Man I've been making mixtapes since high school. That's like 6 years back or so. But I’ve seriously been at it for 2 years. That’s how long I've been really on the grind with it you know.

Have you been in Atlanta your whole life?

Most of my life yeah. I went to school and got my degree at Tuskegee University in Alabama. I stayed in the Bronx, NY for a few years when i was real young. Other than that the A-Town has been my home for as long as I can remember.

Can you talk about your latest mixtape?

Yeah I have a double release. I got "Only The Crunk Survive Volume 7". That’s the mix cd that’s really been groundbreaking for alot of the crunk artist that you see out there now. I also got the kick off for my screwed and chopped series called "The Trillest In the South". I love Watts and Screw and them . So it’s my way of kinda reppin the whole screw movement Atl style nawimean. And uhh "Sick Wit It 5" wit my patna Black Bill Gates. That’s my biggest mixtape yet. Everytime we get together the cds come out straight classic.

How have your tapes changed from when you started until now?

Man, when I started making tapes in high school, i just used to want to hear myself mix so I could critique what I needed to work on. I'd put anything together from underground south, east and west coast music. Now, I'm still underground man. No matter what form of hip-hop from crunk, to lyrical, to street or whatever, thats where the best music is bred because the artists are hungry you know. It’s still underground, it’s just that now my mixtapes are to expose southern underground artists. There are other dj's to handle the other artists in other areas.

You're also running Hitmen Productions, what's good with that?

I was added to Hitmen Productions while in college at Tuskegee. DJ Caesar, one of the founding memebers along with DJ Nasty and DJ Khaled, put me down. Long story short, we did our damn thing down there and now it’s like I got stock in it or something. Its cool though. We have members nationwide. It’s a family, a crew, a movement and so many other positive things wrapped up in one. WE are doing big things and have so many big things coming up ahead. check us out www.hitmenproductions.com

You do a lot of crunk mixtapes, what do you like best about that kind of music?

Man it’s energetic. It’s the shit. That’s why I love crunk, reggae, hardcore hip-hop and all. It's good party music. You need a balance you know. Sometimes I wanna get crunk. Sometimes I wanna listen to some real life type shit you know. But crunk is cool. We BEEN crunk down south since booty shake and Eightball & MJG "Lay It Down" so it ain't goin' nowhere. So all the crunk haters need to chill and respect what's goin' on you know.

How do you feel about the other types of Hip Hop?

I came up on Tribe Called Quest, Roots, Ras Kass, Nas, Krs One, T La Rock, Mobb Deep, NWA, Souls of Mischief, Outkast, UGK, Eightball & MJG, Common and so on. I love good music that serves well for its purpose. I love all forms hip-hop.

What's the hardest thing about being a mixtape DJ?

Whoooa man. Stayin' on your P's and Q's. Thinking ahead to what's about to be hot really. We are the A&R's of the industry right now. We are the ones that have an ear for what the people want to hear.

How do you make the perfect mixtape?

You make the perfect mixtape by being content with your product and knowing that you can honestly enjoy listening to your own mixtape after it’s done. It starts with you first. Every DJ has a different formula for making a good mixtape depending on what audience they cater too.

How do you know if your mixtape is bangin?

The streets will tell you. When your phone is ringing off the hook cuz people is trying to get your mixtape. When you hand out your promo copies of your mixtape and the bootleggers have it distributed on a local level, then regionally, then nationally, then possibly overseas, that’s when you know you got some hot shit and you need to stick wit it. If that aint happenin, you need to step back and regroup cuz we got a lot of fly by night DJ's cloggin up the mixtape game right now.

How important is the cover in the mixtape game?

The cover. It’s like the cover of a book. People say don't judge a book by its cover, but in reality, people pay attention to a product based on its appearance. Unfortunately there are good mixtapes with poor covers that do not get there due respect and garbage mixtapes with great covers that become successful due to their appearance.

What mixtape DJ's do you respect?

DJ Jelly, Michael Watts, DJ Screw (RIP), Tony Touch, Funkmaster Flex, Clue, Beat Junkies just to name a few... Those are some of the REAL mixtape kings. They can all put together good mixtapes in one way or another.

What's the last three albums you've been bumpin?

Hmm...Man this year in music has been horrible to me really. Good singles bad albums.. but umm if you look in my disc changer, you’ll see Lil Wayne – The Carter, Nas - Illmatic (My favorite album of all time), and Andre/Outkast - Love Below. I know those two are old but that just shows you that these artist need to step there game up. Don’t blame it on downloading and bootlegging, blame it on your product.

What's coming up for you?

Man just a whole bunch of mixtapes with up and coming artists. The continuations of all of my mixes, "Only The Crunk Survive", "Trillest In The South", "Sick Wid It". I am now part of a label by the name of Hoodrich Entertainment. We have a very promising artist by the name of Kickstand that were in the lab wit cooking up some next level down south shit. And umm, parties. I am very accepted by the college community as a party DJ so Ill be out on the road getting a college party near you Crunk. YEEAAH!!

Where can Heads cop your mixtapes?

Just hit me up direct nawimean. 404 540 5000. A lot of sites on the net too for real though. www.iap-tv.com, www.mixunit.com, www.mixtapeallstars.com, www.bestmixtapes.com, www.urbanstreetz.com are my main US distributors. For my peeps in Canada, they on www.mixconnect.com. I’m getting added to more sites frequently though.

Shout Outs:

Naw I don't do shout outs man. Shouts out to all my folk though they know who they are! And Shouts out To Mr.730! YEP!

Interview by Brian Kayser
email Brian Kayser