Q & A W/ DJ FM Of sick symphonies/Psycho Realm: The Street Mixes pt. 4


thaFormula.com - So when did you get into DJ'ing?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - I picked up a turntable when I was 12 years old and by the time I was 13 I tried out for my first club and I got the gig. By the time I was 15 I landed a job on the radio in Miami where I grew up. This is basically all in Miami. I was born in New Jersey and raised in Miami. I'm of Cuban descent. I basically met the boys from the (Cypress) Hill in Miami. Mellow Man Ace, B-Real, I met them cats a while back before they started doing big things and they kind of introduced me to the West Coast so when I came out here it was an instant love. I had chemistry with all these brothers so it was just inevitable you know.

thaFormula.com - So when did you come out to L.A.?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - The first time I came out to L.A. was I think 1990 and I think the only one who had something out was Mellow Man Ace and I was just barely learning about the music biz, borrowing drum machines from friends to just try to learn how to make beats, but I didn't really know what I was doing back then. I was just a DJ full time. I actually landed a job in L.A. on KJLH doing a one-hour mix show.

thaFormula.com - When they (KJLH) used to play Hip-Hop right?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - Yeah, when they used to play Hip-Hop. It was dope because right before me was Michael "Mixin" Moore. He used to throw down all these militant messages in between his mixes. It was really, really dope man.

thaFormula.com - So what did you do from there?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - I was kind of back and forth between the East and West Coasts for a little while. Just trying to DJ as much as I could to get my name out as a DJ. Cypress was already doing their thing and I got to ride along a little bit and learn along the way but basically it wasn't 'til I think about '95 or '96 that I came back out and met Jack(en) and Duke. In those days B-Real was just getting started with Psycho Realm and he introduced me to the boys and they hit me up to go on the road and that's when that started.

thaFormula.com - What do you consider your first official track production wise?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - The first thing I see myself respectively as getting out there as my beat was the song that I did with Sen Dog for a movie called "The Fast and the Furious." It was called "Brother with a Badge" and it was Sen and a couple of his boys rhyming to it. He hit me up to do the beat and I did the beat and it got on there and I got to see it in the movie and I felt like "wow, okay I got something on there and my name is well credited on it." Before that I had worked on other stuff and not been given credit so I wont even mention it, but that's just part of the game, you live and you learn. But my first chance at production with our group was really with the "Sickside Stories" album.

thaFormula.com - So you had no involvement at all with the first Psycho Realm album?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - Not at all, as a matter of fact the first album was already recorded when I started DJ'ing with them.

thaFormula.com - Now you guys have a huge underground following in L.A. no doubt, but why do you think you guys have had a hard time breaking through in other parts of the country?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - There are several stereotypes. For one, we are Hispanic and two we are from the West Coast. So people expect something from either one of those two perspectives and we're doing neither one. We are but we are not doing it so obviously. I think our music is universal. I think if you understand the streets, you will understand us. I don't care if its Baghdad or downtown L.A., once people learn that they start to think "okay I can relate to this," but before that if they're just looking at the album cover or they are judging it because they heard we are Hispanic, then obviously there is that obstacle for us. I don't think its that much of a problem for us anymore, I think people are actually starting to learn like "wow these dudes got beats and rhymes and you just got to give them respect." I'm really feeling that this year.

thaFormula.com - Yeah because it seemed like for the past few years before that many people had basically labeled you "Chicano rap" when you guys were more on that grimy pure Hip-Hop vibe?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - Yeah, and not that we mind man because really we are all Latino, but I do hate being categorized period. If you got a Hip-Hop section throw us in there and that's it, that's all it should be, but what are you gonna do? I think we've done proved ourselves in the industry and we are beyond that point. I can't really explain why it was there for a minute but I do know what you're talking about.

thaFormula.com - Yeah, because when people would talk about Hip-Hop acts in the underground, you guys would rarely get mentioned and even now people still don't recognize what you guys have done?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - I'll tell you what, I will give you a prime example of that. The Source magazine shows up at Unity (Festival in Los Angeles) last year and takes pictures of everybody that performed and if you look at the crowd you see almost everybody rocking Psycho Realm shirts, at least the majority of the crowd. Our crowd I think was abundantly in the house that night, overwhelmingly outnumbering everything else. Now I ain't trying to say The Source should give us all the damn cover, but at least say that we pulled a decent crowd or we showed that we have a following or something. Man, they didn't even put our picture in The Source when they advertised Unity. They put a picture of all the fans, you see them throwing up all the shirts and the gas mask everywhere but there is only like one mention of our name like we were just there. And I felt like Unity was pretty much ours to tell you the truth. But that is a prime example that people pick and choose, like they go their favorites and they help who they want and it is a game of politics with this music shit, but what can you do but make good music for those people that really love you and that's all that matters dog. Who cares what these people say.

thaFormula.com - So what finally made you get down on the production on "Sick Symphonies?"

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - I just felt it was the right time and definitely it was the right project because at that point Street Platoon and Psycho Realm had become "Sick Symphonies." You have to understand that when Duke wasn't around, those two groups kind of merged subconsciously so to speak and that was just the perfect platform for everyone to step up and throw in what they wanted to contribute, and we all threw in what we felt was needed and that was really cool. Before that Psycho Realm was just known as Jack's beats and Dukes concepts mixed with jacks concepts and so on. My beats I think are a little bit even darker than the old stuff so it might not have it. I think now was just the right time for me.

thaFormula.com - Now you guys formed a production company called "The Drug Lab," how did you guys go about forming that?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - I think it just came from the fact that all four of us can make beats. Everybody in the group makes dope beats so we were like "we are a production team as well." We got to come up wit a name for it and we approached it professionally and are trying to get beats out there and so came the name "The Drug Lab" and that was also the name of the recording studio that we had at the time.

thaFormula.com - So you are dropping the "Street Mixes" this week, what exactly is the project about?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - The "Street Mixes" is basically a mix tape man. I hate to call it that because the concept of a mix tape today is really nothing like what it was. What I remember a mix tape being back in the day was a cassette of a DJ blending records together. They were blended together, and they were scratched together. It's changed a lot and they sound more like albums now and I wanted to really mix mine and literally blend the songs, if not all of them a big majority of them so the sound is continuous and almost like a real soundtrack. The idea for it came up when we had a meeting for "Sickside Stories" and said "what is the next move?" That's when Jack started thinking of "The Terror Tapes" and I decided to do the "Street Mixes." With "The Terror Tapes" you're looking at it from an MC perspective, its Sick Jacken and Cynic. The "Street Mixes" is coming from the DJ perspective, really blended together and mashed up like a mix tape should. I don't talk much unless I'm on stage so I don't say one thing on this thing unless you hear me on a song. I'm not one of those DJ's yelling or none of that. It's just a real continuous vibe where you just wanna throw it on and let it go.

thaFormula.com - Was something like this harder to put together then you thought it would be?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - It was really hard man, just because I'm a perfectionist. I did tons of subliminal shit on this album. There are these crazy movie clips I'm scratching in between and all over the songs, and there are things going on underneath the vocals that are being said and that's not even giving it all away. There is a huge part of this thing that I can't even mention and I want to so bad. It was a lot of work. I think the hardest thing to do for me was scheduling the studio time and getting these artists in there. Trying to get everybody together to do a song is kind of tough, but other then that man it was definitely an adventure. It took me like almost 8 months to finish it and when you hear it you will understand why. Also, if the puzzle unravels itself you will actually be able to watch it, not just hear it.

thaFormula.com - Hmmm. Sounds like a "Wizard of Oz" and Pink Floyd type of puzzle, but I guess the Psycho Realm fans are gonna have to figure that one out. So what was the first track you did for "The Street Mixes"?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - The first track I did was "Apocalypse Now" and it features Sick Jacken, Ill Bill, and Q-Unique. I did the beat.

thaFormula.com - What did you do after that track?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - From that track, I stuffed this thing in my Pro Tools and I started thinking of concepts. I actually wanted to keep the album with a concept. The concept is basically "war" and the "Apocalypse Now" theory. The artwork is based on "Apocalypse Now." When you see it, it looks like the damn DVD cover so I'm trying to give that impression and I think 99 percent of the material is that, except for one particular song with Evidence and Alchemist which is just like a freestyle session.

thaFormula.com - So is every track on there original beats?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - Not at all. It's a good mix of both. I have original beats, original verses, and there is a couple of mix tape type joints where we are using other peoples beats. There are some remixes where I took old acapellas from the first and second Psycho Realm album and I made my own beat to it and remixed it. So that's the cool thing about this is that you actually get to hear Duke on it as well.

thaFormula.com - So what is your whole guest lineup for "Street Mixes?"

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - Well, like I said, Ill Bill, Q-Unique, also Killah Priest, an unreleased Street Platoon joint, and I got B-real on it as well.

thaFormula.com - Production wise man, who did the beats on this other then yourself?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - Other then myself, Jack has a song on here. It's called "Kings in the Game" and it's actually a song with him and B-Real that Jack produced for a movie called "Infamy" which is a graffiti documentary. Also Cynic produced the Street Platoon track on here. Also I did a remix to one of Ill Bill's tracks called "Overkill" which he's on and then Jack did a verse as well.

thaFormula.com - Now what's the deal with the new version of "C.I.A. Murdered Me" that has been going around lately?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - That actually came out first on "The Terror Tapes" with Sick Jacken, Cynic, and Chace (Infinite) of Self Scientific. But for my album, I got a verse from Immortal Technique as well so I added that to the end of the song and posted it as a bonus track on my CD. It actually was supposed to go on "The Terror Tapes" but we got it a little late. We put out "The Terror Tapes" really quick man and by the time Immortal sent the track, the CD was already out. Immortal is a busy dude and we just couldn't meet on that deadline, but it all happens for a reason and now it's just a dope ass bonus track for the "Street Mixes." It's already out on the Internet and people are flippin'.

thaFormula.com - Now over the past few years your fan base has really changed in where before it was a lot of OG's up in the mix to where now you guys have so many more straight Hip-Hop kids at your shows, why do you think your crowd has changed so much?

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - I don't think anybody has left. I personally still see those same gangstas at our shows, but I see more of a mixed crowd now. I'm seeing other cultures and almost like other genres. Like there is kids that don't even listen to Hip-Hop. All they listen to is rock and they will still come to our shows. They want that intensity and that power from the stage. That mosh pit, and crowd surfing chaotic shit. So its grown I think because of the music and the shows and I'm not complaining about it, trust me. It just seems like instead of us losing fans, we just keep adding more and adding more and this army is just growing man and the faces are all mixed up now because they are not one race. It's beautiful to see that and no fighting or nothing. We may clash in the pit, but we ain't really clashing like that. To got to downtown L.A. and see that and then jump on a plane and go to Greece and see that look in the front row and see girls and guys all tatted up with the gas mask and thousands of kids waiting in line in Greece, in Spain and in Italy is amazing.

thaFormula.com - You guys have one of the best L.A. underground fan bases I have seen in a while…

DJ FM Of Psycho Realm - I remember on our first official Psycho Realm tour, we were touring with Insane Clown Posse. I remember sitting on the back of that tour bus with Jack, Duke and myself just thinking of the future and all of us agreeing that we liked the fact that ICP had a cult following. They weren't on the radio these guys, they weren't behind a big time marketing machine or whatnot, but they had a huge fan base and they lived well off of doing what they loved for a living and that to me was a dream come true and we all agreed that that's what we wanted at that point. We don't need radio, we don't need Sony, we don't need none of that. All we need is the streets!