Trey P: Tell me a little bit about yourself. How did you get started as a hip hop DJ?

Ykcor: I’m an ‘80s baby so the hip hop scene was the main scene growing up and I just took to it. I loved everything about it and when certain artist hit the scene then that was it for me. I was hooked!

Trey P: How did you come about your DJ name/handle?

Ykcor: It’s Rocky backwards. At the time everyone called me Rocky. So a close friend of mine (R.I.P.) had the suggestion to just flip it and have the “Y” make the “Ya” sound like it does. So that was it. It was completely original and unique, so it was perfect! In the business, originality is what helps to brand you to the fullest.

Trey P: You’re known for doing mixtapes. Really good mixtapes. What’s the difference between DJing at a club and DJing over mixtapes other than the obvious fact that one offers a live crowd and the other doesn’t?

Ykcor: Clubs are a lot of fun and I’ve done the clubs for years, but right now I’m focusing on mixtapes and bringing the true feel of what a mixtape is back to the people. Mixtapes have gone sour over the years. You have a lot of iPod DJs now, which are people that ain’t DJs, they just play one song after another and call themselves that and that ain’t what a mixtape or DJ stands for! I’m doing this because I love it and the support I get from friends and fans keeps me doing it and loving what I do more! So this is for hip hop, for the public, for the fans and to bring mixtapes back. All them DJs that are faking out there put a bad name to what a DJ is or is not supposed to be and I’m here to help reclaim all that and show people why real DJs still run this industry and deserve the credit for their hard work.

Trey P: How did you get hooked up with Coast2Coast, the premier mixtape site on the Internet?

Ykcor: When I started doing mixtapes, I just got on my grind real heavy and approached Coast2Coast about being a part of the team. They did their research as they always do and seen what I was doing and my future in all this so they welcomed me and that was it from there. Since I’ve been with Coast2Coast they have seen my work ethic and they support me 100% now.

Trey P: Who are some of the big names you’ve set the stage for in the course of your career?

Ykcor: Amerie, Fat Joe and the Terror Squad, Foxy Brown, Juelz Santana, The Franchize Boyz…the list goes on and on.

Trey P: Can you run through the equipment you currently work with for aspiring DJs out there? And on that same level, what equipment should a DJ start with?

Ykcor: I use all the best equipment…Tech 12′s, Rane TTM-57 with Serato. That’s all you need (laughs). As far as starting out, just save your money and get the best you can, reselling worthless stuff is impossible to do and if so you will lose so much of what you paid. If you have to start small then do so but also understand that you can’t do it on cheap stuff what you will be able to do on the professional stuff. So know what you’re getting into and research before you buy anything less then the best.

Trey P: With all that you’ve accomplished, someone might ask, why Reading, PA? Why not L.A., New York, Chicago?

Ykcor: It’s where I’m from, but I don’t do much here anymore. I have family here and it’s a place I call home, but I travel a lot to do what I need to.

Trey P: Who are you currently working with and what are you working on?

Ykcor: Right now I am working with a few different artists on production, promotions, mixing, and mastering – stuff like that. I pretty much do it all, a little bit of everything, “jack of all trades, master of none” (laughs).

Trey P: How important is fashion for a man who is behind the turntables and not front and center on stage?

Ykcor: We are up on stage, in front of the crowd too with all eyes on us, so if you ain’t looking good or don’t have anything exclusive on then change. The more exclusive your clothing is then the more exclusive your image is! That’s why I like lines like Vintage Clothing Limited, because “Limited” actually means just that. They only making a 100 of this or 200 of that so it keeps you exclusive and keeps your image tight cause the quality and look of the clothes is unbeatable in other clothing lines I have seen!

Trey P: When someone picks up a DJ Ykcor mixtape, what can they expect their experience to be like?

Ykcor: They’ll hear a real DJ. I spin, cut, mix and so on and play a good variety of music from all across the board. All I can say is check one out. I got everything on there and they are truly “real” mixtapes!

Trey P: Anyone or anything you’d like to plug at this moment and what’s in store for Ykcor in 2010?

Ykcor: Everybody! If I were to make a list, you would run out of pages (laughs). I just wanna thank everyone who helps support the movement and everyone that shows me love through my ventures. Shouts to the other real DJs out here, all the artists that support me and what I do, magazines, clothing lines, and all the promotional outlets that work with me. Coast2Coast, Fleet DJs, The Mixtape Syndicate and so on. Thank you all. Without you, I wouldn’t be! As far as the future of the DJ Ykcor movement, all I can say is sit back and enjoy the ride. I ain’t going nowhere and you will see a lot in the years to come!

For more information on DJ Ykcor, follow him here:

www.myspace.com/djykcor
www.facebook.com/djykcor
www.twitter.com/djykcor
www.djykcor.ning.com
www.focusonthedj.com
www.fleetdjs.com
www.coast2coastmixtapes.com
www.themixtapesyndicate.com
www.unheardradio.com
www.revoltradio.com

Off the upcoming mixtape “The Vintage Vault Mixtape,” which is available for free download at HipHopDX, Coast2Coast, Frostwire, 2DopeBoyz, and many more hip hop download sites on February 23, 2010, Wordsmith brings you “Slanguisitics.”

Download here at HipHopDX: http://tinyurl.com/yjftx4t

Check out the review I did on Theory Hazit’s Modern Marvels and then consider purchasing a copy right there at Sphere of Hip Hop.

Read review on sphereofhiphop.com

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Trey P: Theory, you were one of the opening acts for the Vintage Limited launch party in Baltimore, MD? What did you think of Vintage Limited and do you have a favorite shirt?

Theory Hazit: Yes, I remember that party. I had a blast and met artists that I always heard about. I thought that Vintage clothing was alright until I saw the quality in the brand… thinking that I was just gonna get a t-shirt and be on my way. My favorite from Vintage Limited is the Black Friday/Lion hoodie. I love that joint!

Trey P: How important is fashion in the hip hop culture?

Theory Hazit: Very important to have fashion in the hip hop culture. Especially when performing. The kids want what you’re wearing and first and foremost, you want to look convincing.

Trey P: You’ve been reppin’ Vintage at shows and even our “The Rock is Steady” t-shirt makes an impromptu appearance on the cover of Lord Fire 2. Can you explain the inspiration behind that album cover?

Theory Hazit: Well, that shirt is dope! I was going for an old school-yet-new school vibe and that was the perfect shirt. I love the colors in the shirt and the concept of it. It lines up with what I rap about.

Trey P: What kind of things do you have in store for 2010?

Theory Hazit: You will be surprised. I just recently joined a new alliance/collective and we will continue to bring that heat… that next level… Othello (Lightheaded) and I are wrapping up a project called AM Neja… and of course Scribbling Idiots has ep/lps releasing every month via subscription only. So subscribe now at www.scribblingidiots.com!

Trey P: Where can fans catch up with you? Do you have a website or social networks?

Theory Hazit: Twitter is that new world media son! twitter.com/theoryhazit and facebook.com/theoryhazitmusic

Check out more photo’s of Theory Hazit in our Photo Section including shots from our launch concert (May 2007), and more recent photo’s included in our all new ‘Vintage Underground’ candid shot section.

Nowadays there isn’t a moment that goes by when I’m tuned into my local hip hop station and don’t hear a song by Lil Wayne or a song by another artist featuring him. It makes my listening experience horribly one-dimensional and I usually turn the dial off and return to my mp3 player.

The first impulse is to criticize Wayne personally as if somehow his over-exposure is the reason for my dislike, when of course, Wayne, or the people that work for him, is the one “working over” the industry. Sure the talent might not be there. Maybe at first, the talent flashed through a song or two and then miraculously the respect gained from those songs formed an impenetrable aura around the artist allowing him to continue to put out junk or mediocre songs on the strength of his reputation. It happens. But he is making the most of his time in the spotlight.

Second, there simply is no such thing as overexposure in a business in which an artist’s shelf life may not get him past his first song. Imagine being on the grind in your hometown for years, sweating for every penny, investing in studio time, promotions, equipment or gear, and when you finally get your big break, it’s here and gone in the space of one song and in a matter of months. What do you do then? Like football running backs whose average life span in the NFL is five to seven years, the idea of “taking the money and running” while leaving your talent and “self-respect” behind surely is not the only way to view this phenomenon. But if you deny Lil Wayne anything, don’t deny him his business sense. Yes he’s flooding the music airwaves right now at a staggering pace. And in my humble estimation, every song may as well have the same title because everything sounds the same.

But even so, it’s up to the general public to decide if it’s garbage. And for the most part the general public has spoken and they love Lil Wayne. And while we can hate on commercial hip hop all day, every artist wants to be there and transform the game. Every artist coming up from the underground wants his sound heard and wants to pioneer the next trend. What’s Lil Wayne’s formula for success? If you think for a moment it’s talent for any artist, you’re simply wrong. Like most artists, it’s probably a lot more luck than he gives himself credit for. Every artist wants to think it’s his grind that made him what he is today. You hear it rapped about all the time. But the reality is much less romantic because it’s also about being in the right place at the right time, and often not by your own design.

So the next time you hate on Lil Wayne, remember he’s there for a purpose just like you are where you are for a purpose. Does that mean you should throw in the towel and not aspire to anything bigger? Not at all. Go harder than you ever had. But don’t get down on yourself when you possess the sharpest tongue at your local open mic and can dominate anyone in four counties in a rap battle but you can’t for the life of you get that single in the hands of the right person.

Wordsmith interviews with WZMX Hot 93.7 FM, Connecticut’s hottest hip hop station. Learn more about our sponsored artist, his situation with Nas, and how he’s making moves in 2010.

Every so often, it is brought to our attention that there is an event or a place we need to be that we just can’t pass up. Last night happened to be one of those events. Vintage-sponsored artist Wordsmith was invited by the club promoter at Eden’s Lounge to throw a 30th birthday bash. Shaun B, myself, and my lovely wife headed down and enjoyed ourselves out for a night on the town. It also gave us an opportunity to network a little. Among others, we hooked up with Whitefolkz, a local rapper who just received the title of best hip hop artist of the year in the DMV. We also had a chance to catch up with our new friend, Baltimore hip hop artist P-Shellz, whose single “Fingaz Down (The Hack Anthem)” impressed a lot of people and won him the best hip hop song of the year, named by Baltimore City Paper. Of course, Shaun B brought shirts and used the opportunity to promote the label as well. The night ended with a bang when Shaun B’s car wound up missing. After paying a hefty towing fee for parking on a private lot (we only realized later), we got home in one piece.

We’ve got a number of events coming up in the next couple of months and we’re taking the DMV by force! So keep reading here to find out where we’ll pop up next.

Wordsmith’s latest single “Hook-Up Hotline” is a demonstration of the Baltimore emcee’s lyrical versatility. A mainstay in the underground, Wordsmith continues to break new ground, this time launching into commercial hip hop radio with his a steamy single. It’s not for the faint of heart, but if you like a nice dance beat, a fast lyrical throw down, and a pumping baseline, it’s all there for the taking. The single will also appear on Wordsmith’s new album “Vintage Material” with a scheduled drop date of March 30, 2010. But you can get the song by downloading it here.

Super-producer Timbaland whisked through Baltimore last night like a streak of lightning for a quick performance at Ram’s Head Live in the Power Plant complex. While I didn’t personally attend, radio personality Kelson from Baltimore’s 92Q was on hand and furiously updating his Twitter/Facebook accounts as the action was going down. What I learned from Kelson was the following:

1. Timbaland has a touch of an attitude (no elaboration, but something must have happened on stage).
2. Timbaland’s brother opened for him (Was Timbaland only performing to help out his brother’s career? Inquiring minds want to know).
3. Timbaland was using Auto-Tune during the performance (This has become a taboo practice ever since Jay-Z starting calling out the industry on it).

On a positive note, Timbaland was improvising and creating beats on stage, something Kelson implied he had never seen. What’s next for Baltimore? Stay tuned…

It’s no secret that when it comes to getting the facts straight, pop culture is one big sloppy mess. The information highway has no speed limit, and because of this, information often runs unchecked, unfiltered, and collides with just about any and all things sacred.

Take religion for example. When pop culture celebrities pontificate on the evils of religion or weigh in with little or no regard for the latest in scholarship or even with an eye to the historical circumstances of their opinions, they invite more confusion than calm.

Hip hop artists are not immune to this drive. Whether they are Christian or Muslim, the raw theological claims that come out in some songs simply cannot do the issues they are representing proper justice in the space of 16 bars.

I’ll take two examples, the first being Rakim’s new song “Holy Are You” on his latest album The Seventh Seal. At one point in the song, Rakim, a known Muslim, boldly declares that Jesus didn’t walk on water and that this is a “parable.” That’s all well and good if you know what a parable is and how it is supposed to function rhetorically. I don’t want to question if Jesus’ walking on water “did” or “did not” happen as an actual event. Rather, by looking at how the walking on water account appears within the gospel will clue us in to its rhetorical use. That is, depending upon how it’s communicated will tell us a lot about how it should be interpreted.

In the gospels when Jesus is said to have walked on water, most scholars agree it happens as part of the narrative (the same way the gospel tells us Jesus journeyed into Jerusalem for Passover or Jesus was tried before the Sanhedrin). On the other hand, the prescriptive way in which Jesus uses parables is always within the context of when the narrative moves from a third person to first person speaker (namely when Jesus himself is telling a story within the larger gospel story). Is Jesus saying he walked on water? No. The incident is reported by the writer of the gospel as an event in Jesus’ life and not put in the mouth of Jesus as the speaker. By understanding then that the writer of the gospel intended this event to be interpreted as a life-event, we are now free to continue to the next part of the question: is it true? But this is a question that can’t be settled simply by a rhetoric device and demands a response in faith. Nevertheless, the conclusion is clear: Rakim is wrong in calling this a parable in the life of Jesus. It doesn’t function in that manner.

My second example comes from a more personal experience. I was recently verbally attacked by a very pushy and quite frankly insolent Christian Fundamentalist who insisted that Jay-Z’s lyrics on “Empire State of Mind” were blatantly anti-Christian and if I were going to defend them on any level, I was ridiculous. Not really the most “Christian” way to start off a conversation.

Looking at the song in context and not merely peeling back two verses, I pointed out that throughout the song Jay-Z is warning that the lure of the big city is enough to destroy any person (spiritual vitality being a part of that person). When Jay-Z spits “life begins where the church ends,” it is important not to read into this use of “life” the same meaning that a master writer like Paul had in mind when he uses it figurative of Christ’s “life-giving” gift of salvation. Neither is it fair to accuse Jay-Z of reversing the meaning by appropriating those terms for unbelievers. Why? Because Shawn Carter is not a trained theologian. Prior to that, Jay-Z says “if Jesus can’t save you…” Well, of course the Christian would want to confess that Jesus can save anybody and would find the suggestion (if this was what Jay-Z was saying) offensive. But Jay-Z is not calling Jesus impotent and unable to save. Instead, he is saying “if you don’t want Jesus than this is the kind of life you can live in New York.” No, it’s not a message of salvation. It’s not even a message encouraging you to live this way. Jay-Z is simply stating a fact, not making a recommendation. When I heard those lines a couple more times, it harkened me back to the prophets of the Old Testament warning against the pleasures of sinful living by explaining how the spiritual life suffers as a result. No, I’m not comparing Jay-Z to a prophet. He is a rapper.

My point in writing this blog is whether the artist is Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist most of the time they are not speaking as trained theologians. They are laymen. You wouldn’t go to the McDonald’s drive thru window to get your tooth fixed. You would see a dentist. So why go to a rapper to get your theology? The muddy waters of serious theological study get even muddier when they flow downstream to the general public who unskillfully tries to make aggrandizing declarations about their beliefs, usually on bigger stages and at the expense of precision.