DJ Babu, one of the busiest, and most prolific DJ's in the rap game appeared on Saturday Night Grind with DJ INI to answer questions on his work on albums in the past, and the myriad of projects he and his associates plan to put out next year.
MVRemix: So you got a bunch of new stuff that's just been comin' out. Dilated's just been blowin' up, you've been doin' your own thing with Defari, Wrap all those projects up.
DJ Babu: Of course, earlier this year, Dilated we dropped our fourth album, "20/20". That's been out strong. We've been out throughout the years supporting that, overseas too. Sometime last year on ABB I dropped Likwit Junkies LP with my man Defari, and that was a really big stepping stone for me, taking the reins and producing a complete project myself. It's kind of a slept on one that I would really love for people to hear, how can I describe it. It's just some pure L.A. street Hip-Hop. For the future, Dilated, we're working on the long overdue DVD, aptly titled the release party, because we're free [from capitol records]. And the DVD is a great look at footage that myself and Evidence mostly have collected over the years of us in the studio, on the tour bus, on stage, backstage, of course all our videos, and of course it'll also include 4 or 5 new exclusive dilated tracks. That'll hopefully be coming out sometime next year. And for myself, I just literally just, the ink is still drying on the contracts, "Duck Season 3" out on Nature Sounds early 2007. I'm really excited about that. Your gonna see my usually cohorts from Dilated are gonna be on there, Defari, Strong Arm Steady, Planet Asia. But you know, you're gonna see a lot of other appearances I think people are gonna enjoy. Hopefully something's gonna be happening with Immortal Technique, something's gonna be happenin' with Souls Of Mischief, something with MF Doom, Madlib in one form or another if I can get Quasimoto. I'm still working it all out. It's gonna be the third part of a series that I've been putting out for a couple of years. Of course my man Defari's new album "Street Music" came out.
MVRemix: Do you have any production on that?
DJ Babu: I did two on that, but it's a family affair, you see a lot of Evidence on there, a lot of Alchemist. You know Defari is like extended Dilated family. Of course next year on also on ABB, you're gonna see Evidence, "The Weather Man," solo project, which is really exciting. You know I've been in the studio with "ev" bangin' out some tracks with him. It's comin' out real good. Him and "al" are doing a lot of good stuff together. Of course me and my man Rakka have another off-shoot from the group called the Expansion Team Sound System, which is me and him goin' around the world rockin' parties, and we got two volumes of our mixtape out now called "World On Wheels" out about now, I'm sure you can find it on HipHopSite[.com], Underground Hip-Hop.com. But yeah man, I stay busy. I can't forget to mention for all you turntablists out there, "Duck Breaks" the prequel, the third installment of my scratch record series I do with Stones Throw Records, peace to my man Peanut Butter Wolf. I know I'm forgetting something, but there's a lot of stuff comin up for myself and my fam. Of course Beat Junkies are alive and well, everybody's out, doin' their thing. Count on a Beat Junkie album sooner then later.
MVRemix: That's gonna be crazy because people have really been waitin' for that. So for the people who are not from the area who wouldn't know a lot about the scene, talk a little bit about L.A. Hip-Hop, mix-show scene and everything like that.
DJ Babu: Well, below the surface the Los Angeles underground scene has always been alive and well. Our scene, at lease how the media puts a twist on it, for a long time people thought L.A. was synonymous with gangster music. And for the most part, it is, even me not comin' from the bangin' background and being from the streets like that. I still, I mean NWA and Eazy E are staples and shit that I was influenced and grew up on, and at the same time we've always had other things, like the Alkaholiks and groups like Cypress Hill, we've had groups like Freestyle Fellowship. It just really goes to show there's more to the history of Los Angels Hip-Hop then just what the media says we're known for. Even today, from The Game, to Westside Connection, to the Lootpack, there's just a great variety of music out here for everybody.
MVRemix: What acts are you feelin' that are comin' out right now?
DJ Babu: For me, I think the dopiest record that came out last year was Ghostface, that's really the epitome of what a Hip-Hop record should be in 2006, still raw, still gritty, still relevant to younger kids, and it's still makes sense to cats that are older, and still on the Hip-Hop escalator, I'm a big Ghostface fan, it would be my dream to have a beat on a ghostface album, or have ghostface on one of my beats on anything. I'm a big fan of anything that Stones Throw does. I'm a big Doom fan. I love the latest Quasimoto album, I loved the latest Immortal Technique album it's refreshing to see something like that make such a big splash. I don't want to box him into the stereotype of being "conscious" but I praise anybody these days who's out there doing anything that really has substance behind their music and behind their raps. I have to admit, you put me on the spot, that's about all I can think of right now. I'm a big fan of the whole Justus League, you know Little Brother and their whole thing they got goin' out there in fuckin' North Carolina. I love Joe Scudda, I love 9th Wonder and Khrysis on the beats. For the most part we know what the radio is saturated with, but you know a little bit below the surface, there's a ton of beautiful music out there that's still reppin' the real, and that's pretty music where my head's still at.
