DJ Rab: Sets the Standards

Producer/DJ Rab 'The International' Bakari (left in picture) with hiplife superstar Lord Kenya I was born and raised in NYC, USA to Ghanaian and African-American parents. I lived in Brooklyn, Jamaica Queens and Harlem. So getting into this Hip Hop thing was unavoidable. I started watching the Djay crews in Jamaica Queens. I used to lean over the djay's turntables and try to read the name on the vinyl label. Or I glanced at the album cover when the vinyl was returned to the crates.

Many djays marked out the names so no one could get up on that 'exclusive break beat'. These crates were plastic. They were made to carry these milk cartons; ya know half gallon, quarts and shit like that! They were never meant to carry Lps! This is just like the turntable. It was never meant to be used a manual instrument to produce musical sounds.

I was raised as a Muslim, so discipline was always hanging about. Africa was always talked about, but the real situation was trying to make the best out of America. I started copying some of my cousin's 'Live Jam' tapes. These cassettes introduced me to Grand Wizard Theodore, Grand Master Flash, The Disco Twins, Afrika Bambaata, Understanding God, Djay Divine and mad people up in Manhattan and the Bronx. My cousin was older than me, so I couldn't enter these 'jams' & 'battles' that are legendary today. Mind you, this was around 1978-79! I was mad young! But I was shopping for beats by 11years old with allowance dough and hustle money! By 1981, I had 2 crates of breaks with doubles but no djay equipment! Tha'ts how crews were formed! You hook-up with some kids in the hood who moms actually went out to buy 2 turntables, a mixer, amp and speakers. Someone else might contribute a microphone. Then it was on.

One cat that was also up on the beats was my man GZA from the Wu-Tang clan. We were around the same age and we lived a few blocks from each other, so we were mixed right into this Hip Hop scene together. I actually quit djaying in 1981 to begin my 10 year career in 'good ole-fashioned NYC graffiti. My tag was RAB CAC (The Cool Art Creators ). My peak years was when I was at Brooklyn Tech High School. By 1985, I had gone 'All City'. My name was on every train line (inside & out) running through the arteries of NYC, I did pieces! Whole cars, handball courts, mini burners, 'racked cans of paint'; ran the 'lay-ups'; cut holes in the yards, ya know; the whole 'Wild-Style' shit! I even got connected to Europe from selling canvases.

I studied under names that are legendary today! Big shout to Henry Chalfant. He was one photographer that did a lot for Graff and Hip Hop in general. The fashion then was shell-top adidas, suede pumas, and various name-brand jeans. Oh yeah! I can't forget my Kangol and those denim jackets, BVDs, Cazals, gold chains. Yo! The shit was real! I was right in the middle of world revolution in entertainment! As for Africa, I still had not made my first trip to land of my parents. But I often wondered if they were experiencing what I was experiencing in NYC. I now know that the Hip Hop movement did arrive on the continent early. This has been confirmed in many countries. I could have been some kinda prophet back in the early eighties, but NYC was a challenge all in itself!

My cousin and I used to get booked for a lot of jams during my 'rapping days'. I used to do mad shows with cats who are legendary now such as Old Dirty Bastard, Mr. Cheeks of the Lost BoyZ, Fredro of Onyx, Pharoahe Monch, Mikey D, GZA and so many others. This was around 1986. All of this was in Queens. Biz Markie and so many others used to be around. It was all family! So I was rapping, djaying, breakdancing and bombing the NYC subway line, a member of Zulu nation chapter 11. No one could tell me that I was not keeping it real then! Word! As for the breakdancing, I was there when they was calling that shit 'up-rocking'. We had a tight crew in 1983. Mad competitions, auditions for adverts and all of that. Hung out and trained with best from NYC. Word!

On Production Techniques: List Equipment
After I got my own djay set and mad crates of vinyl, I started doing 'block parties'; house parties and club gigs. The 80's was ill! Money was flowing because of crack. Hip Hop artists started to taste cash! My first turntables were the Technics B2 (belt-drive) plus a Gemini mixer. I bought my first drum machine in 1985. It was one of those Boss Dr. Rythyms. I bought my first sampler that same year ( KORG SDD 2000) The shit had small memory compared to shit now! I was influenced by Marley Marl. I never met him but I figured out how he was triggering chopped-up kiks and snares through a drum machine. I also got the basics to some new technology at the time called MIDI. I went and bought a Korg Poly 800 synth. I dreamed about buying a Linn Drum, an EMU Emulator and a Yamaha DX7.

To cut a long story short, I was trained by Understanding God of Jamaica, Queens. He remembered me when I used to hound him for the name of breaks he used to drop at some jams. On sampling: I consider Dj premier, Dj Pete Rock; The Shocklees of the Bomb Squad; Large professor; Understanding God; RZA; Diamond D and Marley Marl my contemporaries. They were all into the same thing, at the same time, following the same path, in the same city as me. That is why the most-renowned producers in Hip Hop began as djays. Take a look DJ Scratch. The kid built a name for himself with his table skills. Now that motherfucker is collecting fat, fat royalty checks for blessing cats like Busta Rhymes with some of the most wigged-out beats. Dj Clark Kent is another. NYC cats blowing up the spot! Oh there were other djay/producers out there. Dr. Dre of Cali was a djay at first also! My tool of the trade became the ENSONIQ EPS (later the EPS-16 & ASR 10). This was a sampler! I always had the keyboard version. I could flip beats in that shit with my eyes closed for an hour! Word

I watched Pete Rock & Large Prof make the SP-12 (later SP-1200) stretch itself far beyond the limits for what it was made for. My cousin Flex (not the famous NYC djay) and I were determined to do the same with the ENSONIQ samplers. We chopped, diced, looped, filtered, muffled, truncated and stretched any bass line, horn, kik or snare we could dig out the crates! I still use the ASR-10 but not for sequencing. Computers have become way too flexible! Although I started with Notator sequencer in the late eighties, by far, CUBASE is the choice. Even Ghana is flooded with CUBASE users! As for computers, I have always been a Mac user. I will be one to the day I die! Unfortunately, when I relocated to Ghana in the 1990's, everybody here was using PC-based systems (windows). Once in a while, I do stray to the Akai series for sampling. Such as MPC series and the rack mount 'S' series (s-950, s-1000, s-3000).

This is why cats in Ghana are making corny beats. They don't have the history like I do. Cats in Accra, never dug deep enough in the collections to chop shit up and give birth to mutations. I know beats! There is no rap record out there now, where I can't recognize where they got some sound from. My moms collection was scarce on the African beats. Consuming in Africa was so different from consuming in the US. So a lot of shit was going on in Ghana but those LPs were not reaching the shops in NYC. I discovered rare African beats in the early nineties. Sampling will always be a part of me! It's the backbone to rap music. Me personally, I think my beats are typical NYC shit. Like Pete, Primo, Diamond D, Ali & Q-Tip and all those other djay/producer cats from NYC. When I relocated to Accra in 1994, I saw that they were jamming to everything from Naughty By Nature to Fat Joe. So I felt at home. I proceeded to drop beats for cats. But Ghanaians could not relate to what I saw in NYC. It didn't fit. Something else had to be formed.

On Reggie Rockstone
On Reggie Rockstone We linked up in 1994. We were both visiting Accra from Babylon (Europe & North America). I met him in a nightclub in Accra with his Sierra Leone partner; Freddie Funkstone. They had come down to perform at Panafest '94. They were known as PLZ in London, UK. They were one of the most successful Hip Hop acts in the UK. Rockstone had been a famous breakdancer in Ghana during the 1980's. He got that 'big break' to see NYC and London later. I heard them rapping on the instrumental of Das EFX's 'Microphone Checka'. I was shocked! I said to myself ''Cats are getting skills like that in Accra?" I introduced myself. They could not believe that they were hooking up with an authentic producer from the Mecca of Hip Hop in Accra. It was on!

I had come for vacation from my university studies, so I did not have my tools of the trade, ya know; computer discs; turntables, sampler, demo tape of beats and all of that. They took me to a studio with an ASR 10 and a crate of vinyl to dig into. It took me half an hour to blow their minds with a beat built entirely from samples. Reggie Rockstone has a lot of character which most rap artist lack. That is why you can only remember a few artists. I know some cats with killer beats, tight lyrics but no character! They get washed up in the sea of entertainment. That bi-lingual shit works also. Plus I like the fact that he is resident in his country (Ghana). Most cats would have split by now, but he keeps holding it down for our people.

On DJaying
I started in 1978. They are not doing anything in Ghana as far as creative or extraordinary. I'm glad I met Dj Kofi in 1998. Both of his parents are Ghanaian. He grew up in Liverpool and London, England. He got the exposure. I mean, I could do all the transforming cuts from 1987: back-handed cuts, blends for the parties and all that fancy shit. But when I slipped into production, I lost some of the skills. I always put some sort of scratching in my beats. I always represent with two turntables and a small mixer on stage for any artist that I perform with. I use it! I don't have that shit up there for display! I keep the best stylus (Ortofon & Stanton). I do all the little tricks to keep the vinyl flowing smooth in the groove. I buy beats! I get promo copies of hot shit from the States. I have djayed big-time parties! I have djayed on Joy; Groove; Choice & Vibe (all of Accra) with live mixing! No compact discs! I have djayed on radio stations in NYC & Texas when I was in the States. This shit is real! I take djaying very seriously!

On Pan-Africanism: Heroes
That's what I'm all about. Cats who come to my house in Accra are amazed to see books by Kwame Nkrumah; Amical Cabral; Eduardo Mondlane; Cheik Anta Diop; Marcus Garvey; Malcolm X; J.K. Nyrere and all those African leaders who laid their lives down so cats like me can eat and live properly on the continent. I probably represent the living proof of bridging the gap between the diaspora outside of Africa. North American & African! There are not too many cats like me! I'm saying this because those who are living in USA across the Atlantic and throughout the European continent are not living and working like I am in an African country. If there is some cat out there that saw what I saw in America and relocated to Africa; then get that person in touch with me right away! It's Africa's time to shine! I got 400 or more books on Pan Africanism. I want to share the knowledge! I plan to link Africa and its lost bretheren through the sub-culture of Hip Hop. Anybody down with me?

On Why I did no blow-up
People were making moves in NYC. I was all in the mix but, now that I reflect back to those days, I was too serious about my university studies. I ended up getting a Bacc. degree in Science (Physics). I originally started out in the School of Electrical Engineering at the the four year school called CCNY. (I did graduate from there) The workload was too much! So I switched majors. The campus was nestled in a nice area of Harlem, Manhattan, NYC. School was difficult in the USA because I had to work a full time job; attend classes at the full time schedule and hustle for more dollars on the weekends. I made beats; I sold shit in the streets of NY. All of this made me want to go back to Ghana. This decision became a reality when I graduated in 1997. I still have my connections in NYC & Europe. Thanks to sites like AfricanHiphop.com; I now have mad connections throughout the African continent. My time to blow is directly connected to what I achieve as an entertainment entrepreneur in Africa.

On Break Beats
Looking for hard to get vinyl of African artists. I have more than 8000 pieces of vinyl in Accra. The used to have these record conventions in NYC. I used to go with some cats such as Rockwilder (beatman for Redman, Big Pun, Methodman and others). I used to meet up with Q-tip; Diamond D; Showbiz, Lord Finesse and Pharoahe Monch. These guys were serious about their rare beats! We would pay up to $60 US just for a five second drum groove. Sometimes some unknown Japanese beat-shoppers would buy all the rare shit before we even set foot in the hotel convention. I had all the 'basic breakbeats' by 1982. what I mean by basic is that what ever came out on a compilation by the late eighties; I had the original jammies in my milk crate already! Shopping for beats became more than just looking for drumbreaks. I began to look for sounds and certain recordings. Horns, chimes, those old keyboard sounds, bass lines and all that. Like that shit from Stax. There is no way you can recreate those kiks and snares today. You gotta sample and chop that shit up! The room had a natural reverb to it. If there is anybody who was born and raised in any African country and did the same thing we did in NYC; that would be a story in itself. Beat-shopping for vinyl in Africa. It's possible. I'm sure there are some gems stashed in someone's trunk in someone's house in some city. We had it easy! Record stores (shops) knew exactly what we wanted. They did the digging for us! Big business I must say!

On Independent Record Labels
Kassa Records is my baby! It's still growing! I have one artist (reggie Rockstone) who has put me on the map as far as being an executive. We have spent tens of thousands of dollars for the company. You need promotion, marketing, sales, accounting, artist development and mad creativity. There are still people out there that don't have any of Rockstone's material. Yes! Independent is nice, but I want my shit to hit Dar-es Salaam just like Redman. This is not The USA. The average 14-26 year old does not consume like their counterparts in North America or Europe, so the dough is slow to come in. Independent success like No limit; Cash Money; Ruthless and others only will come when I get more dough to sign cats from Senegal; South Africa; Kenya and Algeria and anywhere else in Africa. We are planning to have a conference on these issues. Ya know; sort of like a pan-African hip hop conference. We need corporate sponsors. Rap is large on the African continent.

On Radio Stations
Privatisation of the airwaves took place after Ghana changed its constitution in 1992. This was after successive years of military governance. African governments have always been wary of telecommunications in the civilian hands. Coups are common. I still can't believe that it took that long for radio and TV to blast off in Ghana. I'm sure there are many other parallels in other African countries. Now we can do what we want to do. Before 1995; there was only the Ghana Broadcasting Company with its TV network and regional affiliate stations. The youth had no public vehicle. Now we got entertainment shows; deejays (although most are only presenters) blowing up over night. These motherfuckers are taking payola to play a track from an upcoming artist. This is not good. Yes people gotta eat! But don't bite the hand that feeds you. Those young presenters would not be anything if we didn't set it off with this local Hip Hop! Accra has 14 radio stations today. Kumasi has 10 and at then there are least 50 more unevenly divided between the other 8 regions of Ghana. American Hip Hop has always been a part of Ghana. As for Rap; we probably get the latest shit from the USA faster than everybody else. Even faster than Senegal & Gambia. Senegal gets the French rap, which Ghana does not have a clue about. But cats in Ghana do know that underground shit from NYC. I had a radio show on Vibe 91.9 FM that bumped shit only heard late at night in NYC, Paris or London. I'm glad the radio airwaves have been let loose a little bit. It's helping to educate the populace.

On the Internet
Connection of different artists from the continent was probably the best thing that came out of the internet. Other things came out as well such as instant, world wide promotion. When Guido Sohne and I designed the official website for Rockstone, we had no idea of the far-reaching effects that would be produced from the site. E-mail was another little handy tool that helped with the disbursement of information. I mean, how would I know that Senegal and Tanzania had a local Hip Hop revolution going on just like what was happening in Ghana. In five years; radio stations in Accra will not have to go to Dakar or Jo'burg to buy a physical CD. A program director can just snatch the hottest shit from South Africa in minutes by browsing and blow that shit up for this week's rotation. Fuck all that talk about MP3 and virtual files. I believe in that. I'm from the old school. Ya know, a good piece of vinyl. But I don't expect to get the hottest shit from Lagos on vinyl. Those cats in Nigeria gotta catch up with Ghana, South Africa and those eastern countries. They are kinda slow when it comes to internet issues. Shit was probably due to corruptive regimes of governments. I'm down for whatever!

Rab 'The International' Bakari can be reached at: rbakari@hotmail.com