Interview with DJ Baron (The Brothers Disco)

                                               Interview with DJ Baron (The Brothers Disco)

                                      

DJ Baron (The Brothers Disco)

                                            conducted by Sir Norin Rad (The Intruders Crew / Germany)

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where and when were you born?"

DJ BARON:"I was born in Harlem, New York City. Manhattan.....1958."

SIR NORIN RAD:"When did you move to the Bronx?"

DJ BARON:"I moved to the Bronx in 1972."

SIR NORIN RAD:"To which part of the Bronx did you and your family move in 1972?"

DJ BARON:"Southwest Bronx."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Could you be a little bit more specific?"

DJ BARON:"I lived maybe two blocks away from Kool DJ Herc."

SIR NORIN RAD:"That means you lived close to Sedgwick Avenue?"

DJ BARON:"Right. One block over. It's called Undercliff Avenue. It's the longest block in the Bronx. It goes one way about a quarter of a mile."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So when you moved to the Bronx you were already 14 years old, correct?"

DJ BARON:"Correct."

SIR NORIN RAD:"In which regard did living in Harlem differ from living in the Bronx?"

DJ BARON:"Oh, Harlem was loud and the Bronx where I lived at was very quiet. I had to get used to the quietness."

SIR NORIN RAD:"To what kind music where you exposed as a child in your house?"

DJ BARON:"Oh, all kinds of music. Jazz, calypso..everything. My father used to play the congas as his hobby. Spanish music. Everything."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Which high school did you attend?"

DJ BARON:"Commerce High School. Then it turned into Brandeis High School. That's in Midtown Manhattan."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you keep going there after you had moved to the Bronx?"

DJ BARON:"Yeah, yeah. I went to school in Manhattan."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did you find out about Kool DJ Herc?"

DJ BARON:"I can tell you before Herc was doing parties, you know,...I used to hang with my older brother. He was two years older than me..Dimitri. He had me hanging with him and Herc and Coke La Rock. They used to play basketball only a block away from me, you know? And then we used to go to house parties. And then you know Herc's sister decided to do a Going-back-to-school-party and Herc's father owned the equipment. He owned some column speakers. So he was in charge of the speakers before Kool DJ Herc branched out and got his own stuff."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe the scenery and the atmosphere at those early house parties!"

DJ BARON:"You know, you would go to somebody's apartment and they'd do a get-together and play records and everybody would be dancing back in the days. My family used to do the same thing. Everybody would do house parties, get the black light and all that type of stuff. Play the popular records..."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What is a black light?"

DJ BARON:"Okay, what a black light is....It's like a blue light. When you turn out the lights it shines on your clothes and whatnot. It's like a cheap disco light. When you go in the club, you know,  before the club lights turn down and then they turn on the lights and they have a different color effect."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did you start attending Kool DJ Herc's legendary parties?"

DJ BARON:"Alright, like I said I knew Herc before he was doing a whole bunch of parties. To get in the parties free I helped move his equipment. You know, he needed like help. He couldn't do it all by himself. "

SIR NORIN RAD:"So that means you were present for his very early parties, right?"

DJ BARON:"Yeah, I was at his first party when his sister Cindy did their first party. Believe me, it wasn't established. It was just like a community center where you rent the place out and it holds maybe 100 people at the most."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What was so special about these Kool DJ Herc parties from your point of view?"

DJ BARON:"The special part was..Herc had his unique way of playing records.  When they played the records he played the break part of special records that the radio stations didn't know how to play. Like Jimmy Castor.."It's Just Begun"or "Get Ready"by Rare Earth or "Listen To Me" by Baby Huey."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So his music struck you as being special?"

DJ BARON:"Right. It was stuff you never heard on the radio."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did these parties evolve?"

DJ BARON:"Like every other time he did a party it used to get more crowded and more crowded where he had to venture out and find a club."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What are your earliest recollections of B-Boys going off at Kool DJ Herc's parties?"

DJ BARON:"They were all at Herc's parties. I didn't know nothing about B-Boys. I never B-Boyed but they were unique!!! They were part of his whole circle. Trixie, Wallace Dee, Dancin' Doug, The Ni**er Twins..all these guys! They used to battle every other neighbourhood."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did your older brother Dimitri also go to Kool DJ Herc's parties?"

DJ BARON:"Yeah, that was my ticket to get into the parties. It was hanging with my older brother."

SIR NORIN RAD:"You are also related to a gentleman called Diamond D, right?"

DJ BARON:"Diamond D. That's my brother. That was Dimitri. That was his graffiti name. We were cheap taggers. We didn't do extravagant pieces. Like my graffiti name was Sunshine. I wasn't a real Writer. I just put my name up with a marker or a can of spray paint. I was what they call a toy. I didn't get to that top level. We didn't do the big stuff like Kool Herc and them did."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you follow Kool DJ Herc when he started to do his parties in clubs?"

DJ BARON:"The Twi-Lite Zone, The Hevelow...yes. I used to be a part of the crew helping move the equipment."

SIR NORIN RAD:"In which regard did being part of Kool DJ Herc's crew have an effect on your decision to become a DJ later on?"

DJ BARON:"Even though I hung with Herc...oh, Herc was tight. You know, for his rare records and breakbeats..... you had to learn how to get the same music that he got 'cause he used to spray paint all his records, covered them. So nobody could copy the music."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So you're saying that even those that carried his records didn't know about the names of his beats?"

DJ BARON:"No, you'd be right next to him while he was DJing but his records were covered. It's like blacked out. And I guess how he knew all his records..they were coded. He knew exactly which records he had. There was always rival people who wanted his music."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So I guess it was an unwritten law back then that DJs were not supposed to ask other DJs for the titles of their beats?"

DJ BARON:"They wouldn't tell you!! I forgot the words he used to say but you were on your own. It even included me. I used to go to a lot of record stores and you would have to mimick the record. Many people made lots of mistakes. Say for instance "Apache"....by the Incredible Bongo Band...I used to buy a lot of records by the Incredible Bongo Band and didn't get the right record before I found "Apache.""

SIR NORIN RAD:"So DJs would hum the song to the record store guy in order to find the beat that they were looking for?"

DJ BARON:"Yeah, yeah...like "Apache" (hums "Apache"). The salesman would be looking at you funny (laughs). And they probably had people before me so you know eventually they knew which records to give you. But a lot of records...oh man!!! People lost a lot of money going to the record stores, trying to mimick the sound of the records that they had heard the night before, trying to get that rare breakbeat that Herc was playing. Sometimes you lost out, sometimes you didn't but people lost a lot of money trying to get that right record that Herc had."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did you feel about Coke La Rock's style of DJing? Many people, especially out here in Germany, are not familiar with the fact that Coke DJed, too."

DJ BARON:"He DJed in a special kind of way and he was on the mic. He considers himself the first MC but he wasn't a MC like what you hear about my group the Funky Four or the Furious. He would hype up his circle, call out their names and say who's in the house. You know, they felt real good that their name was mentioned. And he had a certain kind of flow, the way he said his rhymes. He rhymed, he put words together that made sense but it wasn't like the rhymes you hear from the Funky Four or the Furious Five. It was totally different. It was like a recital. I can tell you some of the records that he used to play. He used to play records by Eddie Kendricks like "Keep On Trucking", Eddie Drennon "Do What You Gotta Do" or "Girl You Need To Change Your Mind" by Eddie Kendricks, "T Plays It Cool" by Marvin Gaye, "Body Talk" by Eddie Kendricks, "Honey Butt" by Mandrill, El Coco "Let's Get It Together", "Low Down" by Boz Scaggs, "Melting Pot" by Booker T. & The M.G.'s. Stuff like that. He used to play that slower type of music that Chip and them used to Hustle to."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Do you recall a spot called Top Of The Lane?" 

DJ BARON:"Oh, that was a hustler spot. That's where all the big time drug dealers used to go to. It was an after-hour-spot where Kool DJ Herc played. Say like if he did the Hevelow and he finished playing there and he was hired to play on Featherbed Lane. I have never been there."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So what prompted you to become a DJ?"

DJ BARON:"I always wanted to be a DJ. In fact, Kool DJ Herc had DJ Timmy Tim and DJ Clark Kent. That was Herc's backup DJs and Coke La Rock. Anyway, I used to hang at all the clubs in Midtown Manhattan like Nell Gwynn or Superstar Cafeteria. I used to go to all the clubs in Manhattan. So I was a blender. You know, you transition the record from one record to the other. And Coke La Rock was my brother's best friend. Coke had confidence in me. Coke La Rock was the one who let me play on Kool DJ Herc's sound system at the Executive Playhouse."

SIR NORIN RAD:"I see. How did you proceed from there?"

DJ BARON:"I transitioned from him. My thing was to get in the parties free. I helped him move the equipment so I had to come early. So one time I didn't come early and I had to pay. I took offence to that. Herc knew me, I'm from the neighbourhood and you wanna make me pay? I sat outside the Executive Playhouse really, really tight. And my brother Kimani he used to do Karate with DJ Breakout. See, I lived in the Southwest Bronx, DJ Breakout lived in the North Bronx, Boston Road area. So my brother introduced me to DJ Breakout. That's how I started break away from Herc and do my own thing. I used to be a messenger so I used to go all over. I used to be into sound systems. I used to go to Studio 54 and Paradise Garage. Those were the big time clubs back in the day. "

DJ Breakout (The Brothers Disco)

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did your bring your own crates of records when you played on Kool DJ Herc's sound system in the Executive Playhouse?"

DJ BARON:"No, I played Herc's records. You know, by then I got used to his music. I was able to look through his stuff and play their music and I did good!! I played it differently though. See, Herc used to just throw on records like a Jamaican selecta, I blended. How I learnt how to blend? I used to watch Pete DJ Jones. He had a DJ partner named Disco Dee and I was amazed how he played records. He did already blend the records and I was amazed 'cause I couldn't see the mix. And I said,"That's what I wanna do!"So my style was different."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Which records of Kool DJ Herc did you play? The Kool Out joints or the B-Boy records?"

DJ BARON:"I played everything. I played the B-Boy records and I played the Disco records. A lot of Disco records contain breakbeats. So you play the break part of the Disco record. Also Rock records, Jazz records.....they all got Breaks in them. So that's where the term breakbeats comes from. I got like maybe a couple of hundred breakbeats in a breakbeat crate of mine on my computer now. I don't have all the records no more, everything is on digital." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you also use your blending technique when you were playing breakbeats at the parties back then?"

DJ BARON:"No, there's two different ways to play. Especially when you played for the MCees you had to prolong the record so they can do their MCing. My crew..the Funky Four..they were MCees, they weren't rappers like today." 

April 6th, 1979: The Brothers Disco are rocking at the Bronx River Center along with DJ Afrika Bambaataa and Kool DJ AJ

SIR NORIN RAD:"So you were capable of doing both blending and cutting?"

DJ BARON:"Yeah, just like when I cut "Apache". A lot of  people copy my "Apache" style. I always cut it in such a way that you'll the hear the music for half a second before I bring in the break again. That's a style a lot people copied."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where did you practice at? Did you have turntables at home?"

DJ BARON:"I practiced at home. My fame would come from Breakout & Baron.....before it was Breakout & Baron it was Baron & Breakout depending on who was writing flyers. My brother started writing flyers before Breakout's brother Jazzy Dee started writing flyers. It started with me first and then Breakout. Later on when his brother became manager it became Breakout & Baron. Their explanation was his name is a little longer. So it's more attractive. His name got two syllables I got one. BREAK-OUT....BA-RON. Yeah!"

April 15th, 1978: The Brothers Disco are rocking at Edenwald Center.

SIR NORIN RAD:"So what kind of equipment did you have at home?"

DJ BARON:"Oh, I had mostly custom. I started out with custom. When I started out with Breakout, Breakout had some dusty looking stuff. But I had a Jamaican guy across the street from me. So my first subs were Electro-Voice Eliminators. And then since I was a messenger I used to deliver all over the city and I happened to deliver to this magazine...it was a Disco magazine...I delivered to the editor and when I went to his studio he had sound equipment. He had some ass-kickers but the special speakers he had was some garbage can speakers and I had to get those!! And that's what made my soundsystem...the Mighty Sasquatch!!! Everybody had similar things but I had those garbage can speakers that went along with my ass-kickers. And that's why the Mighty Sasquatch became so famous 'cause nobody up to this day had these garbage can speakers.  They were 15 inch Electro Voice Eliminators with a cone in the middle of the garbage can where when they played....when the bass hit, it popped and it POPPED IN YOUR FACE!!!!! The bass in your face! Truly, the bass was in your face when you heard these speakers!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"What year was that?"

DJ BARON:" Well, I graduated from High School in 1976. We started doing our own thing right after I got out of high school...the end of 1976 into 1977."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Do you recall what caused you to come up with that special way of cutting up breakbeats that you have mentioned?"

DJ BARON:"Here is the thing: You got Grandmaster Flash. You got Grandwizard Theodore. They were scratchers and I couldn't copy their style. You know, to this day everybody do Flash and Theodore. Scratchers! It got so big you got these DMC contests. Everybody is doing these scratching effects but I couldn't do that because we all had our own unique style. I'd do a zigga zigga and then let the record go but I didn't do all that what Flash and Theodore were doing. I did a little testimonial like,"Yeah, okay! That's your thing and I do a little bit of it." But I didn't stick to it."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Let's go back for a minute to that Kool DJ Herc where they wanted you to pay at the door."

DJ BARON:"I think I was a little tipsy but I sat outside for hours. I just refused to pay. Why would they do that to me? They know me, they know me and you gonna make me pay??? Maybe I was a little beside myself but I didn't wanna pay. So I was done and it turned out good that I was done 'cause you probably never would have heard of me if I didn't go my own way."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did Coke La Rock or any other member of the Herculords come to you and try to convince you to come back?"

DJ BARON:"No! To tell you the truth they probably never knew why I just went on my own way.  I don't think I ever told Herc that story."

SIR NORIN RAD:"I was told that Breakout was a B-Boy before he started DJing with you. Is that correct?"

DJ BARON:"Yeah, he was a B-Boy. He used to have on the side of his pants "BREAKOUT". He had a really nice looking design on the side of his pants and on his jacket. People never messed with our crew the Brothers Disco 'cause I was still affiliated with Herc and Breakout was a B-Boy that was affiliated with DJ Afrika Bambaataa. You know, there used to be these gangs that would disrupt your party but they never messed with the Brothers Disco because of who we knew!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please elaborate on how you met DJ Breakout and how you formed the Brothers Disco!"

DJ BARON:"Okay, like I said my brother Kimani went to do Karate class with Breakout and Breakout lived in the North Bronx. So therefore my brother used to travel up to the North Bronx. My brother said,"I know Breakout and he DJs." And then he introduced me to Breakout."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where would you meet at?"

DJ BARON:"We would meet in his house. You know, I'm the guy with the equipment. So I eventually I had to let him use my equipment. He had to travel back and forth from my my house to his house. I lived in a hilly area and it was tough to get to my house from the train station but it was even tougher to get to his house but everybody gravitated to his house. That's why his house became the meeting place."

SIR NORIN RAD:"When you met Breakout for the first time did he already possess some outstanding  DJing skills ?"

DJ BARON:"Well, I was the one who had the most tighter skills than he did and I'mma give you a story. When we formed the Funky Four everybody was auditioning and at first the MCees like Sha Rock, K.K. Rockwell and Keith Keith they used to MC for Breakout and I was mad at that. My brother knew somebody named Rahiem and he brought Rahiem to the Boston Secor. That's not so far from where Breakout lived."

SIR NORIN RAD:"That's where DJ Pete La Rock & The P.T. Disco Crew was from."

DJ BARON:"Yeah, yeah, we battled them with our sound system!!! It was embarassing 'cause they had their sound system there. We let them play first and when it was time for us to turn on...I think Breakout he played in the beginning.....when he turned on the system while they were still playing you couldn't hear them no more."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So you drowned them out."

DJ BARON:"We drowned them out. Yeah. To this day I was always improving my system. If you go to my facebook page you'll see what the Mighty Sasquatch looks like today. We had three different types of Mighty Sasquatches, man! I had the customs, the club stuff and I had a five way system where you had the tweeters, the mid bass, the bass, the sub...all that."

April 22nd, 1978: The Brothers Disco battle Cosmic Sounds at the Boston Secor Community Center in the Bronx.

SIR NORIN RAD:"So you brought in Rahiem as your MC at that party in Boston Secor?"

DJ BARON:"Yeah, yeah! I got tired of MCees rhyming for Breakout. So I decided I'm gonna have my personal MC and I brought in Rahiem and then everybody loved Rahiem! And that's where the final Funky Four became the Funky Four. We started off with K. K. Rockwell. It used to be THE VOICE OF K.K. He was the first MC before we finally put a group together." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"What exactly do you mean by they were initially Breakout's MCees? Did they refuse to get on the mic when you were playing your music?"

DJ BARON:"Yeah, I used to just play my club stuff and everything and they figured out that Breakout was playing offbeat. I'm not trying trash Breakout 'cause he's always my brother to the end but in order to rhyme to the beat.....like you snap your fingers to the beat......you have to be on time. So after we formed our group and we started practicing and everything everybody finally got on my bandwagon."

SIR NORIN RAD:"The very first battle that you ever had was against DJ Afrika Islam, correct?"

DJ BARON:"Yeah. JHS 123..I give credit to DJ Tony Tone. He introduced me to this guy named Fox. We battled Afrika Islam. Fox Production...that's before Darnell."

November 4th, 1978: DJ Baron and DJ Breakout battle DJ Afrika Islam at JHS 123

SIR NORIN RAD:"Who won that battle?"

DJ BARON:"I don't even remember who won. It was a party and we played with them several times."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please break down how the Funky Four were formed."

DJ BARON:"Like I said we started with K.K. Rockwell. He was the first and then he brought on Keith Keith and then I kinda like to say Jazzy Dee discovered Sha Rock and they were MCing for Breakout at first until they came into my camp."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Is it true that the Funky Four were the first MCees who performed standing in front of the DJ instead of standing behind him?" 

DJ BARON:"Yeah, yeah...the Funky Four did that because they were performers. They had their own mic stands."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What are your recollections regarding that legendary battle between Grandmaster Flash & The Furious and DJ Baron & The Funky Four at the Webster P.A.L.?"

DJ BARON:"Okay, that day....you know, they played on the Mighty Sasquatch soundsystem. We had the sound and that day was the day Rahiem left us. It was a strange kinda day. Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Four performed first. I commend them. They rocked! But when it was time for us to go on there was no uniqueness of how they were supposed to do their back and forth. We did our thing but it wasn't good because the MCees didn't click right. So that's why everybody thinks that the Furious Four won the battle against us. You know, Grandmaster Flash & Furious Four were protected by the Casanovas. There was a fight after the battle with the Casanovas. It could have gotten tragic that day. Yup!!! Thats what I remember. It was a good party but it was tragic at the same time."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Were you DJing for the Funky Four at that particular battle?"

DJ BARON:"Yeah! I was doing what I was supposed to do for our performance. "

May 11th, 1979: The Brothers Disco battle Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Four at the Webster P.A.L. in the Bronx

SIR NORIN RAD:"So did you notice that something wasn't right with the performance of your MCees?"

DJ BARON:"Yeah, I noticed that Rahiem wasn't bringing his A game. The MC that I put on. He's an incredible MC but he didn't bring his A game. The energy......it could have been much better. " 

SIR NORIN RAD:"DJ Breakout's crib was the spot where the Funky Four would rehearse at, right?"

DJ BARON:"They been to my house but they never really practiced there on a consistent basis. Everybody was at Breakout's house."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you have something like a rehearsal schedule in effect that everybody had to follow? I'm trying to understand how your crew got to such a high level of excellence. I have interviewed numerous original DJs and MCees and most of them said that you guys were something else."

DJ BARON:"I can say it was natural. Sometimes I didn't know about the practices because they would meet at Breakout's house and sometimes they would let me know. "

SIR NORIN RAD:"I was told that you are responsible for having introduced a different kind of beats to Hiphop. Prior to you DJs would play B-Boy Breakbeats and the MCees would rock over those but you introduced slower and more mellow type of beats to the game. Please elaborate on that!"

DJ BARON:"Okay, like I said the MCees used to come up with routines and I used to play joints like "Indiscreet" by D.C. La Rue, "Dance To The Drummer's Beat" by Herman Kelly & Life or "Ain't We Funkin' Now" by The Brothers Johnson. I noticed that these beats matched the  routines of my MCees much better."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Was it hard for them to adjust to these beats in the beginning?"

DJ BARON:"Nah, they fell into place right away! They had a routine off of Gillligans Island. (starts singing): From New York to San Francisco! We are the Brothers Disco!" Some stuff like that they used to say."

SIR NORIN RAD:"I heard that DJ Disco Bee who was Grandmaster Flash's DJ partner used a similar style of beats. Would you say that he was he influenced by you?"

DJ BARON:"I don't know. I didn't really follow DJ Disco Bee that much 'cause Grandmaster Flash was my real rival. Not to diss Disco Bee but you had to battle the main source."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What kind of relationship prevailed between The Brothers Disco and Grandmaster Flash's crew? I mean, obviously there was competition between you but how did Rahiem leaving the Brothers Disco for the Furious MCees affect your perspective on Grandmaster Flash and them?"

DJ BARON:"Taking Rahiem away from us was something to better themselves and we had a event coming up a couple of days later. So I had to rush to audition some new MCees. So K.K. Rockwell brought to my house Lil Rodney Cee and Jazzy Jeff from the Magnificent Seven. Lil Rodney Cee was the epitome of Rahiem 'cause he had rhythm and he had stories. So that was our life saver. And to tell you the truth...I had several auditions..before Lil Rodney Cee and Jazzy Jeff came I auditioned Special K (who later got down with the Treacherous Three from Harlem). I didn't like the way he sounded."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did you feel about Jazzy Jeff?"

DJ BARON:"The thing was in order to keep Lil Rodney Cee I had to take Jazzy Jeff. I didn't really particularly care but I had to take him because we was on crunch time. We had to complete the Funky Four. We was getting ready to perform at a block party and I needed him. I needed the group to be together."

The Funky Four Plus One MCees including Lil Rodney Cee and Jazzy

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe the role of each MC in the Funky Four!"

DJ BARON:"Rahiem was the leader. He became the leader of the group. Their routines were just all in sync. Sha Rock was the first female MC out of anybody so that's what made our group unique and that's what brought a lot of women to our parties. Sha Rock!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"You also had an affiliated group called the Sisters Disco, right?"

DJ BARON:"That was like the cheering crew! Sha Rock was part of the Sisters Disco. The Sisters Disco came before the MCees.  They had their own shirts. It was the Brothers Disco and Sisters Disco and we also had a security crew. It was a Brothers Disco organization!!!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Before Sha Rock got down with you there was another female called Mootsy that auditioned for you. Please expound on who she was!"

DJ BARON:"Yeah, that was Breakout's girlfriend. Sweet Mootsy! Even Richie T....he had the same name as the guy from the T-Connection...got on the mic. He had a child with Sha Rock."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you also use an echo chamber for you parties?"

DJ BARON:"We had several echo chambers. We had one of Herc's originals....the little black echo chamber.  Then we had Echo Tec. That was our last echo chamber. Then I had a Korg echo chamber. The person who made our echo unique was Jazzy Dee. He made the MCees voices echo the right way. That's DJ Breakout's brother. He was the one on the echo chamber."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where would you buy records at?"

DJ BARON:"Downstairs Records. El Roy used to hook me up with exclusive beats. El Roy, me and DJ Afrika Islam we used to hang out a lot. Rock & Soul. Then I used to go out there in Brooklyn. I forgot the names of the record stores in Brooklyn. Plus Crazy Eddie! I know you heard of Crazy Eddie. He had a record store and electronics. "

SIR NORIN RAD:"How would DJ battles go down in the 1970ies?"

DJ BARON:"Well, one crew would start and after they had finished the other crew would come on. We battled Grandmaster Flash a few times with their soundsystem but our sound was always superior. It always came down to the soundsystem. You're not good if your sound don't sound right. So I used to buy all the top equipment! GLI mixing boards all that...."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So you're saying that it was mandatory for DJ crews back then to have a powerful soundsystem in order to survive?"

DJ BARON:"YEAH!!!! There was a famous DJ convention at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. We did a DJ battle there with DJ Casanova Fly. This is before the Cold Crush Brothers. The L-Brothers was there, too.  Anyway, we got there late and when we got in there and turned on our soundsystem it was game over!!!! IT WAS GAME OVER!!! (laughs)"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Could you please also explain what the breakbeats mean to Hiphop?"

DJ BARON:"Oh, they are very important because they pertain to the B-Boys and MCees. They have to be funky!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"How many crates of beats did the Brothers Disco have at the height of your career?"

DJ BARON:"Oh my God!! I used to carry around like six crates of records. My brother Kimani..he was my record boy. Record boys were very very important 'cause I couldn't DJ and keep the right beat going from one record to another without a record boy!! He would go through my crates and hand me the records and he would also take the records and put them back into the crate, in the jacket. That's what made you fast. Needle dropping. I did needle dropping. It didn't take me long to find that break. I would drop that needle right on the record. You would always hear the people say,"Put the needle on the record!" That's that needle drop."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So if Kimani was your record boy where does DJ Mark The 45 King fit in? Wasn't he down you as well?"

DJ BARON:"Oh, he was down with us!!! He met up with DJ Breakout. At one time he was DJ Breakout's record boy and he had all the rare beats!!!! That's who we was getting beats from. Mark the Record Boy!!! He had tons of records!!!! You know, Breakout got beats from DJ Afrika Bambaataa and we got beats from Mark The 45 King. That's long before he became famous. He was still very young and he wasn't fat. He was skinny. He was giving us beats that probably nobody else had. He was famous for the beats and he was down with the Brothers Disco. He joined us in like 1978 or 1979. Around that time. Before Rap got on vinyl. You know, before Rap got on vimyl the DJs were in charge but when the Rap records came out all the MCees showed their ass, man. They was happy to be the boss."

DJ Mark The 45 King (DJ Breakout's record boy)

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where was he from? Boston Road?"

DJ BARON:"I think so and then he moved out to New Jersey and hooked up with Queen Latifah and them."

SIR NORIN RAD:"By which name did you know him then?"

DJ BARON:"Mark The 45 King."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So you were already cutting up 45s back then?"

DJ BARON:"No. I mean we would go back and forth with the 45s but our main records was the 12inch or the album. You know, 12inch came out later."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What are your top 3 breakbeats of all time?"

DJ BARON:""Apache" by the Incredible Bongo Band, "Daisy Lady" by Seventh Wonder, "Dazz" by Brick, "Put Your Music Where Your Mouth Is" by the Olympic Runners,"Shack Up" by Banbarra,"Seven Minutes Of Funk" by The Whole Darn Family."  

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please name some of the spots where the Brothers Disco used to play at on the regular!"

DJ BARON:"Oh, we played all over! Now the famous park in my neighbourhood is Cedar Park. Herc played there, we played there. Crotona Park, a lot of schoolyards. 82 Park. We played all over the Bronx. Edenwald ...that was our home. Besides the T-Connection we played in Edenwald. Most of our security crew and Sisters Disco are from Edenwald. We battled the Kaos Crew in Edenwald and we tore them apart. We also played in the Valley. When our crowd got bigger we used to pack the Valley. You can drive in there now but back then we had to walk and we had to carry all of our equipment to get in the Valley and that wasn't pretty." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Who came up with the name Mighty Sasquatch and what's the story behind that name?"

DJ BARON:"Me. I did. Sasquatch is a creature. I chose that name because of the sound of my soundsystem. It sounded like a sasquatch was coming at you. Thunder! Danger! A sasquatch is dangerous. We used to put fear in the hearts of other DJs back then!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Which sounds better? Vinyl or digital?"

DJ BARON:"Vinyl!!!!Vinyl hands down!!!!! Vinly has the best sound!"

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

DJ BARON:"Yeah, I give a shoutout to all the original crews that came out back in the days. Especially shout out to Kool DJ Herc, Coke La Rock, Trixie, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Afrika Bambaataa (RIP), The L-Brothers, DJ Tony Tone and the Cold Crush Brothers."  

SIR NORIN RAD: "Thank you! Shout outs to my Intruders Crew! To DJ Scarce One the best Hiphop DJ in Germany! Shout outs to Sureshot La Rock, Kenny IB, Input MZK, Leon Skee NHS! UKUMBAMBISANA!! Shout outs to Pete Nice! Shout outs to my mentors Trixie, Dancin' Doug, Cholly Rock, Sondance, Puppetmaster, Wayne Will (RIP) and of course Mr. Wiggles!! Shout outs to Troy L. Smith! Shout outs to my brother T.T. La Rock!"