MELO-D
THE BEAT JUNKIES
INTRVIEW PROVIDED BY "BRONZ CTC FA"...MAD THANKS YO!
 BRONZ: What was it like to land the job as the DJ for Vibe? MELO-D: Ahhh man that whole thing was real crazy because it was so last minute. I’ll never forget the show because the very first taping of it was August 4th, 1997. I do a radio show as well and for some odd reason there was no show the Friday night prior to that. So I was just chillin’ at home and I get this phone call from this lady who said she was from Vibe. And I had heard that they were auditioning DJs but the only reason that I didn’t inquire about it because Babu told me that he had auditioned for it and he was pretty excited about it because there was pretty good chance that he was gonna get it. So I was thinking that was cool because he’s family and at least someone would be representing. And if it had to be anyone from LA, I’m glad it would be one of the homies. So I got that call and they were requesting me to come down and audition which the request apparently came directly from Quincy Jones himself. And I was like "WOW" and I couldn’t turn that down. So I went down there the next day and if you watch the show you’ll know that the DJ performs with the band. So all the other DJs got to audition with the band but due to the fact that it was Saturday the band wasn’t there. So I ended up auditioning by myself basically just doing like a 15-minute turntable show. And I knew that this being a TV show I had to do stuff that would appeal to the masses but at the same time I wanted to incorporate some of the other skills I had to show all the sides of Djing. So I played some mainstream stuff, some scratching and some old breaks. And as luck would have it they hired me that day on the spot. B: Who were some of the other DJs that you went up against for the show? M: They tried out like 30 DJs. Of course Babu was one of them, Rob Swift from NY, I heard Daz from the Dogg Pound tried out. A couple guys from LA that do underground stuff. But I had heard of most of them. But the crazy part about it was that I got called on a whim and they actually gave me the job. And all the other guys had auditioned and with me it was so last minute and to land something like that was so overwhelming. B: What’s the deal with you doing Vibe now because I was watching it the other day and I think I saw some other DJ on it? M: It’s funny that you mention that because that whole concept of utilizing a DJ from another region was terminated a couple weeks ago, but the reason for that is because the show is a relatively new show and the more and more I get involved in the TV industry the more I see how things really are. It’s a business bottom line. And with the show being new to TV they is a lot of pressure from sponsors, Coumbia-Tristar and you’re up against like Letterman and The Late Show and this show is trying to appeal to audience that hasn’t been catered to since Arsenio Hall. So you’re trying to break new ground and at the same time you’re trying to stay competive. And because the show is national, you got certain markets that are locked down like LA and NY. But then you have other regions like Atlanta, some cities in the midwest where the hiphop vibe isn’t as popular so what they tried to do to generate the ratings was to bring in more local faces and promote the hell out of it on local radio stations and TV. Because if there was a show being taped in LA and the viewer is from Miami and there is a DJ that you’ve never heard of seen before and for one week DJ Craze from Miami was Djing the show then it would do a lot for that particular market. B: You’re a very difficult person to get a hold of. Why are you so daam busy? M: (laughs) It’s because I do the Vibe show which takes up at least 7 hours of my day and I top of that I do a radio show at night, 5 days a week. So my schedule is I’m up in the morning at like 8:30 or 9am and I don’t come home until like 11pm. And when I get home I gotta disassemble the records I used that day for the shows cuz I gotta stay fresh ya know. And at the same time I have to keep in touch with all the new music that’s coming out because one of my jobs on the radio is to break all the new records. So when I get home, if I’m not preparing my mix for the next day, I’m going through all of my mail and promos, etc. And plus I try to practice in between. B: I think in all of the interviews that I’ve read about the Beat Junkies, the topic of porn always seem to come up. Are you into it as much as the rest of them? M: I can’t front ya know cuz I’m a guy and that appeals to most men and the core of that is like DJ Curse, he used to work at a porno shop but he just like left that job last week. But he used to bring home all the tapes from his job and they used to circulate around the crew and I got my hands on a couple of them. B: So what are you doing when you’re not touring or performing? M: Man, I’m just usually kickin it and I chill with some of my homies from Cerritos. If im not practicing, I’m usually chillin with my friends. B: Where has been your favorite place that you’ve gone and what do you think of Miami? M: My favorite place has probably been is Japan for the Vestax World Championships in 1995. That was my first taste of a whole different culture and trippin off how another people live in a different region of the earth. Everything from the people, the food, technology, it just blew my mind. But about Miami, it’s cool…a lot of nice looking women. B: How far do you see yourself going with this and do you have plans to produce or get into other sides of the business? M: I do have production equipment at home but I have been so busy I don’t really have time to devote myself to that. Eventually maybe one day I would like to get into it a little more. In terms of how far I see myself going…that’s a crazy question because what started out as a hobby, something I saw around the way, guys like Rhettmatic and Curse who were my local influences since they were from Cerritos. And seeing scratching like that, it fascinated me. So I kept practicing and I started getting better so everyone was like "you should battle" so in 1993 there was a local battle that I was in and I ended up winning. Then I competed in some of the bigger battles like the DMC and I bumped heads with Babu and Shortkut and being with those guys completely elevated my game. And then I got the job at the radio, so it’s been a whole series of surprising events that I would have never expected by doing something I like to do. So my plans for the future is to just play it by ear because it seems like that’s the way its been working for me. So I’m gonna keep doing what’s been working for me. And if for some reason this all ended for me, I got my college education. I graduated from the Univ. of California Irvine so I got my degree that I can always get some 9 to 5 job. B: Any final comments or words of encouragement to up-and-coming DJs? M: Man, the ones that I have seen, it seems like they have taking everything that has happened over the past couple years. You got guys like A-trak, Chopps, Roli Rho, Vin Roc, Statik, Tony Vegas…it’s good to see guys like that with original shit. So my words to them are to just keep doing what they are doing. |
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