|
 DJ
Graffiti
This week we are
spotlighting one of the busiest men in our business, DJ Graffiti at
WCBN in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For more information on DJ
Graffiti and all the things he has his hands in you can visit
www.
DJGraffiti.com
1. Please give a brief introduction of yourself,
including how you got into hip-hop and how long you have been
DJing.
I got into hip-hop
because of my older relatives. Whenever I went over relatives
houses there was always an older relative banging hip-hop upstairs
shaking half the house. One day I was up in my Godbrother’s
room and I asked him to throw me some of the tapes he wasn’t
listening to anymore. He gave me a Sweet Tee & Jazzy Joyce
tape, and that was the first Hip-hop tape I owned, except for the
dub tapes that I made off the radio. From that my love for
Hip-hop grew and I started buying more tapes and once my parents got
cable when I was in middle school and I was able to watch Rap City
and Yo MTV Raps I was addicted.
I have been DJing now
for about 8 years. I started my freshman year in College at U
of Michigan.
Currently I’m an
attorney, but I don’t practice law, I got my law degree to further
my business career. I own Rapture Enterprises LLC a marketing
company that specializes in providing marketing vehicles to major
corporations. Basically, I started my company because I saw a
lot of corporations trying to market to the Hip-hop audience and
whenever they did it without the input of someone who was actually a
part of Hip-hop culture it always came off fake or insincere.
But, when the company created a partnership with someone who was
respected in Hip-hop—like the original Sprite commercials with Grand
Puba—the advertising always seemed more welcomed. So, me being
already involved in Hip-hop and having a strong business/legal
background I’m able to promote things to the Hip-hop community but
not in a way that brings the community down.
2. Describe
your market from a hip-hop perspective. Does college radio
have an influence on what occurs in the market? If yes, why is
that? If no, why do you feel that is?
I’m in Ann Arbor, MI and I have been living here
for 7 years (through undergrad at the Business School and Law
School). College radio has been a staple in the market I’m in
for quite some time. I know that personally because a cat who
is still holding it down here, our station WCBN’s Hip-hop Director
Chill Will has contributed to the growth of many of Michigan’s
artists. I didn’t grow up here in the market but I’ve heard
many artists that did tell about how they would listen to Chill
Will’s the Prop Shop show every week religiously and once they got
their skills up they would go down to his show to freestyle.
Currently Chill Will’s show is from 9-12pm on Saturday nights and
the show I’m currently on “The Underground Reciprocals” airs right
after Will’s from 12-3am.
3. People say college
radio has lost it's value, is this a comment that you believe and
secondly if it is true what are things that can be done to bring the
value back?
I entered the
college radio game about 4 years ago. I believe I came in
right when everything was going down as far as Gavin, Billboard etc,
so I’m probably not the best person to speak on the loss in
value. When I started was when everyone began to turn their
backs on college radio. Lucky me! I do think it will be
difficult to bring the value back because mainstream America has finally accepted
that Hip-hop is not just a trend. Rap music is the most
popular music in America. Rap artists sell more records than
anyone else. College Radio can’t just stand on the fact that
it allows people to hear underground music that they can’t hear
elsewhere, because if enough people decide they are going to switch
the dial then the commercial stations will just start putting
underground music into the rotation and the artists that were once
considered “underground” will be hated on by their fans because they
sold out and got commercial.
4. What are some ways
that you have successfully marketed yourself in your
market?
I market myself by
staying visible. I was the editor/webmaster of what was once
Michigan’s most visited Hip-hop website and from that I built a
fairly substantial email list of a few thousand heads in my
area. That allows me to instantly update people on what I’m
doing. I also market myself by putting out a marketing
campaign every once in a while just to remind people. When the
Detroit Electronic Music Festival occurred this past May I secured
some booth space and just put on a production having freestyle
battles, some artist performances and a lot of local DJs come out to
perform. I sold my CDs, T-shirts and gave away stickers and
flyers promoting myself and my website. To make a long story
short, I take full advantage of opportunities that allow me to
promote myself generally and advertise what I’m currently
doing.
5. What advice would you give to others trying
to hold down their market?
1. Make sure you create an
avenue for people other than your peeps to give you feedback on what
you’re doing. Most of your close friends are into the same
things you are and are probably going to end up being “yes
men”
2. Once you know what you
are putting out there is solid, yell from the rooftops to let people
know whenever you release something or are doing something
new. The best product without promotions is just going to sit
there.
3. Try to bring something
different to the game than everyone else. If you have
something that will set you apart from everyone else people will
look to you to get it… even if your skills are about the same as
everyone else’s and to tell you the truth even if your skill is
non-existent.
6. What do you
feel sets you aside from others that may or may not have the same or
similar skill?
In my market the thing
that sets me apart is that I get more new underground music than
anyone in the area. I don’t know anyone else in the Metro
Detroit area that gets as much love from Underground Hip-hop
promoters and Record Labels that I get. The closest one I know
is my boy Benny Ben in Lansing, but he’s pretty far from the Greater
Detroit area. So, I’m able to break a lot of dope new music in
my market before anyone else. Another edge that I have also
comes from record promoters. They make it possible for me to
network with national Hip-hop artists. Before someone comes to
town I’ll generally ask the label promoter to put me in touch with
the tour manager. If they don’t have time for an interview, I
still try to make time to kick it with them if only for 10
minutes and get some contact info and throw them a mixtape to let
them know how I put it down here in my market. From that
usually comes them making sure I get new material & exclusives
that other people don’t get their hands on.
Another thing that sets me apart is my
business/marketing background. Whenever I do something I try
to do it as thoroughly as possible. I want the things I do to
leave a big impact. For instance in the mix-tape game, now I
won’t put one out unless I release a real CD (no burned
copies). I also do a marketing campaign with each CD.
So, even if other DJs might have put dropped 5 CDs to every 1 that I
release, they only put out 100 copies burned off their computers and
no one knows the CD even dropped. I usually give away 300
promo Mix CDs to my Tastemaker’s list of industry folks, magazine
and newspaper reporters.
7. Who should we be
watching for in your market and the surrounding area?
-
Athletic Mic
League
-
Lawless
Element
-
DJ
Virus (One of the best Turntablists in MI)
-Big Lee
DJ
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