Z-Trip Interview

Dainjazone: How long did it take to put that set together?
Z-Trip: There are bits and pieces of it from other sets. The Van Halen / Public Enemy routine is something I’ve been doing for years. I haven’t played that in forever so I thought I’d throw it in the mix. I resurrected some old stuff; whole bunch of new stuff.

MikiWAR: As much as there is dope stuff that does work, how much of it goes out the window?
Z-Trip: There’s a lot man. You come up with so much stuff, but some of it won’t work in front of a crowd or maybe it won’t work in the middle of the two things you’re hoping it will work with. Sometimes I’ll work on something and it’ll be great, but I won’t use it for three years. Then maybe I’ll get back to it and it’ll either rock or be horrible.

Dainjazone: All of November you were working on an album.
Z-Trip: It’s sort of in bits and pieces. It’s actually kind of happening now. For me, the thought process is the first part of a record. I have to sit down and figure out what the hell I want to do rather than banging out beats. I got to have a vision and know where I’m going. If not then I’m just building up my catalog. So, November was just wrapping my head around what it is I want to say. I don’t want to push it. I don’t want to create a deadline and say this is when the record should come out. That’s not the way an organic record should be. And I don’t have a label barking at me. I’m doing it the way I want to do it. I might take another month of brainstorming. I’m slowly working with a couple people, but I will get to the point of knowing what I want to put out.

Dainjazone: You were one of the first, if not THE first to do mashups. In what direction do you see music going?
Z-Trip: I wasn’t the first guy to do mashups. I might be the first guy to be recognized for it. I have this label that follows me around because people identify that kind of sound with a project I did with DJ P and stuff I was doing prior to that. It’s cool and I don’t mind it, but it’s tough because there were other people doing it before me. It’s kind of hard for me to say, “I’m the guy,” and have that title because this is just mixing, man. I don’t give a s#!t about genre, tempo, style… it doesn’t matter to me as long as it’s dope and make me move, I throw it in the mix. That is something Bambaataa, Kool Herc, Jazzy Jay, Flash, and all the elders have been doing for years. I’m just doing what they’ve been doing. I’m not the guy. Talk to Bambaataa. Give him the title (room laughs). I have to put that out there, but if it helps people identify with what I am and what I do, cool.

It’s kind of tough to say where I see music going. The thing that I’m happy about is people let their guard down by playing and accepting all kinds of music without feeling weird. If you like Neil Diamond, you might think, “oh, my friends are going to think I’m weird.” That s*#t is over (room laughs). Not that I like Neil Diamond, I’m just using him as an example (room laughs). When I started DJing people were into all kinds of music and then it got real cliquey. There’s a little bit of that going right now, but there are enough people out there who play all kinds of music and are breaking down barriers.

MikiWAR: How has recent technology evolved your sets throughout time?
Z-Trip: All the new technology represents the next level, whether it be Ableton, Traktor or whatever it is that you’re using. If it works for you and you’re dope on it, do it. I’m from the old days of digging for records. I love and still respect that. I think there are a lot of young people coming up that need that in their repertoire because there’s something important about that. At the same time, it’s not required. There’s no laws to this s*^t. If you’re dope, you’re dope, as long as you keep a little heart and soul in whatever you do.

Dainjazone: Out of all the DJs you’ve seen what DJ has the best live set?
Z-Trip: To me, it doesn’t matter. It’s hard to say one guy is better than the other. I’m a fan of everybody's work. If you’re a master at one craft then that’s the best s^$t ever. It doesn’t have to be mega-technical.

Dainjazone: Who has been your favorite artist to work with?
Z-Trip: That’s another tough question. It’s like you’re asking me, “What’s your favorite song (room laughs)?” I probably like working with some of the legends like Rakim and Chuck D. At the end of the day I’m still a fan. The fact that I was able to do this as a love of what I do, parlay that into a career, and was able to work with all the people I’ve worked with over the years, is just humbling. When I meet someone like Rakim I say, “F*^k … it’s Rakim! (room laughs)” I can recite all the records and it’s not just that; I know all the breaks he used, who produced what, the engineers, and the year they came out. I’m THAT guy. So when I meet somebody like that, I know everything about him up until now. When I work with them I’m going to find out some new s^#t. To be able to meet and be validated by those guys is empowering.

IMAGES FROM THE SHOW






AUDIO DOWNLOAD
PODCAST! Downloadable 77 minutes mp3 version of Z-Trip on the MikiDz Show courtesy of Beezo.net

View all archived mp3s here: www.beezo.net/djs/mikidzshow/

Or stream it live here:



VIDEO DOWNLOAD


All full recorded videos for past guests can be accessed from the MikiDz page here:
http://www.djcity.com/mikidz