Illuminati 2G

EL DOPA INTERVIEW 6/18/07

Jehuniko: It is an honor and a trip to send the homie El Dopa a bunch of questions, knowing that he been putting in work for years. My motives for asking him to do the interview were out of respect for someone and their craft, but also knowing that he represents the eternal recipe of work ethic and for that we can all benefit or be inspired to know…..of course it’s possible..anything is possible. He was the 1st person to ever get me on the radio, doing my spoken word/rapping…without EVER, EVER HEARING ME…HE GAVE ME A GOOD 45 MINUTES TO GO WILD…..MUCH RESPECT BROTHER..YOU TOOK A CHANCE ON ME THAT DAY..haaaaa……

J: I remember calling you to make requests for DJ Shadow all the time while I was working and most of the time, you would play my requests..that shit would make those 3-5 minutes of work so much easier....how did you get into radio?

ED: Radio was really how I got started djing, back in 1998 at KUCI. I just needed an outlet to play all this music I'd been discovering, I guess you could call it "underground" music. You know, when you find out about all these genres you never knew about before, from "true school" hip hop to acid jazz, trip hop, global/ethnic beats, and all sorts of electronic music. So I applied for a radio show and got it. Then I started buying vinyl records and shortly after that is when I bought turntables and a mixer. Then came my first gigs, frat parties, ha ha. It was a good way to get started dj’ing.

J: You'll be that guy will drop dope cuts from people that the public will never ever think of, like some
rock band maybe, and you'll mix it with some other International remix of Gangster shit. Like that Mobb Deep remix. Shit was banging.

ED: My taste in music has always been eclectic. So naturally, when I started dj’ing, I utilized a lot of
the different types of music I was exposed to and tried to find clever ways to mix them, so as to make a statement about the universality of music. It's truly the universal language.

J: Is there a particular book that left an impression on you?

ED: One book that really made an impression on me is the Miles Davis autobiography, simply called Miles. It makes you feel like you were a part of the jazz and bebop movement in this country, which has so many connections to hip hop and how hip hop developed. Miles even talks about it in the book. And he uses theword muthafucka so many times in the book it's hilarious!

J: Tell me about something ill that you've seen in your travels.

Probably the illest thing I've seen in my travels wasin New Orleans last year, about a year after Katrina hit. I was walking along and came across an old man in a rocking chair on the little street corner. He was singing in a very low, deep voice what sounded like an old gospel/blues hymn, and the words had to do with overcoming a great storm. I think it was written long ago, but has such relevance now because of Katrina. It was the sort of thing that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

J: If you could orchestrate one dream collaboration session/recording, who would you invite?

ED: My dream recording session would involve Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Mos Def, Common and Timbaland. And I'd get the DJ Shadow of the mid-90's to do a remix.

J: One single event that changed your life?

ED: One single event that changed my life was withdrawing from my Master's program to pursue a career in music. I haven't looked back since.

J: Babylon catches fire, and you're bringing 1 record on your pilgrimage to the Highlands. What record will you bring?

ED: The one record I would bring is Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue. It just fits so many different types of moments.

J: Tell me about your time at Urb magazine? What were you apart of and what did you learn?

ED: I worked at URB Magazine for a few years, and that was my crash course in the music biz. Learning the business side of music is so crucial. At URB I did editorial work (writing the mixtape reviews, 12" reviews, and album reviews) and marketing, including producing a lot of music projects for Scion.

J: Aside from KUCI, 88.9, what other radio stations have you worked with?

ED: Since I stopped doing my radio show at KUCI (I had it from 1998 to 2002), I've mostly done club djing and mixtapes. But I do production assistance on Garth Trinidad's "Chocolate City" on KCRW right now. Great show.

J: What are you up to these days?

ED: I've dropped a few mixes in the last few years, the most prominent of which was Fly Points Across The Map from late 2005. I pressed up 2500 of those, and still have some left. Holler at me to buy a copy and I'll send it to ya! I'm also working on a new mix right now, and putting my own business together, for dj'ing and much more.

Besides that, you can catch me spinning some Saturdays at Tangier in Los Feliz, LA. I also have been workinga lot with my crew The Alliance, made up of MasOul,Civil Savages, Kovert Live, Carvermasseus, and myself. I'm the DJ of the group at shows, and do scratches on some of their tracks (check the mp3 here of "Two Pennies" by Civil Savages ft. MasOul). I also just laid down some vocals for the first time in a while.