DJ Cash Money – Turntable Diaries #3

25.10.2013
This year the DMC World Championships turns 30. So for that reason we like to introduce you to some of the protagonists. This time we talked to DJ Cash Money.

This year the DMC World Championships turns 30. For that reason we talked to some of the winners of the last 3 decades about the history of DJing and their personal point-of-view on spinning the wheel of turns. So during the next weeks we like to introduce you to some of them. This time we talked to DJ Cash Money – World Champion 1988 and the first inductee to the DJ Hall of Fame.

When did you start with turntablism?
DJ Cash Money: 1981 was around the time I started DJing. The whole turntablism term didn’t become popular until the mid 1990s. I guess I was doing it since I started.

Are you still active? Do you make a living out of it?

DJ Cash Money: Yes, I’m still active and yes, I still make a living at it.

What kept you excited all those years?
DJ Cash Money: What keeps me excited is the music and always trying think about what other DJs’ are not doing.

What’s your most favorite routine?
DJ Cash Money: I really don’t have a favorite routine but if I had to pick one, it would be the element of surprise. I think I do my best work when I don’t know what I am going to do.

When developing a new routine, where do you start?
DJ Cash Money: I might hear a record and say to myself ”I think I could come up with something off of that sound”.

What’s your basic philosophy on turntablism?
DJ Cash Money: Turntablism is good but you need to incorporate that with rocking a party. That way the crowd will get it.

»Turntablism is good but you need to incorporate that with rocking a party. «

DJ Cash Money
How do you prepare for battles? And how do you feel when doing a battle?
DJ Cash Money: I haven’t battled in years but when I did. I always made sure I was spinning records that the average DJ wasn’t spinning. It was all about doing something different. In the battles today I never understood why every DJ wants to cut up “Aaaaahhh Fresh”! You sound like every DJ that came on before you!

Do you remember your first DJ battle?
DJ Cash Money: To be honest when I battled back in the day… please don’t take this the wrong way but I set the bar so high. I was on a total different level at that time.

How was your DMC battle for championship?
DJ Cash Money: It was one of the highlights in my lifetime. I was nervous but it was crazy because a lot of the DJs that I had to go up against were asking me for my autograph. I guess they were listening to all of my live mixtapes back then. LOL.

What was your routine to championship?
DJ Cash Money: LL Cool J’ »Getdown«. The record said »Callin me a sucker boy/You’re pushing a broom«. I won the 1988 DMC World Championship that year.

How has turntablism evolved over the years?
DJ Cash Money: It has definitely evolved because of technology. The DJs today seem to become computer geeks now. It was about music and being able to play for a crowd. The DJs now never look at their crowd. They are always looking at their computers.

Digital or vinyl? What’s your weapon of choice and why?
DJ Cash Money: Vinyl ALL DAY LONG! It’s how I became who I am.

Your top 3 turntablism records?
DJ Cash Money: 
Trouble Funk – Pump Me Up | 
”Biz Markie – Nobody Beats The Biz
”:ttp://www.hhv.de/shop/de/artikel/biz-markie-nobody-beats-the-biz-144171 | DJ Cash Money & Marvelous – Ugly People Be Quiet