DJ Rhettmatic: Visionary Beat Junkie - Part II

Scheme: Well you talk about being the most un-popular one out of the Beat Junkies but you landed the DJ spot for J Dilla’s last tour?
DJ Rhettmatic: It was surreal, I met Dilla once a long time ago when he was still with Slum Village. I’d heard about Jay Dee because of his production work with Tribe and stuff. I discovered Slum and more of him when Babu and I were both in Japan with the Visionaries and we went to this record store called Manhattan Records. If you know about Japan you know they always get exclusive stuff that we don’t get over here. So the guy that works there asked if we knew about Jay Dee and I was like, “Yeah!”, and he was like, “Well this is his group Slum Village.” I’d heard about their Fantastic Volume I, but I’d never heard it. So the dude plays the record in the store and the first song we heard was “I Don’t Know” and the official 12’ had “I Don’t Know” on one side and Fantastic on the other and the label was called Sudden Impact. It was a deal brokered by Dilla and Manhattan Records. So we heard it and we were like what the f*ck James Brown!?!? We couldn’t get these in the United States so we bought twenty copies and brought them back home. We brought them back to LA for the Junkies and we used to bang it at all the clubs. I put it on the World Famous Beat Junkies Vol. II and a lot people say that, that CD I made was an introduction to people to west coast underground hip-hop. I did put a lot of west coast underground hip-hop on there and ironically a lot of them were my friends. It was kind of like a renaissance period because we were all trying to make it together and support each other. Also it was like the independent scene from the east coast was happening. I remember when Slum started coming out to LA when they were signed to Good Vibes. They had a show and I remember coming up to Dilla and being like, “Hey, respect, I love your work.”, and he was like, “Yeah!” and that was like ’98.

Fast forward I personally met Dilla in 2003-2004 and, what was the question again (laughs)?

Scheme: The question was you were talking about how you aren’t one of the popular Beat Junkies, yet you landed this opportunity to DJ for Dilla on his last tour.
DJ Rhettmatic: When he started making his transition to move to LA he was pretty much hanging out with Otis [Madlib] and J.Rocc. I finally got to meet him at the McNasty video shoot with Frank N’ Dank and that’s when I really got to talk to him. He had just dropped F*ck the Police and UpAbove Records was the label I was signed to. I did a mixed CD called Exclusive Collection and my mixed CD didn’t come out yet but I knew he was going to be there, so I brung a promo copy. So I ran into him and he was like, “Yeah I remember you putting I Don’t Know on your mixtape.”, and I was like oh sh*t and I was like, “Well yeah here, why don’t you hear what I did with F*ck the Police on this mix CD.” I saw him the next day at a show and he was like, “Man, you f*cked that sh*t up!” So I was like, “Whenever you need scratches from me I’ll do it dude, you don’t even have to pay me I just want to do it!”, and that’s how our relationship started.

When Dilla came out to LA, J.Rocc was his official DJ and when Madlib and Dilla become Jaylib, J.Rocc is the third official member. What happened was, and this is when he got sick; I knew he was sick already and then he got better and then he started working on the Shining album. He left for Brazil to do a show with Madlib and had a relapse, and he had to come back. I saw him before he left before Brazil but I hadn’t seen him since then, I would talk to him on the phone and we would leave messages here and there. What happened was he was supposed to go to Europe and J.Rocc was supposed to DJ for him and when he got sick that got cancelled.

So around October 2004 I was participating in this thing called the Beat Society, I was on the same stage with Jake-One, Kev Brown and Marco Polo and I’m shitting bricks (laughs) because I’m like, what am I gonna do? So the day of I get a voicemail message from Tim Manor whose Dilla’s off and on again manager and the message said Dilla wants you to DJ for him in Europe are you available? An hour later Dilla calls me personally and he’s like, “Yo, I know your busy and all but I want you to go to Europe with me what’s your schedule like?” It was crazy because the tour was like at the end of November beginning of December and around that time I was gonna go to the Filipines. So I was like, “F*ck it I’ll make it work, hell yeah I’m going let’s do it.” Granted I hadn’t seen Dilla yet and I knew he was sick but I didn’t know how sick he was. I called J.Rocc and Madlib and I was like thanks for looking out for me and they were like, “I didn’t tell him anything, he did it on his own.”

So I’m waiting at the airport and I was kind of worried because I was the only one there at first, everyone was running late. So everyone starts to come in and Dave New York is with him and they’re holding Dilla up in the wheelchair. When I saw Dave New York and I saw Ma Dukes I was like okay, but when I saw him I was like is that really Dilla? He looked skinny and they were rolling him in a wheelchair. I pulled Dave New York aside and I was like, “Are you sure he can do this?” He was like, “He wants to do it.”

In hindsight I’m glad he did because I think he knew he was going to pass. On the last day of the tour I was like, “Whatever you want I got you, thank you for bringing me.” and he was like, “Nah dude, when we get back home I want you to be on the Shining album.” Unfortunately that never happened. I think that was his way of saying since were not going to do any work in the future this is my way of us working together. You can tell with the shows we did in Europe it meant a lot to him, and made him more stronger. Before we left for Europe Dave New York was telling me he was having a hard time eating but after the tour Dave New York took him to the doctor and the doctor was like. “You’re eating more.” He was like, “You want to know?” The doctor said yeah and he was like. “Off the record, we were smoking (laughs)!” The doctor said, “Whatever you’re doing keep up good work!” He’s an amazing man and his mother is an incredible woman.

Scheme: So for you moving forward you had an insightful blog about ’07 and the highs and lows of that year. What would you like to come close to mastering about yourself on a personal level in ’08?
DJ Rhettmatic: So many things, I’m still trying to master myself as a person and trying to figure myself out as an artist more. That’s the one thing about this business everyone thinks it’s easy. It’s not easy, it’s fun and there’s the glamour but it’s hard work really. I tell people the music business isn’t the most stable occupation to be in. It almost became more like work and I had to reflect on why I was doing this. We all need to pay bills but if you’re really happy at what you’re doing all the money and things will come to you. 2006 was tough, Dilla passed, an LA native DJ Dust was killed, and I got out of a three year relationship that was very special to me, so everything that was going on in 2006 was spilling over into 2007. So after weathering the storm I feel like I’m in a better place.