Grafwurks

Grafwurks will try and bring you an interview once a month with a local Dallas artists, DJ’s, bboy’s, mc’s, and other interesting people Grafwurks run into along the way.This month, Grafwurks brings you an interview with Dj Love of Dallas.

Grafwurks: We know that you have your 20^th year anniversary of being a DJ this coming year (2008), do you plan to celebrate in any type of way?
Dj Love: This next year will be my 20 year anniversary of being a DJ. I didn’t have anything planned but, you just gave me an idea.

Grafwurks: When you’re not spinning records, what are you doing?
Dj Love: I am a professional designer so I work through the week for large interactive company. But, aside from my “real” occupation, I am a producer. I run my own record label Stellar Music and I’m signed to a record label in London, Air Recordings. I’m also interested in movies and making independent film. A friend of mine has a indie company called Hold It Now Films that I work with occasionally.

Grafwurks: We also know you live in the heart of Dallas, what do you think of the hip hop scene in Dallas? What can we do to help the hip hop scene?
Dj Love: I used to be really disheartened about the hip hop scene until I started spinning at Spike and saw how many people really do care and appreciate real hip hop. So many clubs in this city, upscale clubs, call what they play hip hop but, it’s really pop or radio rap. It’s all the same formulaic music and music people have heard all day long on the radio and probably a few times on the radio on the way to the club. There’s so much good hip hop out there that is not getting heard. Club rockin’ stuff that you don’t even have to know to get down too. But, I guess that’s my goal. Along with a few other DJs in the city, I’m trying to bring an alternative to the mainstream music that saturates this city. People should have a fair choice of music to hear at clubs and the only way that choice will be available is if people stop being clones and jukeboxes and be confident and bold enough to do something different. Something passionate.

Grafwurks: Now that the summer is over, what was your favorite movie that came out this summer?
Dj Love: It’s a tie between “Superbad” and “Transformers”! Both of those movies delivered…

Grafwurks: What is your favorite spot to spin at? And why?
Dj Love: Right now it’s Spike. I get to play on a stage in the open instead of being enclosed so I am connected more with the crowd. Plus, I play hip hop all night with some breakbeats.

Grafwurks: What inspired you to become a DJ?
Dj Love: The music. Plain and simple. I heard underground music back in 1987. I started buying the music because I liked it so much. Back then, it was pretty much all on vinyl. I bought more and more and eventually built a small collection. I accidentally figured out I could beat mix by timing a record to a drum box and my career pretty much began from that.

Grafwurks: You just celebrated a birthday just recently, we won’t disclose the age, but for how long do you see yourself being a DJ?
Dj Love: Well, I was born August 29, 1969 so that would make me 38. I’m cool with getting older. Makes me proud that I’m still doing this. To be honest, I started DJing for the fun of it and the love of music. I had no idea that I would get this far to the point where I’m internationally known.

Grafwurks: What do you think of all these so-called “DJs” using their trendy Macbooks as part of their DJ equipment.
Dj Love: Wow…I could go on about this for days. First of all, in my opinion, art is not about convenience. It’s about sacrifice. Using laptops or CDs is just not an option for me. I still enjoy digging and searching for records. I get excited when I find an old hip hop gem on vinyl or a new classic is released on the same. I don’t see how you can get the same enjoyment from finding the mp3 online. Plus…I pay for ALL of my music. I don’t download music for free. But, lets take the “digging” out of it. There are things I do with records and turntables that most laptop DJs have the option to do but, don’t. A lot of today’s laptop DJs never really mastered the skill with vinyl and now with Serato, it makes it even easier to NOT get better as a DJ. I’ve actually been in a music store and watched a kid buy his first DJ set up and it was a laptop and Serato with CD players. Kids soon will never even know how to spin vinyl and the quality and skill of DJs will decline. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of good DJs out there that use Serato. I am just not one of them. I’m a DJ that uses vinyl. And will until the end.

Grafwurks: Name your top 3 hip hop jams
Dj Love: “Full Clip” – Gang Star
                “Sucker MCs” – RUN-DMC
                ”Do The Right Thing” – Redhead Kingpin & The FBI

Grafwurks: What kind of turntables do you use?
Dj Love: I have four Technic SL-1200 MK2. They’re very old. One set I know for sure has been used for over 20 years. I got them in 1994.

Grafwurks: Another little insight we know is that you’re a shoe collector, which pair of kicks are your favorite?
Dj Love: I do have a lot of sneaks but, I like to collect sneaks that no one else has. I don’t like Dunks or Air Force Ones so I never got into that trend. My favorite pair would probably have to be my New Balance Trail 575’s which I picked up in London. NO ONE has those shoes here and they are crazy comfortable. Super stylin’ too.

Grafwurks: And what’s your most expensive pair?
Dj Love: That would probably have to be my distressed, brown Adidas Chili 62. I got them from London so they ended up costing me $160.

Grafwurks: What kind of phone does Dj Love use to get around with?
Dj Love: I use a Treo 680 (unlocked) in Crimson Red. It’s a great phone and the best thing about it being unlocked is that I can use it with any network around the world. It’s not attached to any carrier so all I do is pop out the SIM card in any country and I’m on their network.

Grafwurks: What tv shows are you watching now-a-days?
Dj Love: The Daily Show, The Cobert Report, Southpark, The Family Guy, Flight of the Conchords, Entourage, and The Simpsons forever.

Grafwurks: Any new material/project that we should be on the look out from Dj Love?
Dj Love: I am currently working on my album for Air Recordings in London. I finished a track with Camp Lo and I’m currently producing joints for old school, classic hip hop artists like Jungle Brothers, Monie Love, and my good pal Leon the Pro. I am also about to release the 10th release on my label Stellar Music showcasing the talents of UK breaks producer Stabilizer. As well, as music, I am getting a hip hop movement together called The Nova Lab Project. There’s quite a bit of detail that goes with that so I will just tell everyone to be on the lookout for it.

Grafwurks: Any shouts out or anything you wanna tell the readers?
Dj Love: I gotta give shout outs to my boys of Diverse Soulz, The Jive Turkeys, the Nova Lab Project crew and all the people that come out weekly to support real hip hop. I want to say names but, I know I’ll forget someone so I will just stick with general groups. Peace to Grafwurks for the interview.