HipHop-Erfahrungen für zehn Leben

DJ Disco Wiz’ Lebensgeschichte ist eine Achterbahnfahrt durch die Bronx und das Phänomen HipHop. Das passt auf keine Kuhhaut.

Text, Interview: Jens Pacholsky

1971 – Boogie Down Bronx. Ein ganz normaler Tag in der Nachbarschaft:
»He let out a loud scream. I could barely feel the blade go into his body so I stabbed him again and again. […] eventually Cano had to pull me away so I wouldn’t kill him. What surprised me most was that I felt no remores. I felt nothing, only numbness.« Luis Cedeňo war zu diesem Zeitpunkt zehn Jahr alt. Von hier an hätte jeder Sozialpolitiker in einfachen Strichen den Rest seines Lebens vorgezeichnet. Doch ganz so schlicht ist die Geschichte des ersten Latino HipHop-DJs nicht. Sie hatte gerade erst angefangen.

Mitte der 1970er Jahre sollte Luis Cedeno sich mit einem guten Kumpel hinter den Plattenspielern zusammen tun, der auf den Namen Casanova Fly hörte. Cedeno wurde zu DJ Disco Wiz und sein Kumpel später zu Grandmaster Caz - dem ersten Opfer der HipHop-Kommerzialisierung. Grandmaster Caz hatte 1979 der Sugarhill Gang seine Texte zur Verfügung gestellt und hat bis heute dafür keine Cent gesehen. Als DJ-Team mit der Mighty Force battelten sie zwischen 1977 und 1979 gegen Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force wie auch gegen den großen Kool Herc. DJ Disco Wiz wurde damit der erste Latino HipHop-DJ und genoss für kurze Zeit den Ghetto-Ruhm der damaligen HipHop-Anfänge. Hätte er 1979 nicht jemanden niedergeschossen, wäre er auf dieser Welle weiter geritten. Stattdessen ging er vier Jahre ins Gefängnis, verdingte sich danach über viele Jahre als Dealer und Koch und kehrte erst Mitte der 1990er Jahre ins HipHop-Geschehen zurück, als die neue Generation der HipHop-Fans begann, diese Weltkultur aufzuarbeiten. DJ Disco Wiz hat ein extrem abwechslungsreiches Leben hinter sich, das er nun zusammen mit dem Autor Ivan Sanchez in einem ebenso spannenden wie humorvollen und erschreckenden Buch noch einmal für sich entdeckt. Doch bei all dem Tohuwabohu blieben einige Fragen offen.

DJ Disco Wiz, Webster PAL Card, 1976

Goon: After a long time of absence from the scene you picked up the turntables again. How does it feel to be back behind the wheels of steel?
DJ Disco Wiz: I have been back Djing full time now for about the last 12 years, Djing, TV and Film, Books etc. I’ve performed all around the country for a lot of people. I love everything about the evolutionary process of the DJ…I personally recently converted to RANE Serato…for me, it’s the same game…I just don’t carry records (LP’s) anymore…

There has been quite a development in the craft of Djing, in particular in HipHop with all its turntablism. Has the challenge of Djing changed for you?
The DJ will always be the backbone of the culture. Even though it’s gone through a metamorphosis to where it is right now, it will still always be the foundation of the culture. It started and will always end with the DJ, you know? The microphone became a valuable tool because of its marketability. I guess it would be hard for a breakbeat record to make the Top 40. It just was not something that could have captured the attention of people. When the microphone started coming into play along with the formation of groups and crews the business end of it saw the marketability of it. They didn’t understand the culture they just saw it as something a buncha kids were doing. They just saw the marketability of speaking into the microphone, you know? They’re from the record industry. Then all the aspects of the business followed suit and the microphone started to rep for the culture and everyone else had to kind of fall back and let the microphone take the forefront. And that’s been more of the status quo. But there’s a huge underground movement showcasing all the elements in their formation. It’s not like that for the real, true hip hop heads.

What were your DJ tactics then and now?
I live and die with the break beats…

What was your most favourite tune you plaid back in the 1970s?
Anything and everything with a funky beat…..

You’re Top 10 of Funk/Soul/Disco breaks/songs ever?
James Brown – Give It Up or Turnit A Loose – King
Dennis Coffey and the Detroit Guitar Band – Son of Scorpio – Sussex
Baby Huey – Listen to Me – Curtom
John McLaughlin – Planetary Citizen – Columbia
Michael Viner’s Incredible Bongo Band – Apache – Mr Bongo
Jimmy Castor Bunch – It’s Just Begun – Salsoul Records
Yellow Sunshine – Yellow Sunshine – Gamble
Planet Patrol – Play At Your Own Risk (Remix) – Tommy Boy
Herbie Hancock – Rockit – CBS
Ultramagentic MC’s – Funky – Next Plateau Entertainment

Diana & DJ Disco Wiz, 1977

Your story is not only a simple DJ story but a story of survival. Also a story of a city, particularly its borough Bronx. A story of social and racial struggle. Basically it’s Jeff Chang’s »Can’t Stop Won’t Stop« in a close-up. Do you think – even though the situation was really fucked up in the 1970s & 1980s – that HipHop would have come out entirely different (or not at all), if the situation wouldn’t have been that hopeless? What gave you the fire?
We were just bunch of teenage kids. It was the ’70s. It was one of the most tumultuous times in New York history. It was so crazy. We had no money, no outlet, and no social programs. We were just a bunch of poor kids. But to have DJ equipment to help channel our love for this blossoming culture it was kind of like impossible, man. Up until that point, hip hop was kind of in a stagnant pace. Before the 1977 blackout Hip Hop was only in one borough, the Bronx and actually one end of the Bronx. It wasn’t something that everyone could afford to do at a regular pace. I mean, you could come together once with a couple guys and we’ll hook up a sound system, but you can’t do that every weekend! Records fucking break, needles break, amps blow out. And this is before cooling systems were built into amps. These are the real big, giant monstrosity amplifiers, you know what I mean. We can’t afford that. We could barely afford to go to school. So when the blackout happened people just went out and got theirs. A lot of the electronics joints got looted and people just went out and went for what they wanted to do. It’s true, man. After the blackout we had a lot of new DJs. Crews started springing up everywhere. And this was not the pack from before where it was just a handful of dudes who were dominating the scene. It kind of helped people finance what they loved and wanted to do. Whether or not it was legal? There were just a bunch of frustrated people in that situation and it was really disheartening. But out of all that destruction came a beam of light. Come on. Nobody can deny that hip hop is a universal, powerful, viable tool. It’s so strong and transcending. Its impact is still not done. Who knows where this thing is going to go? It’s everyday life now. It’s the most universal genre there is right now. It’s in every walk and everyday life. Every time you turn around something has a hip hop jingle or flair to it. It’s the coolest shit ever. Who knows where we’ll be? Who knows what my children’s children will be?

Teil 2 des Interviews

:: »It’s Just Begun« von DJ Disco Wiz erscheint in der Miss Rosen Edition bei powerHouse Books, New York 2009, 182 S., € 22,95

Veröffentlicht am 08.09.2009 um 11:21 unter Worte.
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