Splash Of The NMC/Dajaz1.com Chops It Up With BFochs! (Part One)

BFochs: How's it going Splash? Thank you for taking time out of your very busy schedule to do this interview mane. What's good? What's poppin' in the NYC?

Splash: Ain’t shit. This recession is wack. Money ain’t the same like it used to be so I can’t spend how I used to. Fuck Bush (George that is).

BFochs: Word em up, that dough ain't the same how it was a few years ago, hopefully the powers that be get this fuckery sorted out. You got the site www.dajaz1.com jumping off in a major way. When did you decide to get into the blog game and what were your main motives?

Splash: Thanks. I started my site towards the end of January. I decided earlier that month to just do it. My man DJ Keyz and my man Lowkey from YouHeadThatNew.com told me I should just do it. I’ve been in the game for so long working with so many DJ's from the start of their careers that I kept getting music and wanted to get it out through a different way other than mixtapes. Think about it, not every song you get is going make the cd (cassette back then). I used to throw Lowkey a few songs when he first started and he’d shout me out, but I felt like, what’s a shout out over and over. I said to myself “you keep helping people out and they’re getting to where they wanna go, so at least do something on your own and have something yourself that you can call yours.” So, DAJAZ1.COM was born. Coming up, people always knew who I was but it’s like why be known as so-n-so’s cousin or so-n-so’s peoples. I always felt like the Chad Hugo (Asian kid in Neptunes) while everyone else I fucked with was Pharrell. I was behind the scenes making money, but still.

The site isn’t making me money, but I do it for the love of music. I do a bunch of other things with DJs and labels to make money and survive through this recession bullshit (not sure if Obama can change shit, but at least if he doesn’t, I want him to live for a few years to hear the shit we say about him. McCain is old as fuck). I’m not like these little fuckery sites who use linkbucks and others to make a few cents per download. Fuck that. Of course if we wanted to, shit would add up decently because the whole NMC can share links & with the downloads we all get amongst us, we’d be able to split a lil chang, but ehhhh. I’m in this for the long run. I actually listen to like 80% of the music that gets posted and that’s low for me because I don’t give these mixtapes the full ear. I may skim through it, but it’s not the same. There’s a few favors here and there, but I mostly post music that I like or feel I can listen to more than once. These other fucks post shit just to post. So many people wanna start a site for no reason at all. They’re the reasons that Zshare be going outta wack. I fucks with music everyday. I been into music since...forever!!!

BFochs: I feel ya man, you gotta have your own staple in this ever growing blog world, zshare is to the point where you can't use it because so many mofos use it the service can't handle that shit, chill out wack bloggers! Not only do you run one of the top blogs on the web, but your blog is part of an exclusive group of blogs called 'the New Music Cartel.' When was the New Music Cartel formed and how did you get in on it.

Splash: Off top, I’m not sure when we started, but I can truthfully say that I was the last one to know. Eskay started it. I was flippin' through our sites and I first saw it on Eskay’s site and didn’t read the whole thing. I only saw 'The New Music Cartel' and kept it moving. Then a few hours later, I saw it on Lowkey’s site and I was like, "I’m not ready to read anything right now." The next day or two, I was on X's site and saw it and he had it highlighted in a way that it caught my attention. So I moved the mouse on each word he had highlighted and noticed that my site was one of the links.

So I hit X on aim and told him that I’m an asshole because I’m in a crew and I didn’t even know lol. So my next post I included everyone’s site and for me, the rest is history. I’m fortunate to be in a crew with five other big sites after having my site for a small amount of time. I think Eskay saw everyone’s hustle and came up with it. We all contribute differently because we all don’t post the same shit unless it’s a must. That’s why we make sense. That’s why everyone comes to us. I’m pretty sure that if you get on the computer and you stroll through sites & you know all six of ours, then we’re within your first 10-12 sites visited, knock it if you want!

BFochs: I fux with the NMC heavy, ya'll come correct with the new music, fuck what a hater think, like Katt Williams says, let em do their job and hate. You have worked with some of the biggest mixtape DJ's in the game, including DJ Clue, DJ Envy and DJ Keyz, how long have you been working with these guys and how did you link up with them?

Splash: Um, me & [DJ] Clue grew up together. I knew him for about 85% of my life. We had tons of business scams to make money. He taught me how to drive too when I had no business on the streets. Me, Clue & Duro (super engineer) also used to work together at a fast food joint. Everyday we stacked the car up with frozen nuggets, fries and chicken. We all ran through a bunch of chicks in the 90’s. We cut parties in my parent's house. One in the bathroom, one in the bedroom, one in my parent's shed lol. Those were the days. I got my name back then lol (don’t ask me to explain). I met [DJ] Envy sometime in like '91 I think, but I didn’t start working with him til like mid '94. Envy and Clue used to live across the street from each other so Envy used to ring the bell when Clue was making his tape and Envy would borrow a record or two. Envy’s the godfather to my two kids and I’m the godfather to his two kids. We all still make money together, I just don’t make as much as they do…bastards! I met Keyz in '93 and he started putting out mixtapes round ’02 I think and we still make money together on a few things. I worked with Whoo Kid also when he first started. He shouted me out in a few interviews (I think in Scratch magazine twice) saying I’m the one who told him to make mixtapes and how I used to throw him songs for his tape that he knows was stolen, but he didn’t care. I worked with Big Mike also when he first started. Shit, Cutmaster C also, there’s a few more actually, but they didn’t go as far so there’s no need in mentioning them now.

BFochs: Damn, you're basically down with all the heavy hitters in tape game, that's crazy as hell man. Being the reason Whoo Kid made mixtapes>____ lol. You have been in the mixtape game for quite some time, what are the main differences between the current mixtape game and when you get into the mixtape game.

Splash: Shit, back then it was fun. It’s not fun anymore. It’s kind of pointless now to do it, that’s why you hardly see mixtapes from Envy, Clue, Kay Slay, Whoo Kid, etc. Everyone who started from way back don’t care to do them anymore because of how shit is. It’s flooded. When Envy and Clue started making mixtapes it was just blends. So it was taking a few days or weeks to put together a tape (TDK’s and Maxell’s) and getting the Telex machine, dubbing three tapes every five minutes per machine and pushing 'em on Jamaica Avenue out the trunk. Buying records, doing tapes, trying to get them into stores, running to Kinko’s to make covers and continuing the same rotation. Back then you really needed to know how to DJ to make a cd or have enough rhythm to blend two songs together and then when Clue changed the game to being just new songs, you were forced to make connects so you can have something hot on your tape. Now DJ's just go online to check their email, blog sites and forums and their mixtape is done. Shit is wack. Way too easy now. No effort!

BFochs: I can definitely see why the O.G.'s don't drop tapes anymore, the tape game has completely changed from when they got in the game, and not for the better. How many mixtapes have you been apart of making in your career? I'm sure you have a few books worth of wild and stories runnin' with all the DJs you have rolled with in your time in the game. What was one of the most ridiculous thing that has happened in your time in the mixtape game?

Splash: There’s way too many to get into now. I’m sure your readers will go blind reading this long ass interview so when you get someone that wants to throw money up for publishing, lemme know and I’ll start my long awaited book. Um, there’s a bunch of Clue cds from early 90’s that I liked especially when I was hosting them. Yup, I used to be the voice (host) on a few mixtapes back then. I did at least four of Clue’s and about 20-30 of Envy’s. I was hosting his cds for a long time then he decided to do them himself because he’s the actual DJ. My name was on their business cards and everything as the person to call for a master copy. I was involved heavy. I had groupie love also lol. Yup! If I was ever worried about not knowing how to approach a chick back then, giving away a free mixtape or a mix cd started a conversation at least 70% of the time and whenever I hosted the cd, giving them a shout out made it even easier to get 'em in the bed (along with dinner & a movie of course).

It got so bad that my ex would always know the new chick I was dealing with when they heard the different females names shouted out. I didn’t care back then. But anyway, one of the most ridiculous things was when I had a DJ in my car (because I was cool with a bunch of them) and I rolled up past a Chinese spot and saw another DJ’s crew and they came up to the car wanting to beat down the DJ asking me to open his side of the car so they can drag him out, but I didn’t and I pulled off so they hopped in their car chasing my car just to get at him popping off shots in the air. I almost had them mad at me, but they understood the position I was in so after I dropped him back to his car, I went back to the hood and they were telling me that I saved his life. No it wasn’t Envy, Clue or Keyz in the car with me. It was one of their crews though that wanted the no-name DJ to get out of my car.

BFochs: Wow, that's intense as hell, you could make a book easily off the mixtape game alone, I'll be campaigning for your book deal lol. You have had the opportunity to go to many great concerts, out of all the ones you have been to which one was the coolest and why?

Splash: Um, too many once again. I went to the Hard Knock Life. I went to almost every Summer Jam. I saw when Jay Z put Prodigy on the screen. The only important concert I think I missed that I had access to was Jay Z’s farewell concert at the Garden, but I ended up seeing Fade To Black over 30 times to almost make up for missing it.

BFochs: Fade To Black was crazy, Jay-Z is a ridiculously dope performer, that's raw you have had the chance to see all those shows. You also do a radio show on the weekends called "Concept Kingz." How did that come about and how long have you been doing it for? Will we ever see a full-time radio show from Splash?

Splash: I stopped that over a month ago. It was an internet based show that was four of us. Me, Lowkey, DJ Keyz and my homegirl Rodiah. Everyone had experience in music. Us online bloggers and readers know Lowkey’s history and how he got awards for doing college radio at Howard and him interning at Bad Boy and now he’s at B.E.T. Rodiah used to do treatments for Rocafella videos. She used to work there and ASCAP. She used to rap a little and was on the FUSE channel a few times and won every battle she did and her last battle she won was in front of Eminem & D-12. She didn’t really pursue it, but she’s heavy into music. DJ Keyz has been around and then there’s me who has been into music forever. After a few shows we got picked up by TheBestJams.com and we were on every Sunday night from 9-11pm (for free). Because of a few problems within, it started to filter out and one left after the other. I wish I could get on air again and getting paid for it would be a plus. So much goes on in the business that the average listener doesn’t know about that I feel should be told.

BFochs: I was witness to some of your broadcasts, I thoroughly enjoyed Concept Kingz, it was way better than anything in my area for radio. It sucks that the show is no more, hopefully you can get on the air again. Back when Dame and Jay-Z were cool you used to hang out at the Rocafella offices, what was the wildest thing that you witnessed while hanging out there?

Splash: A bunch of shit. I told you homie, find a way to get me a book deal. Don’t know how many people would buy it, but I’ll be able to tell my story lol. There’s Lenny S. telling me to take my girl (my wife now) out of the office because Ty Ty (Jay Z’s best friend) was scheming on her asking him who she was. There’s the first time that I ever saw Beanie and he didn’t have a haircut so I was shook a lil because he questioned me saying “who are you that you’re sitting in Lenny’s chair with your sneakers off.” Then when I told him he said “oh yeah, Envy played a song that he wasn’t suppose to.” I quickly put my arm over my chain in case of a scuffle so it wouldn’t get ripped off, but nothing ever became of it. He started laughing saying “I know who you are, shit is cool, just you or Envy gotta reach out to me before you play something.” I then proceeded to the bathroom & wiped my sweat lol.

There was also the time that I tried to bag Tierra Mari and then [Memphis] Bleek came into the office and cock-blocked me…not cool at all. There’s a bunch of times Dame came into the office and cracked jokes on whoever was in the office. I guess that’s how he made it through the day. I remember hearing pre-Kanye West (way before Through The Wire) when I was being forced to hear him thinking that he was wack as fuck. See what an accident can do? I’m going to hell for that. There was the time that Jay-Z called me and Envy to Roc-A-Fella to sit us down & question us about us having the Hard Knock Life album two months before he was dropping it and how we got it. The funny shit is that he called us in again to ask how we got our hands on Vol.3 because we played "So Ghetto" and "Things That You Do" before anyone else.

BFochs: Holy shit, a meeting with Jay-Z over having his album before it was to come out must have been quite interesting, I think that encounter should have it's own chapter in your book haha. It appears good times were had at the Roc-A-Fella offices. There are tons of MCs nowadays compared to back in the 90's, out of all the newer artists that are out now, which 3 do you think have the 'it' factor the most?

Splash: I think Fabolous and Joe Budden are nice as hell and they’re underrated. I like Lupe Fiasco also. I didn’t give his first album a chance. I listened to it late.

BFochs: 3 artists who definitely can spit, Loso to me is the P.L.K., sorry Blue Hef.What is your policy on internet thugs and e-gangstas?

Splash: I don’t entertain bullshit which is why I refuse to have a chatbox on my site and I don’t mind not getting comments under each post. I know that I lack commentary in each post and that may be a reason why, but I’m cool with it. I know that people visit DAJAZ1.COM. I care to read people’s opinions but I don’t need a 14 year old talking tough and I can’t grab him through the computer screen. I also can’t deal with people promoting their new blogsite that they just started to become cool in their small town.

BFochs: The chatbox breeds a lot of fuckery, I just ban people who spam me, fuck that wack shit, if you can't figure out a good way to promote your site other than spamming cboxes you shouldn't be blogging to begin with. Time for some hypothetical questions. First off, if you had to rock only Jordans or Air Force Ones the rest of your life which would you pick and why?

Splash: Air Force Ones. A lot more Jordans are coming out faster & they’re ugly now. There are ugly airs also but there are so much more outfits & fitted’s that can be worn with them.

BFochs: I feel you man, J's are gettin' a little too fruity for my liking nowadays. Let's say Def Jam contacted you, and they said they respected your grind and insight so much they wanted to personally have you launch a new label under Def Jam. You can pick 6 flagship artists/groups and you are given full control over the company title and everything. Which artists would you pick, what would the label be called, and who's album would debut first?

Splash: I don’t know what the label would be called because I’m wack at that, but rushing, I’d say Jay Z, Eminem, Kanye West, T.I., Lil Wayne and Chris Brown. I need a bigger roster. I need 50 Cent added (for marketing reasons), Ludacris, Fabolous & Ne-Yo. (off the top of the dome of course). After you post this, I’d probably add one & change one.

BFochs: I think you guys would be able to move some units with that roster. All the variations of collabos/features/etc would be interesting to see too. Who do you think would win in a fight Jay Z or Damon Dash?

Splash: I would’ve thought Jay Z before the split because I’ve seen him box before but now I’d say Dame just because he has so much built up inside & I’m sure that the whole Jim Jones & Cam have trained him for that very day.

BFochs: Dame looks to me like a Man On Fire with that Jay-Z/Roc split, I could see a good brawl going down between the two haha. Let's say you’re getting groceries or something and you bumped into Christina Milian, discuss what would go down [laughs]

Splash: I’d get down on one knee and ask her to marry me lol. I need her in my life ASAP. If I got her into bed, I’d probably nut on myself so fast because I’ve been waiting on that to happen. I’d regroup, get my mind right and then give her a strong 8 minutes lol. I think I’d give up music for her...sike!

BFochs: I'd probably get arrested on some stalker shit if I ran into her, but that's a story for another time lol. Any shout outs, comments or last words for the BBB viewers?

Splash: Um, just thanks to the readers who made it this far. Let’s start a donation pot so I can get a publisher to write a book so I can talk about the mixtape game. There’s a lot more I have to say. Shit, NMC has heard only like 4 stories so far out of over 100 easy. Check out NewMusicCartel.com and I’m sure this won’t be my last interview on here. Shouts & thanks to everyone that has supported everything I’ve done so far. Those who send me songs, videos and news that I may not have been aware of. If there were more questions, you could’ve gotten more info, but I don’t wanna just blurt out shit I wasn’t asked.

BFochs: This is definitely not the last you've seen of Splash's war stories and real talk on my site folks, watch out for part two!!! Thank you once again for taking the time to do this interview mane, I wish the best for you and yours in the future.

Splash: Thank you. Same to you sir.

FUCK WITH DAT DUDE SPLASH'S SITE DAJAZ1.COM NOW!!!

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