like a slowed down ghettotech record. It has literally half the speed. So I was like, I need to take what I like from trap and put it with ghettotech. So I used the trap to break it down and break it up. If I do a ghettotech set the whole thing will be 140 to 150 beats per minute for an hour and a half, boom, boom, boom. Just record after record. For a while you'd play literally 110 records in an hour set, which is cool, but then after a while, even myself, I wanted to keep things fresh. I've started to take a lot of my ghettotech party chants and put them into trap records, you know. It's going great. Then when I started with Zebo we had a bunch of ideas together and we were like, 'why don't we do a four turntable thing here?' We don't really rehearse, we just improvise. He's like me with the scratching and stuff, and we kind of just feed off each other. I like it better that way.
“We actually have some tracks coming out that will be released in the summer. I'm still doing all my own stuff too. I also do a lot of electro house stuff, but I do it under the name Detroit Muscle. I love all kinds of music. I love producing. I've been doing DJ Godfather for so long, globally, that if DJ Godfather did an electro house tune... One, I would get dissed by that community. And two, I don't think anyone would take it seriously. If you know someone for so long, you know what I'm saying? Picture Jay-Z trying to do r&b and sing. It ain't going to work. So I came up with an alias name, it's not a secret. I've done some Detroit Muscle sets.”
You actually had a really young energetic crowd out front. What's the key to longevity in this game? “It's really important to stay fresh. The last couple of years things have changed so much. You have something that's the hottest thing, then next thing you know something else is the hottest thing. I'm always going to incorporate my style and what I love with what's newer. There are so many artists I know that were making killer tracks with me 15 years ago but unfortunately are making the same kind of shit. They're not progressing. You've got to stay with the times if you want to stay busy. Especially now, there are way too many kids with a laptop and that's their whole studio. Before you used to have to get a whole studio, the newest keyboard and drum machines. Now for the cost of one drum machine you can get a whole studio.”
Coming from the Motor City, are you a car enthusiast? “I am a muscle car fan. I have a muscle car, a Camaro which has 700 horse power. There's a lot of muscle cars in Detroit, we all got 'em. I've got my work truck, then I got my muscle car for when I want to have fun. I could take you to some muscle car races in the streets. That movie, The Fast and the Furious, is funny to Detroit because there's a street called French Road and we've been doing races in French Road since the early '90s. It's in a warehouse district. That's Detroit.”
Where else can people catch you over the summer? “Everywhere. I just landed a residency in Las Vegas at Body English and also Rehab, that's the pool party. Trap has helped widen my appeal, especially to the younger generation because they grew up with that. It's funny because ghettotech used to rule the radio here. On the weekends you'd hear it on three different stations all weekend. But that was in the '90s. You've got these kids now who've just turned 18, 19 years old, they were five, six years old then, so they don't know it. No matter what kind of music you do, you've got to stay relevant with the times.
“If this was years ago I would use a trap record for a breakdown. Now in certain cities you want to play more trap than ghettotech. So I'll literally use a ghettotech record to a break up, then break it right back down. It's hilarious to me. You've got to read the crowd.”
What's so special about playing at Movement in Detroit? “It's really underground and it sticks to its roots. The other festivals, you go to one festival, you've been to all of them. Movement is always different and I respect it because of that. It's just as busy, if not busier, and people love it.”
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