Well, the roles haven’t changed, it’s the people portraying these roles that have changed. What do you think the ultimate role of the DJ is and how has it changed? As I was exploring it I really found out what hip-hop DJ’ing was and that changed my whole life. When I discovered it, I got interested and that led me further down the line on the path. I hadn’t really discovered hip-hop because where I was living it hadn’t really hit. I was into pop music though… it was Pop, Top 40, and Rock. I was digging for records and exploring music.
He taught me how to use it and from that point on I was spending my allowance on 45’s, albums, and making custom mixtapes for all my 6th grade classmates. Yeah, yeah, it had no faders, only 3 knobs… line 1, line2, and master. So my grandfather dragged a bunch of his dusty old equipment out of the attic, taught me how to set it up and then he built me a mixer from scratch out of scrap metal in his workshop.
The guy that was playing the music happened to be pressing buttons and making it look like he was doing something really cool and everybody seemed to really like it. I liked music, but I didn’t really like music as much as I liked pressing buttons and being cool. I was probably twelve years old and I just always had a knack for pushing buttons and making things work.
How long ago and how did you start DJ’ing? Besides touching on vinyl collecting, musicianship, production, and the increased role of technology he even brought up such old school ideas as responsibility, community, and investing in next generation of artists.
Rev took a moment to discuss how he initially began DJ’ing, shifting roles of DJ’s, and the importance of authenticity. For those needing somewhat of a background history, Revolution is a DJ’s DJ, known for holding down turntables duties on The World Famous Wake Up Show with Sway & King Tech and combining turntablist class skills with the party rocking capabilities of a nightclub specialist. A little while back I had the chance to hold a conversation with DJ Revolution while traveling from a video shoot for his upcoming release King of The Decks.