The mixtape used to be the best place to hear good street-level hip-hop. Radio only plays about 30 artists, and the clubs can be a hassle with all the bad attitude and strutting. But since the RIAA raided Atlanta mixtape DJs Don Cannon and DJ Drama two years ago for copyright infringement, a pall has settled over the practice. RIAA lawyers have chased the mixtape out of many record stores and off many websites. As a result, many practitioners have left the game or changed tactics. Enter DJ G-Spot.
G-Spot is a DJ in the classic sense, having cut his teeth on the
turntables rocking parties in Chicago. He still plays shows several
weekends a month. At the height of the mixtape’s popularity, he made
two or three a month. But after eight years, he’s taken a different
tack with his new compilation, Midwest Invasion. It features a
variety of regional artists, including Northeast Ohio rappers KingDOM,
Team Tuck, Drastic, Proph the Problem and Phoenix Jones.
“It has real production and no real worries about the RIAA looking
for me — that’s why it’s been so hard to put together,” says
G-Spot, who spent a year gathering 11 rappers and eight producers for
the 12 tracks. “This was a way to actually push something that the RIAA
cannot touch.”
But it’s not completely free of legal issues. The highlight track is
Jones’ “Family Guy,” produced by Camp Crystal Lake. It features a hook
culled from the animated TV sitcom’s theme song. The quirky,
bravado-steeped track features Jones claiming, “I got a Napoleon
complex/I got a big head/You might not feel that, homie/But your bitch
get it.”
“I’ve been sending it to the Family Guy people hoping they
sue me, so it can go nationwide” says G-Spot. “I don’t have any money,
but I’ll take the publicity.”
The comp boasts a wide cross-section — from the hard-charging
“Midwest Got Next,” featuring Milwaukee’s Streetz N Young Deuces
working a gnarly guitar riff, to Drastic’s R&B-flavored con-rap and
Team Tuck’s low-rolling paean to getting blitzed and blunted, “I’m
Twisted.” The diversity is intentional. “I try to keep my ears open to
what people like,” says G-Spot. “I like what I like, but I separate
what I like sometimes, just for the general good of music and for the
audience.”
That’s something he learned in the club scene. G-Spot got his start
spinning house music at parties in Chicago in the ’80s. He was only 14
years old, but his mom signed off, dropping him up and picking him up
as late as 3 a.m, as long as he kept his grades up. He remembers
spinning with Bad Boy Bill.
“I was just a kid,” he says. “He’s like, ‘Man, what’s up with you?’
I was getting paid no money, doing it for the girls. It taught me a lot
about work ethic. You can’t get nothing for free.”
Over the years, he’s continued to spin, branching out in the ’90s
beyond dance, playing hip-hop as it became more popular in the clubs.
He’d been listening to it for years, but there was little call for it
in the clubs.
G-Spot moved to Cleveland 10 years ago, following a friend who got a
radio job here. He left a good job at United Health Care and ended up
taking one at National City, where he was an ATM operating supervisor.
Incredibly, a staff of five people hand-entered ATM transactions for
the entire city. “It was the craziest shit ever,” he says. “I quit
after a month.” He’s been grinding it out making mixes and spinning
ever since.
He caught a break early on. At his first Cleveland DJ gig, at the
old Spy Bar, he was spotted by a member of a local radio promotion
staff. They offered him a job, which got his foot in the door at radio.
These days he provides mixes for stations as far-flung as Oklahoma, as
well as for cable’s Music Choice channels.
“You can’t just be a DJ anymore,” says G-Spot, who produced the
comp’s opening track by Bump J. “You have to manage somebody, jump on
the mike, do production. You have to have those second and third
hustles these days.”
This article appears in May 13-19, 2009.