Proclaimed the master of the mix-tapes, NYC Hell’s Kitchen Italian bred James D’Agostino’s more popular spin avtar DJ Green Lantern is all about beat supply. Single handedly responsible for giving Eminem the bitchin’ beat to slam to, post his resident DJ gig with the white rapper boy, DJ Green has been making noise live for Jay Z, Busta Rhymes, Nas, Fort Minor, Immortal Technique and 50cent. On his India tour as part of the VH1 Hip-Hop hustle, DJ Green made his maiden trip to the nation. We managed to spin off 5 questions with the man.
So what’s with the mixtapes in the era of remixes and electronica. Why the niche?
I like beat box. I’m the original street hustler, do you know what I mean. I started going to clubs as a stiff kid and was on the college radio handling the spin for them. I went national in 2000 and took my mixtapes on tour through Europe and even made to Japan. It just happened to find me the tapes. Because of that, I keep getting work for artists and rappers to DJ and mixtapes for them live. So I am loving it. No complaints.
You made it big by being Eminem’s resident DJ. But you had a fall out with him?
Well I ain’t gonna lie. I got more work after Eminem and people started coming to me for live and production sound. So yeah I owe the break into the main league to him. But he don’t define me and my work. The fallout was with the label, Shady Records and not him. We are still in touch. He helped me take out my own mixtape album. But it’s sometimes differences in opinion which get you to places.
What has been the best gig you ever played with a famous artist?
It’d have to be with Jay Z. We were in Tanzania and spinning to a crowd of some 10,000 brothers. The security was not much beefed up. So this guy climbed onto the stage and was approaching Jay. The man’s white bodyguards walked on stage, in the middle of the song and pushed the man back into the crowd. There was chaos and then Jay Z did the funniest thing. He stopped singing, cut the music and just said, “You shouldn’t do that. Hit it Green,” and just that like the music was back again. It was hillarious and the best time in concert I’ve ever had.
Are you clued into what Indian audience likes?
I have an idea. I got a lot of Indian friends back home. So they keep feeding me on what’s new with the scene. It’s my first visit and I am here to entertain. I’ll do anything to make the crowd go mad. So I do have a lot of my tapes with me. I know for a fact that the
Immortal Technique song Bin Laden has gotten a lot of hits online from India. So I’m excited about playing that track. It’s a song that I cowrote with Immortal which blamed the Reagan Doctrine and George Bush for 9/11.
We also heard you are into acapella?
Yeah man. I love to sing and there be a whole new reawakening of grandfather soul. Putting that on mixtapes is loads of fun. I am planning to do choirs, chambers and ranger clubs to be recording and ripping. It adds great influence in a rap track.
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