Back in April HipHopDX found it necessary to bring to you a piece on the evolution of the mixtape [click to read]. A joint aiming to explore the development of the tape itself, including its imperative role in Hip Hop as it became a colossal marketing tool for rappers, deejays, and soon enough, labels. We chopped it up with rappers and minced with deejays, and no matter how deeply the subject was explored, curiosity still remained. DX then decided to contact two of the most notable deejays of the '90s – DJ Doo Wop and Kid Capri – and go deeper: from Lil Wayne’s comments against deejays back in May [click to read] to the striking similarities between our two subjects. We also asked the former tape competitors to comment on one another (you may be surprised).

Aside from being known as the creator of what is now the main ingredient for a tape (Doo Wop was the first deejay to feature popular artists on his tapes), he grabbed the industry’s attention most recently when he oh so cleverly and creatively crafted two video clips as a response to Lil Wayne’s statements against Hip Hop deejays. Although many artists were shocked at the uttering made by the often-intoxicated and self-proclaimed “alien,” few have condemned his attacks on Hip Hop’s staple: the deejay:

“You cats kill me when you say that it isn’t that serious. Never mind the fact that he straight up shitted on the very thing that made him a household name," said Doo Wop. "Then he said “fuck mixtape deejays and if you’re a mixtape deejay, suck my dick.' Wow! I guess if you were walking down the street and some dude tells you to [do so], you’re gonna let it go, huh”?

Kid, who is not only known for the enthralling chemistry between he and the crowd but is also a credited producer of industry’s best, including Big L, The L.O.X., and Jay-Z (among others), touches on the significance of Wayne’s words:

“A lot of deejays were offended. To some dudes you can’t say ‘sorry’ because certain things that you might say leave that scar. And you gotta remember, the mixtape thing didn’t start in the south, it didn’t start in the west coast; it started in New York. And here even, you would never hear me doing the interview and say ‘I’m the creator, I did this or I started that’ even though I know I’m the reason why a lot of deejays have jobs right now […] if you want to even take it from the artist’s standpoint, really, 50 [Cent] was the one that made it become a phenomenon."

For all the right reasons both Doo Wop and Kid (as well as many other deejays) are expected to catch feelings over Wayne’s attacks. However, his mini-rant did not just cause a backlash amongst the record-spinners, it also opened room for an important question: are deejay's eating off of rappers’ plates without depositing a return? Specifically, are deejays using artists for their personal gains without compensation them for their work and artistic creativity? “Yes they are, but I am not one of them and never was. Did I make money off of tapes? Hell yeah but I didn’t exploit the artist: I helped the artist gain street credibility,” Doo Wop clarifies, while explaining the dependency notion between the rapper and the deejay:

“Back in the mid '90s there wasn’t MySpace, Youtube, etc. The only way for a rapper to get his freestyles out was through the mixtape. And since I started the whole ‘freestyling on tapes,' they usually wanted to get their shit off of my joints.”

What Lil Wayne and followers fail to acknowledge perhaps, is that the deejay was one of most effective promotional tools for most rappers, and in many cases, continues to be so today. Certain deejays set trends that would later pave the way for the success of some of the most prominent commercial artists today (50 Cent, Fabolous). One of those trends is the signing of the deejay to a label, which officially certified both the marketability and the lucrative return of the mixtape, and Kid Capri, a/k/a "Mr. Love," who is currently working on his new album, The Whole World’s Behind David Love, was the first to get signed, to the historic Cold Chillin' Records. “That was a big thing because you never had a deejay become an artist, being able to get a deal just for being a deejay.”

But it’s not just about paying dues; more importantly, it’s about examining the character of such legends, and learning from the choices they made, which could perhaps explain not only why they became so successful, but also why, far from mediocre content, we often receive ‘quality music’ from such artists. As one would expect, Capri for example, constantly receives offers of financial incentives to play certain artists and give them exposure; however, "Mr. Love" never took the bait:

“I’m not gonna sell myself out to play a record that I don’t like just because of some money. I got this far because of the quality of what I do – and the only way I keep that quality is through my judgment. My judgment doesn’t tell me to take money for something that’s not in my better interest. And if that means I have to come up short for money just to make myself look good for the long run, then that’s what it is.” Continued on page 2 »