DJ Child — Interview

What is your stage name?

Deejay Child; the company name [is] “ProjectGroundation.com”.

Where are you from?

I grew up on a small farm in Central Pennsylvania til I was 9 — spent my teenage years in Philly & Boston — & have now lived in East Oakland for the past 13 years.

Tell us what was it like growing up there.

Skateboarding & Hip-Hop — that was [my life]. I basically lived at Love Park in Philly. I feel blessed I was a teenager in the mid-90’s. It was the dopest era to grow up on the East Coast.

What was your first memorable encounter with music that made you a music junkie?

When I was 10, I got a [guitar] and taught m[yself] every single Metallica song. From there it was a wrap.

What was a special time for you growing up in Hip Hop prior to becoming an artist?

Mid Nineties — skating with my Walkman, [bumping] Tony Touch, DJ Clue & Stone Love mixtapes.

Tell us one thing you learned from the Jacka?

It’s not just what [you] do with your life… it’s how you treat [people]. That’s how they gonna remember you.

Is music a profession or a calling for you?

Definitely a calling. I process all my emotions & express the things that I don’t know how to say through music. But don’t get it fucked up… I’m bout my business.

What are you currently working on musically?

[I] just released [a] full length [al]bum starring Jacka & Husa[lah] called “Mash On Babylon”. It’s available everywhere digitally & in stores. It’s all new material where I produced every track. We got features from M1 (Dead Prez), Freeway, Joe Blow, Ampichino, Dru Down, Street Knowledge, Lil Blood, Bandaide (Hoodstarz) etc. I just did a Street Album for RobLo that should be [out] within the next month & now I’m workin on one with Dru Down. I’m also bout halfway done with my next production/compilation album. Jack’s strategy was to push me as a DJ/Producer that’s branded like an artist… like Drama or Khaled. I’ma stay on that path.

How did you meet Jacka?

I moved to the Bay from Boston in 2003 — it was like I’d moved to a different country. I got linked with the Demolition Men to sell some tree, & met DJ Impereal, who’s originally from Corona, Queens, so we just hit it off naturally on that East Coast asshole type of vibe. I was doin the same thing as them but with Reggae — droppin’ mixtapes every month on my label, “Project Groundation Massive (PGM)”, with some of the biggest artists outta Jamaica & the Virgin Islands.

Me & Impereal would give our mixtapes to each other all the time. He told me 2 artists they worked with kept stealing my projects & wanted to meet me. It ended up being Jacka & Husalah. I had no idea who they were. When they played me the Mob shit, it was the first West Coast music I really fucked with. I met Jack, Hus & Fed-X a couple weeks later & we just instantly clicked, vibe wise. It was just like chillin’ with my bredren back East. I had no idea how big their music was — we just had a mutual respect for each other’s craft & became close friends. The rest is history.

Tell us about working with Jacka on the last couple albums just released.

In 2012, I went away for a lil while. I had a lot of time to meditate & I knew I had to switch things up drastically. So a year & change later, I got home. Jack came through & said “come fuck with the AR… I got you”. So I did. The first project we did was [the] “Write My Wrongs” mixtape with him & Freeway. It was to help hype up their album “Hiway Robbery”. After that, we began the epic journey that became “What Happened To The World”. We worked on that for almost a year. It was definitely a labor of love. We’d start mad sessions early afternoon & still be recording til’ the sun came up… sometimes there’d be 25 people in my lab… others, it was just us.

I loved working with Jack… there was no formula… everything unfolded organically. It was never contrived — it always turned out just the way it was supposed to. I think a lot of that is cuz we’d spend nuff time just talkin’ shit, laughin’… talkin’ bout life on some deep shit. That was & always will be my brother for reals… & more then anything, that’s why our music sounded the way it did… cuz we was family — & we always had that root foundation of trust & respect.

What’s your top 3 favorite artists of all time and why? Elaborate in a few sentences.

The 1st three that come to mind are Sizzla, Beanie Sigel & Jacka. All of them make me feel like I know them & what their life’s are like. They make me think about my life & have helped get me through certain circumstances.

One day you will not be here — what kind of legacy do you hope to leave behind?

I pray I gave more then I took.

How can people find you?

I pretty much only fuck with Instagram — @deejaychild — or www.projectgroundation.com.

Any last words?

Give thanks for including me in this issue. It means a lot to me. Give thanks to my friend, teacher & brother, Shaheed Akbar.