One
1X TyMe: Do you still stay in touch with KRS-One?
D-Nice:
From time to time, ya’know we all right. It took us a minute
to be cool again. I’m like this man; I’m a man first.
I grew up in a house that was all women, and I was forced to be
man before my time, ya’know’em saying? I’m not
really for following anyone.
So
ya’know with most groups, you have one leader, and that leader
in our group was KRS. I’m one of them cats that I gotta walk
side by side with you. I know that there’s a hierarchy, and
I’ll follow that, but I gotta be second in command. You’ve
gotta talk to me like a man. So that wasn’t really working
out. So I just decided to break out and do my own thing. So we
lost touch with each other for about 8 years. But we alright now,
ain’t no love lost. I feel like we did some special things
in hip-hop. When I see cats breakdancing, I know that our music
had something to do with it. I mean it’s all good man.
One
1X TyMe: What
record do you think of that stood out the most to you from that
era?
D-Nice:
I
mean there were a few records that pretty much defined BDP…
One
1X TyMe: But which one that you were on that you remember
most of all?
D-Nice:
There’s several, there’s not “one” record.
I mean I could name 5 joints. I mean “South Bronx”,
our first record; I mean…that was my first experience in
the studio. We did that on a sixteen track in somebody’s
crib. Ya’know’em saying?! In some dude’s crib.
That’s why when cats tell me “Yo I need a budget of
$800,000 to do an album”, [I’m like] dude we did the
first “Criminal Minded” album with eight grand! Know’em
sayin? And that record is a classic.
So I look at it like, “South Bronx” means a lot to me,
cause, as you guys [he motions to MC Habitat and I] know performing
man.
To
hear your first joint on the radio! To hear people in your neighborhood
screaming like “Yo it’s on!” Ain’t no greater
feeling than that. I think the record that really defined BDP
was either “Stop The Violence” or “Self Destruction”,
those records. Dude I hear “Self Destruction” every
year on Martin Luther King Day. I watch that video every year
on B.E.T.
One
1X TyMe: I know it word for word!
D-Nice:
Know’em sayin? Like that’s a record that I produced,
where I slept under the mixing board for like 2 weeks, putting
that record together. So ya’know when I look back on it,
and ya’know it’s a classic joint that’s still playing
for 14 years. I’m like damn! I was a shorty when I did that.
I was 17 when I produced that joint. It’s a great feeling.
And of course, call me D-Nice.
I
did that record for Kid Rock! That track was done for Kid Rock.
That’s my man ya’know from back then! I produced half
of his first album…Dude you pick up his first album…ya’know’em
saying? That’s my man. I did that track for’em and everybody
was like that’s wack, I ain’t feelin that. Tried to
give it to KRS, “Aww that’s wack, it’s to slow!”
So then I just rhymed on it just to show them, like yo, this a
joint! And it just so happened that everybody loved it!
Dude
I wasn’t even trying to rhyme. I just loved making music,
and dj’in! Once that joint was done, I mean that was a record
that defined my life! Ya’know’em saying? That’s
the record that I walk in the doors of Coca-Cola closing deals
because of that! It’s a good thing man, that’s why I
can’t really name “one” record.
One
1X TyMe: Now wait, back to the dj’in thing. You started
out as a dj?
D-Nice:
I started out as a beatbox. I’m like straight hip-hop dawg,
ya’know’em saying? I started out beatboxing on this
song, it was a song called the “Pu$$y Is Free” on the
first BDP album…
One
1X TyMe:
[overly excited] YO! Straight up that was the first record with
cursing that I ever saw a dj spin vinyl on!!
D-Nice:
I’m the same person as when I started out. When you love
hip-hop dawg, it should be about everything. Ya’know’em
saying, like I used to tag. In school that was the first thing
I started doing, ya’know? Graffiti and sh*t…Then when
I got down with BDP, dude was like, what do you wanna do? Yo what’s
your rap name?
Everybody
was “Ice”, I was like “Call me D-Ice”, he
was like “Naw, naw, I’ma call you D-Nice man.”
It was Scott La Rock who did that. He asked me what role I wanted
to play. KRS-One was the lead…ya’know rapper. Scott
La Rock was the dj. Scott was like “Yo, you know what? I
think you should learn how to do a little bit of everything just
in case something happens to one of us. You’ll always be
that person that can fill the void.
I
started beatboxing cause I had to do something. Then he taught
me how to dj. After he passed away, I became the dj of the group,
ya’know. Dj / producer. I was like 17. Dude I did like most
of the records man, ya’know’em sayin? Like, just a young
shorty, sitting in the crib with not even an MPC then, it was
an SP-12 not even a1200, know’em sayin? Doin joints with
that. Touring doing beats in the hotel room…break dancing.
I love hip-hop.
