clear about that! The Funky Four and The Magnificent Seven we were like the baby crews of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Four, Kool DJ Herc & The Herculords, Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force, DJ Mario & The Chuck Chuck City Crew. We were underneath them. Our crews used to intermingle all the time. Like KK Rockwell and them used to be at our practices. We used to go to DJ Breakout's parties and he used to come to our parties. So when they left we didn't know they left. Somebody came to Steve and told him, "Yo Steve, your MCees are over there MCing at a Breakout party." And Steve was like,"No, my MCees ain't down there at nobody else's party." Stevie Steve went to that party and sure enough Lil Rodney Cee and Jazzy Jeff  were down there on the microphone. So we found out that they had left. Now the way that this went down was....Rahiem had left the Funky Four first and then shortly after that Sha Rock left them, too. So they were down two MCees. So they started holding tryouts for MCees. Lil Rodney Cee and Jazzy Jeff went and tried out and they got on. And then Sha Rock came back. So they became the Funky Four Plus One More."

SIR NORIN RAD: "Was that the end of the Magnificent Seven?"

CALIPH 09:"So for our crew...yeah, it pretty much broke us up. We were trying to bring it back..me and my cousin Lil Shotgun Rob but it just didn't work out."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What made you choose that name Magnificent Seven?"

CALIPH 09:"We couldn't think of a name and Davey Dave was like,"Yo, the Magnificent Seven!!"  You know, from that Yul Brynner movie. That's where it came from."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where did your crew play at during the winter? Did you play at the Dixie?"

CALIPH 09:"Okay, the Dixie...One time Grandmaster Flash put DJ Stevie Steve on when he was at the Dixie. We never played the Dixie as a group but like I said we played the T-Connection,  the Parkside Plaza. We had a club uptown called the Uptown Beat that we used to DJ in also."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What kind of location was St. Augustine?"

CALIPH 09:"That was a catholic school. Stevie Steve's whole family went to that school. They wanted us to DJ in there so we DJed there, too."

SIR NORIN RAD:"By 1979 MC crews started doing routines and harmonizing on the mic.  Did your MC squad do the same?"

CALIPH 09:"Well, we never progressed to that stage. Let me kinda elaborate on that a little bit. When Grandmaster Flash had 3 MCees...when it was just Melle Mel, Kid Creole and Cowboy...those guys were way ahead of their time!!  They were like The Temptations of Hiphop way before everybody else. By the time Mr. Ness joined them and then by the time Rahiem joined them...forget about it, it was over!!!!  The Funky Four Plus One they were like next in line behind the Furious Five but Flash's MCees were ahead of their time even when there were only three of them. They were already doing back and forth rhyming and as far as that thing with the MCees standing behind the DJ...Melle Mel and them changed that. They changed that because there was always this thing about Grandmaster Flash. It was all about Grandmaster Flash, right? And everybody coming to see Flash but in reality Cowboy was a crowd motivator and he was not the kind of guy that would take a back seat to anybody. Everyody is gonna tell you that. He was out there, he was in the front. He was a crowd captivator and he loved to captivate the young ladies to get them into it, you know what I mean? So they brought MCing to the forefront. They were not in the background. There was no background with them."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Who was the most skilled MC of the Magnificent Seven?"

CALIPH 09:"I would have to say Lil Rodney Cee hands down! My brother! He was legendary back then. We knew he had something special. That's why I told you it hurt us when we lost him. We knew we had something special but there was a beef. Let me give you some background on that whole damn leaving thing. So what happened was after the second battle against the Harlem Magnificent Seven we got paid this time. We came out of the battle with about 60$ of our own, right? So we went back to the crib. Stevie Steve had an apartment on 183rd Street & Washington Avenue and that's where we did our thing at. That's where we practiced at. So we went back to the crib and we were deciding what we were gonna do with the money that we had. Now it's 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning and we're hungry. We had just come back from Harlem so we wanted to eat. We wanted to go to White Castle. They're open 24 hours a day. It was right up there on Fordham Road, not too far from us, walking distance. So we wanted to buy something to eat, Lil Rodney Cee wanted to buy new microphones. So it became a debate like. "We're hungry!" vs. "I want microphones!" So Lil Rodney Cee got mad about that. So when we decided we were gonna eat with the money he got pissed off and that's when he was like, "I quit." He left us thereafter and he took Jazzy Jeff with him. My cousin Lil Shotgun Rob was the second best MC that we had in our crew. I hope I don't get people pissed by saying that (laughs)."

The Magnificent Seven (from left to right): Davey Dave, Lil Rodney Cee, Jazzy Jeff, Lil Shotgun Rob,  DJ Stevie Steve, DJ Caliph 09. DJ Shaft is not in this picture. 

SIR NORIN RAD:"What are your top 3 breakbeats from back then?"

CALIPH 09:"I would have to say number one was "Apache" by The Incredible Bongo Band. Right off the top..."Apache"!!! Now you might be surprised by my second choice because I told you I was blend DJ. "Willie Dynamite" was another one that used to drive me crazy! (He is referring to "Parade Strut" by J.J. Johnson which is on the "Willie Dynamite" soundtrack). Beats like "I Can't Stop" by John Davis & The Monster Orchestra...that base drove me crazy!!! I liked shit like "The Mexican", "Mambo #5", "God Make Me Funky" by The Headhunters, "Trans Europe Express".....beats like that. There were so many different joints."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How many crates of breakbeats did the Magnificent Seven have at the height of their career?"

CALIPH 09:"Okay, in our heyday before it all really ended we had 13 crates the last time I counted."

SIR NORIN RAD:"As far as DJing is concerned who was your mentor?"

CALIPH 09:"DJ Stevie Steve was my mentor. He taught me pretty much everything I know but you gotta remember now I'm also watching Afrika Bambaataa. I'm also watching Grandmaster Flash because sometimes we used to go up to his house and I would watch him there. I'm not talking about in the party I'm talking about in his house."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What do the breakbeats mean to Hiphop?"

CALIPH 09:"Okay, they're the essence of everything!!! It was alwas the beats that drove the B-Boys and the MCees! That's why these beats were sampled heavily by rappers in the 1980ies and in the 1990ies because they drove the MCees. Those drums, that bass...it was primal and it made you wanna move and dance and all that stuff. You could just feel it. B-Boys got hypnotized by the beats and that's how they became better B-Boys. We got hypnotized by those beats. I got in trouble many a nights. I got punished. Man, my mother came looking for me 'cause the parties started out at night. So you had to go out at night and you would stay there till 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. I used to get punished and everything but I HAD TO GO TO THESE PARTIES!!! I had to be there! These beats drove  me to become a part of what they call Hiphop now. "

SIR NORIN RAD:"Thank you very much! Would you like to give some shoutouts at the end of this interview?"

CALIPH 09:"Oh yeah, I wanna shout out everybody!!! I'm gonna start off with the Rest In Peace to MC Cowboy of the Furious Five 'cause he was the essence of what an MC is supposed to be. Shout out to Lil Monk! May he rest in peace! Shout out to Spider! Shout out to Queen Kenya and to all the soldiers that we lost in this game! Shout outs to the Magnificent Seven and shout outs to the Harlem Magnificent Seven! Shout outs to DJ Breakout & The Funky Four! Shout outs to the L-Brothers! Shout outs to Grandmaster Flash & The Furious....Shout outs to all the Old School of Hiphop!!! Shout outs to Bam and all the original Zulu Kings! Ed La Rock rest in peace! And thank you, Norin!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"I want to give a shoutout to my Intruders Crew (Scarce One, Krwizard, A.G., Akira), to all the true pioneers of Hiphop and to Sureshot La Rock (thanks for the Napalm), Input MZK, Kenny IB, Profowon: Ukubambisana!!!! Thank you to the Puppetmaster and Cholly Rock for making this interview possible! Shoutouts to Pluto 7, Mr. Wiggles RSC, Andre Wilson and Troy L. Smith as well as to Pete Nice."