Q Interview

He's the best. Ever. Now that we've got my bias out of the way, here's my interview with legendary turntablist DJ Qbert. He was coming to Baltimore for a gig and this was for the Washington Post Express.

Did the QFO have the impact you envisioned?
A lot of people are finding out about it and stuff. People are picking it up. It's out there now. People are reinventing it and making different versions of it now, now that the idea of it is out there.

What were the initial reactions to the QFO?
They were like, 'Wow, I want one.'

Did you design because it was portable?
Definitely because it was portable. It's something that can go in your car, go to a picnic or something, just have fun anywhere with it.

I heard you've said it can be taken to the beach. Have you really taken it to the beach?
Yeah!

Talk about the Kut Mobil.
Originally that was my Range Rover and I put a whole system in there--a turntable, a mixer and I hooked it up to the speakers in the car and everything. But that was just too bulky and that was the reason why I invented the QFO. Now, I just have the QFO and you can still hook it up into the system in your car, but it's not as a ridiculous of a huge studio in your car anymore. It's just very simple.

What will come next after the QFO?
Probably something even more portable. Like a smaller version of the QFO. Like a 45 version. Like 'Here, pass it. Let me do a scratch.'

Are you spinning on the QFO this tour?
I'm back to my roots, which is two turntables.

Who is spinning on this tour with you?
I'm not sure, do you know?

If you are the sole act, do you feel added pressure?
I always feel pressure when there are other DJs. Like it's a battle. No matter what it is, I still have to do my best in any situation.

Talk about your one handed DJing.
The one handed stuff has taught me how to do new things that I do nowadays. I even have routines where I'm doing one-handed stuff on both turntables now. Like one hand is doing something, the other hand is doing something different on the other turntable. Let's say my left hand is making a drumbeat and my right hand is scratching. Kind of like a piano player. One hand is doing the rhythm section and the other hand is doing the solo.

Your DVDs go behind the scenes about how to do scratches, equipment set up, etc. Do you ever feel like you're giving away secrets? Do you worry about creating turntable monsters?
That's absolutely what I want. Because everybody has a different personality, different fingerprints, different way of writing-- thats what I want to see. I want to create monsters. I want to create something that will inspire me and everyone else.

Have you spun on the DVD turntables?
We have a pair of those. We're sponsored by Pioneer. They're a lot of fun too. I'm more of an analog guy. I love vinyl and I love the whole rawness of [it].

Do you use final scratch at your shows?
Not me. I'm trying to be original and stay with vinyl. I just love the analog sound. I like it raw and street and dirty.

Scratch music has come down in popularity after hitting a high point in the 90s. How have you dealt with that?
I've always known it as an underground art and for me, it's always going to be an underground art. Even if it goes mainstream, there's always the underground true heads that are still there. That's pretty much where I'm at. It's like breaking. There's a lot of b-boys that have stuck with it. It became very popular and it died out, but the true heads are still there. It never did the died out thing. That's kind of where I'm at. It's always fascinating to me, it's always growing.

There's a lot of people that consider you the best turntablist in history? How do you react to that?
I think they're not educated enough to know that there's a lot of guys out there that are ridiculously mind blowing in their own way. I'm definitely not the best in this. If you're always just looking at apples, there's always oranges and bananas out there and shit.

What are your plans for 2006 and beyond?
I want to do another movie and album. I just want to keep it a surprise right now before the album comes out.

Tell us about The Breaktionary.
It's a new record that I made. It took four years to make. It's 250 b-boy breaks on 4 records. I rock the party like for 4 hours straight with breaks.

You can do 4 hours straight with four records?
Yeah, but you need doubles for that.

Why haven't you gotten down with a bigger company or major label over the years?
It's the fact that [Thud Rumble] can do whatever we want. We're not signed to a label where we'll have to do something for a certain amount of years. It's kind of like prison, you know? You have to do it. That can ruin your creativity. Because if they want it at this certain time and it's like, "Uhh man. I don't feel like making an album 'till later." You can't rush an album.

Dave In DC

Caught Dave Chapelle last night in D.C. The Kennedy Center, no less. Why is Mr. Chapelle playing the Kennedy Center? Well, it was benefit for the Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts (A D.C. based public high school that Chapelle graduated from as a youngster).

The venue was stuffy, but Dave didn't care. He let loose with unflinching enthusiasm and didn't try and tone it down for the kiddies as more than a handfull of teens and even pre-teens were in the seats.

Some observations:

Show was too short! For the three figure ticket prices, we could have had more than 90 minutes--especially considering he's known to roll for hours at comedy clubs.

Chapelle loves stand-up. He's incredibly comfortable behind the mic and he's goofy enough to just simply bend over and chuckle at some of the hilarious quips that come out of his mouth.

He's substantially disillusioned with show business--or at least everything outside of stand up. It's a game, he reapeated over and over. Before you say, what isn't?, he really emphasized the shadiness in the entertainment biz that's sickening to him.

He's a closeted Cheaters fan. The reality TV show that showcases cheating lovers gets Dave's endorsement. He excitedly recreated an episode where--guess what?--the male cheater was caught on tape and then exposed to his lady. This took about 15 minutes! Funny, but too long when you consider the limited time he was on stage.

Often times, he was hella serious. He's deep into Pimp--Iceberg Slick's seminal biography that examines the cold, crude and violent pimp game from a man who lived it. Dave recounted a scene in detail that involved one of Iceberg's "girls" and how he concocted an elaborate scheme to mentally improson her. It worked and as that worked on this lady--who he dubbed a "bottom bitch"--it works on the American people by our government or the entertainment biz brass on their "stars" like Chapelle--or wherever you wanna take it. America pimps it's people was the message. While folks dug the story, this took another 15 minutes and just as quick as he began, he was out. Over. Done.

Best Moment: Dave recalling a pre-Grammy encounter with Jessica Simpson, who kissed Dave on the cheek after a brief exchange. Dave copped to lying about how he told her "I like your work" or something to that effect.

The night's theme was something repeated several times by Chapelle before launching into an elongated story. "It's not funny, but it's interesting." Sort of an audience warning. Too much of the night and especially during storytime, he was only interesting, but the 30-40 minutes of hilarity made the show well worth it.

Final Take: Chapelle is smart as hell. He's articulate, intelligent, conflicted and oh yeah, hilarious. He actually did this gig expressly for the high school's benefit at no charge.