To be inspired in this day in age is not hard but to maintain and have the ability to increase that inspiration is something that seperates the artist who creates and will be heard from the one that no one will ever know. Joshua Stevenson aka DJ-H2 will be seperated by as Bruce Lee would say his, “emotional content.” Residing currently in the Big Apple and already worked with the likes of the legendary C.L. Smooth, DJ-H2 has found his purpose. Right now as you are reading this, he is constructing another sound and striving to as he states, “To make a mold in music history, instead of making another hot beat.”

Scheme: Let’s start of with the basic question, what is your name?

DJ-H2: (laughs) My name is Halo Squared because back when I was smaller when I was in junior high school in choir class I was a little bad ass. I was acting up with the other kids but when you look at me you wouldn’t think I was doing that. So my choir teacher pointed me out one time and said look at you standing over there like you have a little halo over your head. At that time I was trying to figure out what my alias was going to be anyway so it kind of took off from there and I had all the kids in school calling me Halo for a while. Then when I got into tagging, I couldn’t tag Halo because there was already a Halo here in the Bronx and if I would’ve tagged that it would’ve started beefs and all that crap. So that’s where I got the Halo squared (H2).

Scheme: I saw in a couple of your clips that you skate as well. How long have you been skating?

DJ-H2: I’m decent I can get around the city. I’m not Lupe where I can kick flip and grind and all that stuff. I was actually blading before I got into skating. Up here it’s a pretty big movement but as far as skateboarding is concerned it’s just transportation for most people.

Scheme: When did you get introduced to music in general, what song clicked in your body and made you begin to develop a love for it?

DJ-H2: Damn! I guess the first song that really set it off for me would be, ‘I Wanna be Where You Are’ by the Jackson 5. I had the 45 on the fisher price turntable and I was about 3 years old. My mom had a whole bunch of records and she would try to hide them from me because I was always writing on them with crayons. That song did it for me and I thought that was such a good sound and I never wanted to let that go.

Scheme: Were you formally taught music?

DJ-H2: I really fought my way into because in the beginning I was doing the choir thing and I was singing but that really didn’t take off to crazy. After that I moved to New York and in high school I didn’t have a music class but I noticed my friends that went to the same school did. What happened was I ended up cutting one of my core classes because they had a DJ class within the class and I always wanted to learn how to dj. By that time I was already playing around with music on the computer but that was more electronica stuff.

Scheme: When did you start really getting into beatmaking?

DJ-H2: After dealing with turntablism and understanding rhythm I sat myself down infront of the computer and tried to involve myself in the whole scheme of rhythm within beatmaking so I was about 15-16 years old when I really tried to shape it.

Scheme: At that age did you know that, that was the career you wanted to pursue?

DJ-H2: I became so fascinated with and the sounds I was making I was like I really wanted this to take off and I wanted it to be something I could have fun doing and reach out to people as well.

“I think marketing is going to be the scariest thing at this point only because there is so much going on in the state of hip hop now where you have to have certain style of clothes or act this way and there are things you have to speak about or rap about. I would hate to feel like I would have to be manufactured into that.”

Scheme: When did you start getting noticed?

DJ-H2: It started on the other end and worked it’s way to this end. It started with the whole DJ thing, I was djing with a lot of drum and base stuff. What happened was I went out to a open turntable event on the lower east side and they had me spin there every Wednesday and I would drop a couple of my tracks during the set. People felt it but as far as hip hop was concerned. After I got on the myspace thing a lot of cats were reaching out. From there I was able to go to shows and drop beats at shows and from there the inquiries kept coming and I began to build a fan base.

Scheme: Is there any part of the industry that scares you if you decide to get involved with it?

DJ-H2: I think marketing is going to be the scariest thing at this point only because there is so much going on in the state of hip hop now where you have to have certain style of clothes or act this way and there are things you have to speak about or rap about. I would hate to feel like I would have to be manufactured into that. Being a producer is hard because you have artists that have one avenue who speak about certain things and there is another avenue that may not fill the message you want to portray. However, you don’t want to play that person by not giving them any beats but if it’s not something I’m down with, I’d have a hard time letting go of the beat (laughs).

“I’m not trying to get into this whole ringtone crap where people have to buy your ringtone to get your status up it’s something that should just be. If it’s art and it’s really appreciated it should take off.”

Scheme: If you did have complete autonomy and ability to market yourself how would you do it?

DJ-H2: I would try to get as many events popping as I can. I would create a street team and market on that end and I graphic design myself so I wouldn’t have to worry too much about that. As far as marketing I’m trying to keep it lose, free, and original. I’m not trying to get into this whole ringtone crap where people have to buy your ringtone to get your status up it’s something that should just be. If it’s art and it’s really appreciated it should take off.

Scheme: Is there any aspect of your music that is different from who you are as a person?

DJ-H2: Definitely, on the outside I’m this earthy nerd. When it comes down to the music we’re going to talk about sampling rate, the applications I use, equing and all of that. As far as H2 I’m more of a cat that changes with the wind. I wouldn’t give myself a definite style because it’s always flipping around and it’s always changing. I’m an old school cat, so I go back to the whole bridge, Stylewars graffiti era. I classify my character in that whole light but if you meet Joshua Stevenson I’m a pretty bland cat (laughs).

Scheme: What is your opinion on sampling and do you ever see yourself venturing away from it and creating your own sound?

DJ-H2: I have various opinions on it but as far as history is concerned, if you don’t know the artist you are sampling and the contribution they have made to music you are not going to fully understand what you are working with. I’ll sit down and wikipedia an artist. Like last night I was sampling this dude Wardell Gray and I never heard any of his work and I looked this dude up and found out when died and nobody knew his cause of death, they just found him on the side of the road with a broken neck. I was like damn, messed up, but the sound that he produced I’m going to try and harness the soul that he had within his song and make it something better. If your going to sample, don’t just sample a song and run it for eight bars and loop back. You’re not being creative with that you’re just taking a person’s song and running it. My thing is creativity is what differentiates you from the others in your industry. As long as you have a different outlook on music, it will stand out. As far as branching away from sampling I’m getting more towards doing that now because I’m getting more into organic sounds and less relying on vinyl, if you have to rely on a sample to make you a song than that’s not saying much for you as an artist.

Scheme: With that said what drove and or inspired you to take something as classic as the Jungle Book and sample it and come out with an incredible sound?

DJ-H2: I was flipping through youtube and I was like I have not seen the jungle book in a minute. There are a lot of good things like movies and cartoons that are older and when you listen to the soundtracks and sound schemes in those older pieces of work-I heard those notes and I knew what I wanted to do. When I make a track I think about how I flow on it and how I would want one of my favorite artists to flow on it.

Scheme: At times I find myself melancholy because the world is mentally sick and it gets me down every so often but what keeps you getting up everyday, making beats and keeps you inspired?

DJ-H2: Man, it’s the love for it. I get up in the morning and I’m amped to make another beat because I want to know what else there is I can do, what new sound I can play with and what else I can create. I feel you on the melancholy thing, but that’s just the way the world is sometimes.