The REALationship Method
The REALationship Method is a comedic podcast about dating, relationships, and advice, blending tips with plenty of tangents. With stories and experiences shared by the cast and guests, it offers cautionary tales to help you avoid making the same mistakes. So sit back, relax, and maybe learn a thing or ten!
The REALationship Method
The Art of Flow: DJ Q-Bert on Scratching, Spirituality, and Creative Evolution
Ever wondered what goes on in the mind of a turntable virtuoso? DJ Q-Bert, one of the most influential scratch DJs in history, pulls back the curtain on his extraordinary journey and creative process in this revealing conversation.
The legendary turntablist breaks down how mathematics transformed his understanding of scratching, explaining that what seemed like complex patterns were actually simple numerical divisions: "It's just fucking numbers." This mathematical approach, combined with his focus on making scratches that rhyme poetically, elevated his art beyond mere technical prowess. Q-Bert emphasizes that style consistently trumps technicality—a philosophy that applies across all elements of hip-hop culture.
What truly sets this episode apart is Q-Bert's spiritual perspective on creativity. He shares profound insights about manifestation, describing how his album concepts evolved beyond his initial vision once he committed to them. "If you have a dream of something amazing, it always becomes more amazing than you expected," he explains, recounting how synchronicities appeared when he remained faithful to his vision. His morning meditation practice, capturing creative ideas in the liminal space between sleep and wakefulness, offers a practical technique anyone can adopt.
The conversation weaves through fascinating origin stories—from how his relationship began with a crystal healing gesture to how the iconic Scratchy Seal character emerged from a puppet stand in Japan. Q-Bert also reveals how the QFO portable turntable was inspired by Hawaiian beach sessions and his desire to scratch alongside ukulele players.
Whether you're a dedicated turntablist, a casual hip-hop fan, or simply someone seeking creative inspiration, this episode delivers invaluable wisdom about persistence, artistic evolution, and finding your unique path. Listen now and discover why Q-Bert remains not just a technical pioneer but a philosophical guide to creative fulfillment.
Ready to level up your scratching? Follow DJ Q-Bert on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube for his daily technique tutorials in "A Year in Scratching" and visit djqbert.com to explore his latest innovations, including the new 8-inch "Super Seal" records.
• Hip-hop is moving in multiple directions simultaneously rather than following a single path
• Q-Bert discovered scratching is fundamentally mathematical, with patterns based on numerical divisions
• Style and flow in scratching matters more than technical complexity, similar to an MC's rhyming ability
• Meditation and the state between sleep and wakefulness provide powerful connections to creativity
• Manifesting creative dreams requires faith, patience, and consistent effort
• Success doesn't happen overnight—it requires adding "one brick to the castle" consistently
• The QFO portable turntable was invented specifically for scratching at Hawaiian beaches
• New 8-inch "Super Seal" and "Scratchy Seal" records are designed for improved scratching technique
• The Invisible Scratch Pickles album is nearly complete at 90%
Check out DJ Q-Bert's daily scratching techniques on TikTok @djqbert1, Instagram @djqbert, or YouTube.com/thRumble, and learn more at djqbert.com.
Hey, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,. Welcome back to another episode of the Relationship Method Podcast. I'm Chris. Today I have an awesome, awesome guest for y'all. I grew up watching this guy on DVD man, one of my inspirations on how I started scratching man. I'm not even going to waste any more time on his introduction because he can speak on himself. Man, I got DJ Q Burt on the pod. What's up? Yay?
Speaker 2:What up, what up, what up.
Speaker 1:What up my man? What up my man. And before we get this shit popping, sir, how did I get the yes from you to come on? You know my little, you know my little podcast.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, I don't know, it's just kinda I seen you, seen you was from Hawaii. I was like ah shit, let's do it.
Speaker 1:Hey, okay, it's just the Hawaii vibes. Huh, yes, yes, yes, hey, bro, that's what's up. And then, where are you at right now? Like, where parts of the world are you at right now?
Speaker 2:I'm in the Bay Area near San Francisco.
Speaker 1:Hey, okay, okay, growing up, I did spend a lot of time up in Frisco. I grew up in Monterey, the Monterey Bay area, the A31 area, so just two hours away from y'all. It's beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Oh, definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful. And, bro, let me ask you We'll get into these questions because you don't need. No, we're not going to go into your background, robert, because these motherfuckers should already know who the fuck you are. Um, uh, hip-hop nowadays, right, how do you like the direction on? You know where it's headed right now well, it's not headed in one direction.
Speaker 2:It's going like this, it's like a freaking, it's going like this all kinds of directions. So now, now you're gonna start picking like, okay, I like that direction, I like this direction, it's like a freaking. It's going like this all kinds of directions.
Speaker 2:So now, now you're gonna start picking, like, okay, I like that direction, I like this direction. It's not just one direction, so they just want to make that like that clear. But, um, I'm, and with that, I love, you know, like hardcore break dancing I love, I love b-boying, I love like super crazy popping, I love, um, you know, the graffiti's advancing too. Even in that, the whole graffiti world it's like going in different directions. The whole graffiti world, it's like going in different directions. The whole dancing world is going in different directions. The music is going in different directions. So I like to just kind of like, I like the raw beats when it comes to hip hop. So you know, oh, oh, you know, I call it a acquired taste for certain types of drums that I like. Well, go ahead.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, so were you five elements of hip-hop right? Were you ever a B-boy before you started scratching, or you caught on to scratching before you started B-boying?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I was a B-boy and all that. And then I would go out in circles and get my ass whooped and I'm like, okay, I think I'll try DJing.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay. Were you the type of kids that would bring linoleum or cardboard around too? Because that's what we did.
Speaker 2:We would just go to a place they had like a children's center, like a what do you call it A place for kids to go to just practice breakdancing and all that.
Speaker 1:Okay, hell, no, everybody was super good and I was like I forget this, bro, let me. Let me tell you that, like back in the day, it was all about power moves right and not style. So that stuff evolved, and that's, I think, when style started coming in. That's when I took a backseat and I was like, oh no, I cannot do this stuff anymore.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's the same with DJing. Right, you got the guys that are doing the power moves, which are crazy and stuff, but they're not rhyming or there's nothing poetic about the scratching. So, once again, movement to style. Style always beats technicality and all that?
Speaker 1:Oh, definitely, definitely, definitely Like the flow of the scratch, am I correct?
Speaker 2:Sure the poetry, like if you're rhyming like a great MC, uh-huh.
Speaker 1:Dude, so let me kick. Could I ask you like, when did you started because of course you had to learn the basic scratches right when did you started Making it, making it into like some some of language, to where you know the question and answer thing, where you were just not even like the? You know the power moves of the scratch but the flow of the scratch? When did you started like thinking, oh man, I could just do this as a melody and not just kill them with you know a triple click player or whatnot.
Speaker 2:Probably, like, I guess, in the 90s. I mean, it was in the back of my head, so I was doing it in the back of my head, but then when I realized it, like, oh wait, you got to make your scratches rhyme. Yeah, probably in the 90s.
Speaker 1:Okay, and was this in your garage? Or were you just messing with you and your homies in the sesh?
Speaker 2:I was just feeling it. I think I was at a club and I was like saying something in my head like a scratch, and I was like, oh shit, it's like it's rhyming. So like usually, you know, normally the ends of the scratch would rhyme. Like if you, you know, you simply just go and you just keep repeating that that becomes a rhyme, like see how all that whole shit rhymes. And I wasn't even doing anything complicated.
Speaker 1:Ooh bro, I hope everyone's taking notes, because these are gems you're dropping, bro, and they're simple gems. It's simple math, like stupid. Keep it simple, stupid, right Kiss.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. And then there's different like rhythms I didn't know about rhythms when I was, when I was dj, I was just making all these patterns and I was like I didn't know that it was divisions of numbers so music is just math right one, two, three, four, one two, three, four, five, one, two, three, four, five, one, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three, five, seven, one, two, three, five, seven, one, two, three five, seven, so it's all was like oh shit it's just fucking numbers.
Speaker 2:So you start putting all these numbers together with the rhymes and it was like, oh fuck that's how you make patterns, because I was just thinking, oh, that's a cool pattern. I want to listen to jazz musicians to learn all these patterns. But I didn't know, it was just all math.
Speaker 1:Bro, that's crazy that you said that, because me and the kids in the Y we watched Piece by Piece by Pharrell last night Shout out to Peacock and he says that he sees music in colors and in waves and stuff. Is that how you see your art? Do you see it like in colors or do you just hear like snares, beats and drums and that's how you come up with masterpieces.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it's like, besides the math part, then you get into all this other. You know, like the colors, and you can see everything and the emotions, and all the way up to being spiritual and healing people with your music. It's so many different levels all intertwined into one beautiful thing you're trying to put into the universe.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, oh, definitely, definitely. And dude, how did you get the name Q-Bert? I know the origin, but people that don't know you like, how did you get it?
Speaker 2:I just did a video game. My last name started with a Q and then people just started calling me Q-Bert. It was like silly, and then it just you know, was like dang, you know I wish I knew about. You know, like, um, you ever see dc comics, they have a dc universe and all the characters in there. I wish I knew about that I can read all the characters names and go into the marvel universe and put that together and make up a really cool name, because they got the best names of superhero characters oh my gosh, right, I mean like the original, like I don't even want to say it's boring, but you know, like, say, in Marvel, you got Marvel Girl.
Speaker 1:I mean super simple, but goddamn, that kind of it hits. You feel me. And then like, let's say, in the DC world, batman, I mean that shit hits and it's just Batman, you know. So, like I'll be feeling that shit, I'll be feeling that shit. And um, oh, one more thing is uh, like social media nowadays, right, well, when I was watching you, it was all on. It was all on like tapes and stuff, like we didn't have the internet. So it would like a bootleg become another bootleg, become a new bootleg, and then I would like me and my boys would get the tapes of you. Do you think like social media if you had it back in the day, you know when you were with you know Scratchin' with the Boys? Do you think it would have been like more worldwide now, because I mean, your name is like pretty world known? Do you think it would like blow up? And were you ready and expect? Like, did you know you were going to blow up the way you were?
Speaker 2:Well, it's weird because right when we started, the crew Invisible Scratch because it was like 1987, whatever 86?. Yeah. Was it no? No, no, sorry. 97, the internet was already there, so it was like okay, let's take advantage of this thing, whatever it is. So it was kind of already there when the cruise started and, but we started in the 80s, in the late uh, 85, whatever and it was yeah, you're right around that time. It was just VHS. Yeah, that's how we.
Speaker 1:Caught on to y'all Because we saw this bootleg video and, mind you, you know, like the old school VCRs where you had to do the trackings and stuff, and they'll be all blurred and distorted. That's how me and my Friends watched you when you went up Against the Executioners, the X-Men. And when you went up, uh, when you went up against, uh, the executioners, the x-men, and, um, when you had that little, that battle with you, uh, mix and um, yoga, wait, was it yoga frog? Yeah, oh, shortcut, yeah, when you were just battling, that's the first time that we ever saw that. We're just like what the fuck is this so? So that's when we started scratching and we're just like, oh, and then your DVDs, your self-taught DVDs, came out.
Speaker 1:So your shit was just like on repeat for us for like the longest time Because, dude, like we would never know where you would. You know where you guys would be at, like we would know One of my boys knew where you guys lived or what city y'all lived in, but we just didn't know, like, what spots y'all would be at, because you know, we're so far away from y'all so we don't know how those tapes would come around us. But yeah, man, it was a pleasure and it was like enjoyable just to watch y'all do y'all thing. Thank you, oh, you're very welcome. All right, so let's see here, here we go. Here's one from one of my listeners how did you come up with your titles for your records and shit Like Toasted, marshmallow Breaks and Bionic Boogers?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, we had a crew of funny guys. Dj Disq was in the crew back then. He was a funny guy. There was people in other crews too Eddie Depp and EJ Quest. They were in a crew called Bulletproof Scratch Hamsters and just, we had a bunch of, like you know, comedians in our group, and the more stupid the name, the better you know, such as Invisible Scratch Pills.
Speaker 1:Oh man, that's crazy because, like, I try to come up with stuff too. I call my little one and a female. That's sweet. I would call them sugar booger, because sugar as in sweet booger, because I'd pick them first. You know what I'm saying. But that's crazy. With all these records, how did Scratchy Seal ever came up? Were you high one day, drunk one day? We're like you know what. We're going to have a seal as one of our icons, like one of our symbols and like what? Like? Were you high one day, drunk one day?
Speaker 2:we're like you know what we finna have like a seal as our as like as one of our icons, like one of our symbols. And I think, uh, me and me and yoga frog were at uh um in japan one time and there was a, a puppet stand and they had like a seal and I grabbed it and I started talking with it and then he filmed me and that was it. We're like, fucking, we're gonna buy this shit, so stupid bro, that's such a simple origin story, right?
Speaker 1:I just picked it up, started talking to it scratch, you know, seal, scratch, seal, fuck it'll SS, you know I'm saying, yeah, then mix match.
Speaker 2:The mic would always have the um the titles with the same letters. Like Mix Master, mike, you know Scratch the Seal. Bionic, booker, briggs, and then. So from there, everything was like the same lettered words and stuff, like a lot of the titles Not all of them, but a lot of them, because it sounds funnier.
Speaker 1:Oh shit, I love those man, I love those. Let's see. Oh okay, here's another one. How do you see culture of scratching these days without vinyl and everything digital?
Speaker 2:Well, not everything is digital, but yeah, there's a lot of that. I think it's beautiful. You don't have to carry all your records and all that. And then we make these records too, where we work with digital companies, where one side is digital and the other side is analog, so it's both worlds in one now.
Speaker 1:So it's really convenient. Yeah, did you have a hard time adjusting to, like, say, the digital opposed to vinyl, because I love vinyl.
Speaker 2:I can't see myself scratching on what I tried and it just sounded so funky, man. Yeah, I mean, there's vinyl, which is the most accurate, of course. So you can't get away from it because for scratching it's the most accurate. But then digital, you've got Tractor DJI Pro Serato.
Speaker 1:Phase.
Speaker 2:You have all these other different levels. And after the ones that I just mentioned, I think, um, there's another one I forgot the name of it but, um, those are pretty much the most accurate, for that's closest to vinyl. But everything under that I've tested I'm like, oh man, it's like it's not as accurate, but in the beginning it really wasn't accurate, but now, because technology keeps advancing, it's pretty close to vinyl. But oh but nothing can't be vinyl.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean like you can't.
Speaker 2:Like you know, I'm not gonna carry all my creative records, so yes, that's the advantage of course, but with scratching you have to. I mean, you know, I love that that little extra. You know know um accuracy, but for a normal scratcher that doesn't do all the wild that we do they probably wouldn't notice that without, without any technology huh interesting, they're just doing some basic fit whatever. But if I'm doing like if I gotta do that, oh man, I I love vinyl.
Speaker 1:Mm. Hey, facts, facts. Oh, you know what? Out of curiosity, how many needles have you thrashed throughout your lifetime?
Speaker 2:I can't even count that. That's a great question. I never counted it.
Speaker 1:Okay, here's another one With me. No, no, oh, what advice can you give turntable-heads out there on how to excel in their scratch vocabulary, like by themselves, like they're not going to school, or they're not going to these workshops by themselves? Do you have any tips on, let's say, a person that's just at home just scratching?
Speaker 2:trying to make it. I'm putting up this thing. It's called a year in scratching. Right now, a year in scratching. So every day I'll put up a new technique. And it's on a year in scratching right now, one year in scratching. So every day I'll put up a new technique. And it's on. It's on my tiktok uh, dj cuber one. Because there's a bunch of dj cubers on there. So I had to, I had to fucking grab dj cuba one. All these fake dj cubers, they all have my picture of my face on it oh yeah I love it, and or go on youtube.
Speaker 2:Youtubecom slash th Rumble and then they can see the same cards, or on my Instagram at DJ Qbert. If you want to learn how to scratch and then if you want to get really deep into it, watch Wisdom of Wax on YouTubecom.
Speaker 1:Oh bro, University of YouTube changed a lot of people's lives. I tell you that.
Speaker 2:I'm on number 143.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love you too.
Speaker 2:Number 143. Just happened on youtubecom slash Fred Roman.
Speaker 1:Hey, that's what's up, man. I'll make sure to put in that link and all that shizazz man to hook you up. I haven't scratched with a lot of DJs out here in Hawaii yet. I recently moved here in 2018. So, it's like. Colossus.
Speaker 2:Paco. I'll name off the guys Paco, colossus, dj, idea man, there's a lot.
Speaker 1:They're out here on Honolulu.
Speaker 2:Yeah, deadfoot, who else is there Did? I say Paco yeah. Yeah, yeah. Oh, okay, well, shit, I'll go off and stalk their Instagram. Yeah, hang out with those guys. Those are their homies. When I lived out in Hawaii, I would practice with them at Sandy's Beach all the time. That's the time.
Speaker 2:That's not that. Why, you know? You ever heard the QFO? Yeah, the QFO is like the first portable turntable. It was invented because of Hawaii, because I would go to Hawaii and I was scratching my car and I'm like man. These guys are playing, you know, ukulele and guitar out there and whatever at the beach and I'm'm like, damn, I need to bring a turntable out here. So that's why that QF was invented for portability.
Speaker 1:No fucking way. I always wondered how that came about. I was going to ask you that how did you come up with that little, the small little turn with the mixer, the fader on the side, the origin of that.
Speaker 2:and yo dude, thank you, man, because you came out to hawaii yeah, I, I lived out there, so like I want to practice, so I would um I I was sponsored by vestex at the time, before they yeah, yeah stopped and I I drew a turntable with a fader on it, and then they made it.
Speaker 1:Holy shit. What do you miss about Hawaii, man?
Speaker 2:You know the weather and I love the nature, of course. I mean I go back and forth, but I'm actually going back there soon.
Speaker 1:Oh, for real Honolulu, or you going to the other islands like Big Island, maui.
Speaker 2:My dad's from Big Island and my brother's out there, so I might, I might go out there. But all the islands I want to be at, all of them I love. I love the energy of every island.
Speaker 1:It's different oh, oh, definitely, definitely like uh uh, honolulu is more fast-paced compared to, like, maui and Island and Kauai and all that stuff. Like I told you, like earlier, I'm in the military and dude, the dynamics of each island is totally different. You got you know, like over here it's like super fast-paced and like it's a melting pot of like a lot of you know, a lot of religions and a lot of races, right, but then when you go to these outer islands it's like, oh, it's all man, I feel like a majority, you know, predominantly majority. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:So yeah, but over here, man yeah, oh yeah, man and dude Filipino. Yeah, yeah, Filipino.
Speaker 2:My great-grandfather is part Turkish, of course there's a Spanish from my mother's side, and then a little bit Chinese.
Speaker 1:Oh, my classmates are good, your Turkish side. Have you ever visited Turkey? Or you like, dwindled in?
Speaker 2:that type of I haven't. Not deep, you know, maybe like a Turkish bazaar thing, but nothing deep I want to go.
Speaker 1:Okay, hey, shoot, that should be on your bucket list, my guy. Oh yes, yes, all right, here's another cue. Oh yeah, what keeps you motivated in scratching? Because I know you've been doing this for like X amount of years now, right? What's keeping you going? What's keeping that motor fresh and so up to date with everything?
Speaker 2:Well, first of all, it's fun to me. Second is knowing that it's an infinity to me uh. Second is like knowing that it's an infinity and it's um, it's kind of like like bruce lee, who loves you, know his martial arts and he's just gonna never stop. There's something like that where it's like it's like a passion that that you're born with. You know, yeah, you know, everyone should be following their passions, of course, and of course it makes me happy because, um, when I found out what the ultimate happiness is is giving right.
Speaker 2:So if I can give what I love to do at the same time, shit that's even more happy. So I feel at peace when I'm in my element, doing the gifts of what the universe gave me to give the rest of the world. So everyone should be doing that, you know.
Speaker 1:Oh, definitely, definitely. And another caveat off that question before scratching, what were you doing? Yeah, what were you doing before you started scratching and stuff? What was the origin of that shit?
Speaker 2:Well, I started when I was 15, so anything before that was I was just finding myself finding that I wasn't good at breaking. And then what else was there? Graffiti, I was never good at, but I do have to tag my name. You know, when I do like little autographs and after a while I deal with that and it was like I guess, with anything you can't give up.
Speaker 2:If you suck at it, if you keep doing it, you're going to get good. So what I was when I was a kid, when I gave up at breaking, it was too early. Of course you're going to suck, you know, but you have to stick with it and you're going to get better at things. But you know, as a kid I was like, oh man, I can't do it, you know. So it's like that mentality can fuck you up, so you have to just be patient. Um, but yeah, I was trying to do that. And then I was trying to, of course, and I tried rapping. I was like, oh man, that's gonna take centuries. And then, um, what else is there?
Speaker 2:uh, uh, my father was a civil engineer so he would do a carpentry work and um and that that kind of helped me make stuff like I. I became like an architect I would in in high school. I became an architect because that's kind of helped me make stuff Like I became like an architect In high school. I became an architect because that's kind of like making stuff and so that's how I drew the QFO and drew like certain turntables we invented. There was this one turntable everyone uses.
Speaker 2:Now it's two turntables and a mixer all in one right. It's called a controller. Whatever, everyone uses it now. That was one of the first things I drew, and I drew that to Vestax. It was called the Warlord. Now everybody uses controllers. Oh shit.
Speaker 2:So as a kid I was into drawing all these DJ setups and stuff and I had my drafting table and all that. I was going to be an architect and then I was a telemarketer too. So I would call people on the phone and I would get the highest in the whole office. As a kid, at 14 years old, I would get the highest people that would call back what do you call it? People that would like. If I called them and I would tell them to watch a certain TV show, and we'll call them back the next day and ask them how it was. I got the longest list of people that would agree to it.
Speaker 2:And then I learned in that class to just keep it simple, because they gave me a piece of paper and you have to read off the paper like hello, my name is blah blah, blah, boom, boom, boom. And I was like what the fuck, just talk to them. So I'd say hey. And you had to read off the paper Like hello, my name is blah blah, blah, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, da, da, da, da, da. And I was like what the fuck, just talk to them. So I'd say hey, what's up?
Speaker 2:Hey, we got a TV show coming on. I want you to check it out. I'll call you back tomorrow and they were like yeah, no problem. It was that Whenever there's a script, make up your own fucking script. Oh, definitely yeah.
Speaker 2:I guess that's all I really was doing as a kid and then I didn't know anything about spirituality or anything. So as a kid, if you have a lot of energy of creativity, that can also go into the negative world. So I was a lot of vandal and just doing negative stuff. But then when you learn about spirituality, you turn that negative energy into creativity that help people. So I didn't find out until later about the rest of it. Now I can keep going. That's. That's a big question oh no, that dude.
Speaker 1:By all means, man, elaborate on that shit. So, uh, your parents, like they were all, like they're all supportive of you, you know, like following your dream? Or were they like, hey, rich, it's time to get that job, you know, be a nurse, or whatnot? Like were they? Were they always supportive?
Speaker 2:they had your back and everything exactly what you just did right now, without the dance but yeah, okay, so they pushed you yeah of course, yeah, yeah, why don't you be an adopter?
Speaker 2:I was like fuck all that shit and um yeah you know, of course you're, they're gonna be, they're still stuck in the matrix. The matrix is what the um, you know, our planet has put upon us to keep us in this box, and so, um, I was more of an out-of-the-box thinker. So when I discovered DJing, I was like, oh fuck, do you want to do?
Speaker 3:that. How do I turn this into a? I don't know.
Speaker 2:I just On accident I was like how do I turn this into a job? Because I really don't want a regular freaking 9-to-5 job. So I so I was like fuck it, let me just make a mixtape or something and see if I could sell it. And I'm just gonna do my best and make the the best mixtape I could and then, for some reason in the back of my head as I was making that mixtape, I was like I'm gonna try to do my best to make this a masterpiece.
Speaker 2:And then that became um Demolition, pumpkin Squeeze, and in this this one hip-hop magazine said it was the world all-time best hip-hop mix hit of all time. I was like fuck really but yeah. So I started selling that and there was like these hip-hop stores they would buy it, and they're like, I would just take one or two, then I'll come back and sell it. And they're like, oh yeah, let me get a few kept coming back and oh let me get like 20 of them, I was like, oh shit, this is kind of dope.
Speaker 2:So I discovered at an early age like, oh, I can be sell what I'm doing, and so I started, you know, selling other shit. You know, let's make a record, and so we made, you know, scratch records and, oh, let's do this, blah, blah, blah, blah blah. And then we started doing shows and I actually won the DMC competition, the world competition, with Mix Master, Mike and Apollo, and that just blew everything up from there. But you know, I can keep going on.
Speaker 1:Oh dude, by all means Dude, ramble on dude. This is the platform to do it.
Speaker 2:It was more like a how do you call it? When the student is ready, a teacher will appear. It's a very spiritual thing If you do your best and make something pretty cool as best as you can. Something will appear where it's like.
Speaker 2:For instance, I made my first album and I was like okay, you know, what would be really cool is if I made my album not just a regular album, but every song is a chapter in a story. Then, as I was making the album, I was like what if I made every song have a video? You know, because videos would be better, because you could see everything. And then what if it was a cartoon? Because there's a lot of B-boy characters, a lot of graffiti, b-boy characters on the street, and I was like, fuck, how come they don't animate these characters were so fucking dope, like Doug, one would draw these weird space characters everywhere. I'm like, fuck, how do we animate that and put that in a movie? And then I don't know where, this guy that animates stuff rings the doorbell and was like hey, are you Qbert?
Speaker 2:I would like to have some music for my animation shit. I'm looking for an animator. It was like the weirdest shit. So everything falls into place if you just keep, if you keep moving forward, um, and if you have a dream of something amazing, it always becomes more amazing than you expected. It's like it's like God will plant seeds in your head and if you follow that, it'll be better than what you expected.
Speaker 1:I don't know, oh, please, no, I feel you. They call it manifesting. Now I hear my wife and I hear my older kids saying oh, I'm manifesting, going on a cruise. I'm like manifesting. Is that like you're trying to tell the world so it could happen? Is that, is that how you're trying? I mean, that's, that's what I'm getting from you, like that's how you're explaining it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, you usually talk to god and not really tell the world, like tell them after, when it comes out, you know oh hey, definitely, definitely, definitely, man definitely I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that, you know sometimes it doesn't happen.
Speaker 1:And then it doesn't happen, right, you're just like oh you lazy, fuck, I try to be. What do you call it?
Speaker 2:a little humble, I'm guilty of it. I tell people we're coming out with this, coming out with that. But yeah, you know, it just doesn they're like, where's it at, where's it? I thought you're gonna come out with it. I'm like fuck man. So sometimes it's not.
Speaker 1:It's nice to um work in the background and when it's yeah, all when it's like right about super duper ready, then you can kind of start showing it, I guess I don't know I don't listen to me, but no, I don't know, I'm listening.
Speaker 2:Hey, motherfuckers not listening, bro, motherfuckers not listening, tell god what I want to do. And and the best too is is it was when you meditate. So an easy way to meditate is right before you go to sleep. You're already kind of like half asleep, half awake, right there right when yeah we go to sleep.
Speaker 2:You could tell your dreams or ask God like please help me out, ask your angels like give me, give me, uh, give me some ideas of what I should work on, or give me a solution to this um problem or or whatever, and then you can dream about it and the answer comes into the dream. All the time it always works, and then right when you wake up, don't pick up your phone and shit, Just be like you're also in that half asleep, half awake.
Speaker 2:So you can be right awake, right there, and be like, oh, you're connected to the dream world, you're connected to the universe, you're connected to God, right there. It's a lot easier because then you can see all these weird, like infinite, uh weird dreams that that you can be aware of, and you can morph it and be like, oh yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 2:I like that little melody that's happening in that, that song I'm hearing in my head little things like that, and then then, then I'll get up, but, um, that's a great way to um, to uh, do the the manifesting thing, oh shit.
Speaker 1:While you were going through this journey, can you tell me about the time where you almost did you ever almost stop DJing because you're like, damn, things aren't really going my way or I actually hit rock bottom, or whatever? I'm not trying to do this again. Do you have a time or would you like to share?
Speaker 2:if that happened, a million times like that and and it always taught me. It always taught me to Get back on the tightrope. So when you're on the tightrope you're walking whatever. And then you know I'm gonna fucking fear off or whatever. If you're just walking, you're just walking on the street. If you trip, oh shit, you're not gonna be like I fell down. When you're just walking on the street. If you trip, oh shit, you're not going to be like I fell down, it's like just walk up and go, keep going man you know, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So see, it's two things You're either a pussy or you're a fucking. You know you're a champ. So, pick one. So the best way, another way to manifest, is to keep telling yourself I'm a champ, I'm a champ, and over all day, and so every movement you do is champion material.
Speaker 2:But if you're like, oh man, I don't see any result, you know that's you got to keep going. As soon as you plant the seed, god is like okay, I got you. You have to have faith. You really, really really have to have faith. If you don't have faith, then fuck it, don't worry about it. But for this I'm talking to people that that are like champs all right, and everybody here is a champ.
Speaker 2:Everyone has a special gift to make the world a better place so as you're going through the day, just keep saying that to yourself and you're going to start going into this world of championness, you know, because there's like this uh, there's this thing I don't know if you know about this this thing, multi, multi versus, okay, yeah, the infinity of use in this universe, I'll pick the one you want to be in. So it's like, whatever you tell yourself, you're gonna do that. So so, yeah, if you just keep going and have patience, it's like scratching right, if you scratch, good, just like when I was breaking. You know why, the first day I went to a breaking thing and I sucked at it. I don't like breaking. You know, if I stuck with it, I would have been freaking pretty dope.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so think with stretching, you have to just stick with it and after a while you know you'll be rewarded. So it's patience, Patience and faith, and so same with anything. Anything you do, it's not going to be like oh yeah, I won the lottery right there. Yeah, you might, but obviously with art, you know, and to make beauty it takes time, oh, definitely.
Speaker 1:Definitely.
Speaker 1:I like how you said that, because things doesn't happen right away, and I love the metaphor that you were speaking just a few seconds ago, because when I started this crap or my bad, this shit man, when I started this I didn't know where it was going. I just did it because to me, it's very therapeutic. I like talking to people. It gets my mind away from what's happening in my real life and I like taking a lot of tits, tits and pieces from other people. Yeah, I like this too, but I like the information and, um, like, just keep on going with it. God got you and stuff. I love that message, bro. I really do love that message because I'm like I'm on this thing and I'm like I didn't know how far it came from. Like episode one, you feel me?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah yeah, same with me, I keep on adding a brick to the castle and it's like, holy shit, look at all these episodes, or look at all the um like all the scratches.
Speaker 2:I got on on my tiktok now and it's like it's really cool, it's it's it's really interesting and yeah, you just got to keep going. Yeah, and then, at the same time as you're going, you'll start noticing whoa, I'm developing my own style, because at first you're gonna be like, yeah, whatever name people are gonna be, do you sound like this, you sound like what's his name? Blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 2:And it's like you know, that, that could frustrate some people, like that's okay. But then if you just keep going courses, you know, like when you're a kid you start, you start copying your parents, your whatever your brother's sister, whatever the way they, the way they act, you know, I mean, and Of course, when you're a kid you start copying your parents, your brothers, sisters, whatever the way they act, and then you start getting their mannerisms. But as you get older, you develop your own personality.
Speaker 2:So same with your art and whatever you're doing, so don't get frustrated off those little things.
Speaker 1:Bro. Facts man Straight up facts. Thank you for the encouragement of words for the people that's listening and maybe watching. So thank you so much. Question do you and the boys still session together or are you guys like different parts of the world now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but at the same time there's the internet, like you said. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, true facts.
Speaker 1:Scratch on this beat, but then when we have to practice, then D-Styles and Shortcut the same time. There's you know, there's an internet, like you said.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, true, facts scratch on this beat. But then when we have to practice, then d styles and shortcut would come out to the octagon. Also, d styles has his own octagon. I think we go out there and practice and um, or when we do shows we'll. We'll get together a day, a day or two before practice in like a space uh-huh speaking of we have Scratch Peoples album about to come out. I think we're at 90% done, so look out for that.
Speaker 1:Oh shit, okay, okay. Hey, that's what's up With the whole. I'm going to bring it back. The whole octagon thing. Is that what you came up with when you were 15, 16 year old, or were you just like? Did that come afterwards, like you?
Speaker 2:inventing this octagon. I think I was 29 when that came out and I needed, because we would practice together at the house and we couldn't. You know we were facing the wall, you know the tables and I was like, oh shit, let's get a table where it's kind of like, where we could all see each other. And so I told my dad was a civil engineer. So we made this table. It's this table right here.
Speaker 2:actually it's the octagon, it's, it's, it's really a big ass, square right, yeah, but but because I was into feng shui at that time, the chinese people was saying, if you, you have to cut off the corners because they're too sharp, so it's like, all right, I'll cut the corners off.
Speaker 1:And it became an octagon that's all oh, okay, I saw octagon because you had eight turntables there, octopus, eight legs. I mean, that's what I? That's what.
Speaker 2:I thought, but so fucking practice tape when someone came over like, oh shit, it's an octagon and I need to trip up it. Oh yeah, I guess yeah, oh shit.
Speaker 1:Um, alright, so we'll come into the. We'll come to a little bit more like you now, when you were DJing at these parties, was it easy to get a female on stage with you? Or like, hey, I want her, let me do my little thing. I got her eye. This and the third Was it easy or were you still having a little bit of like? Were you shy, having like with the ladies and everything?
Speaker 2:I wasn't even tripping off and I would just do my thing. And girls would come up to me and hey, hey, like, whatever you need, I got you. I'm like what, what? The hell? Man, it was just that was just a normal thing, for I would never go out there and try to get a girl and stuff it was.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I never knew how to pick up on a girl.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:I could never. You know, some guys got these smooth waves.
Speaker 1:They got that game right yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I never knew how to do that, I would just ask them to perform and then they would talk to me. It was really weird.
Speaker 1:Okay, how did you meet your missus? If you don't mind me asking Well, I was into health.
Speaker 2:I still am. I'm into health and because I got into a spiritual world where I wanted to scratch and be on point for the rest of my life. Because it's like you know, okay, I really love scratching so much to the extent that I'm like, okay, what if I could scratch it 100? Years old.
Speaker 2:Let's see what happens. How would you do that? Well, obviously you're gonna have to stay healthy, so I I got into all this health stuff. So I would always go to this one health store in san francisco called rainbow grocery and they would. It would be like the only, the most big. I mean there's so many now in San Francisco, but back then it was like that was the one and then she would always work there. And that's when I tried to pick up on her. I tried to pick up on a girl.
Speaker 1:I couldn't do it, I tried. That's not one time I tried man.
Speaker 2:I could not do it. I would try to pick up on her a lot and I was the worst. I could not do it. I would try to pick up on her a lot and I was the worst. And then one day, one day what do you call it? She had broke her finger and I was like what, okay, well, shit.
Speaker 2:I came back the next day and I was like, hey, here's a little, because I learned about, you know, crystal healing and all that stuff. So I gave her, like I think, this tiger's eye crystal and said, hey, I crystal and say, hey, this is, this is gonna be good for your arm, the heal, your your finger, or whatever I think she had. She closed up the store and I think the game had smashed her hand, like, yeah, yeah, the thing I said, well, this will help your bone grow or whatever, fucking fix you. Yeah, that's you know. She was like, hey, we gotta hang out. And I'm like what became my girl? That's me to this day? Is I over? I think over 12 years? We didn't give it up.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a happening. That head that's rapping. That's how I happen rich got that feng shui game. Hey, hey, I got this crystal Girl. This is supposed to heal your finger, this is from me to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my man, this is a piece of charcoal.
Speaker 1:I found on the ground Right, and you just said, hey, man, it's a crystal, here you go I'm kidding, here you go With your girl, right, does she? Was there any problems of like you going to like a lot on these shows and everything Like oh, honey, I want you, you know, I want you here more often when you're doing these shows or going out of countries and stuff? Did that ever become a problem with you, with you know, with you and the missus?
Speaker 2:No, no, of course. Obviously that would be like get the hell out of here. It was like, yeah, my girl supports me a thousand percent. It's amazing. Anything I like. She cooks us food. She takes care of my mom my mom's very healthy. She takes care of her. She's just amazing. Everything freaking that I need to be done where I can scratch more, she does it, just everything. I'm like, hey, don't even take out the garbage.
Speaker 2:I don't want her to take out the garbage. She takes the garbage out, she cleans, she cooks the healthiest meals. We don't have to go out. It's like man. Her food tastes better than the freaking restaurants. The desserts are amazing and they're healthy too. I'm even drinking this chocolate smoothie right now because I just woke up.
Speaker 1:You just woke up. Wait what 3.30? Okay, 2.30.
Speaker 2:2.30. So what I do is I it's 2.30 right now. Yeah, I'll go to sleep Well, not now, but we got on the podcast but yeah, I usually sleep at 5 am and wake up at 1. Sometimes I'll sleep at 6 and wake up at 2, but I work all night making all this stuff. I make beans and all this stuff. But oh, I would with everything that is crazy. And she even takes care of like, okay, you know, you gotta um make sure you get your sunlight, gotta go walk dog blah blah. He's the most amazing girl to me in my life. It's nuts. I can't believe how blessed I am. Hey, dude, go check her out on Musician Nutrition on Instagram.
Speaker 1:She's trying to start a whole thing called Musician Nutrition.
Speaker 1:Musician Transition. Musician Nutrition, musician, nutrition. Try saying that five times fast. Hey, no, hey, that's what's up.
Speaker 1:Man, I do love hearing you know like the spouse being really supportive in what you're doing, like there's no, um, there's no, like inklings in her mind saying, oh man, he's just out, you know goofing off. It's's like no, you're actually working, you're actually doing what you love. And I do like I do respect the women that understands that about a man. And the only reason why I say that is because my wife, she supports me in doing this From the very beginning, like she was kind of iffy because I would have, you know, I would have models and, you know, pageant people on here, and because I would have models and pageant people on here, and then I would have to reassure her that I was like yo man, it's strictly business, it's all professional.
Speaker 1:I'm not trying to get my peen wet, I'm not trying to jump in the panties or anything, it's just, at the end of the day, I'm coming home to you, I'm coming home to the family, I'm not messing around, I'm just, you know, I'm just liking to talk to people and that's about it. So I do respect the women that you know that have that level head is just, you know, still taking care of the man and saying, hey, this is what he looked to do, got to support him, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's really important. I Think that's the first thing. If a girl can't support you, are you Canadian by any chance?
Speaker 1:No, I just say aboot a lot. Okay, I've been saying that, dude, I'd be getting in trouble, but I've been saying this ever since I was in the A7th grade. Aboot, but it's only when I'm not reading something. When I'm reading, I'm not reading something, like when I'm reading I'm announcing, pretty correctly, but when I'm just speaking it comes out like that and I kind of hate it. I'm trying to get out of it. But sometimes it slips.
Speaker 2:Thank you, it slips sometimes and I'm just like oh shit, you know I have a lot of Canadian friends and they say that oh, yeah, hey yeah, like there's this roundabout that you have to drive around and they go oh, go here, go around this roundabout but what was the last place that you traveled to, like out of state? Man, china. Where was that France? Um, oh, I don't even know.
Speaker 1:Was this recent too?
Speaker 2:Yeah, what was I? You know what? It's a blur. Right now I have to check my schedule. I want to go to Mexico in a couple weeks. Where is this now? I think someone was saying they're're gonna bring us to india soon. I think also because we got the invisible scratch pickles album too. So we're yeah trying to knock that out, then we're gonna. I would go like all over the world hey, okay.
Speaker 1:So, as a traveling dj, right, like, what are you bringing with you? If you don't mind me asking, like what goes in your backpack, your luggage? Like, are you bringing like extra faders, extra needles? Like what's what goes in the traveling pack?
Speaker 2:well, depends how many days are you talking about?
Speaker 1:oh shit.
Speaker 2:Um, let's say, you're two weeks, you're on the road for two weeks okay, we got to make sure that that place, wherever you're going to, has laundry service or you can buy that's like that's. If it's for every week, you gotta have whatever seven socks and seven. Yeah, that's the thing, right, because you you want fresh stuff and then um yeah you know you gotta wear the same pants every day.
Speaker 2:You want to carry too many pants and um shirts are cool because they're smaller, so you can just kind of scrunch them in there. That's a week, right. So now you have to figure out is these places you're going to go to, going to have laundry service? Because if they don't have laundry service, you're gonna have to buy extra underwear or bring more underwear and things like that, socks bring soap and wash it like this. You know, yeah, I mean, the soap is like, it's just this much, it's like this whatever.
Speaker 1:I use it to soap people.
Speaker 2:Dr Bronner, have you ever heard of that? Yeah, I've heard of that. Yeah, I discovered that in Hawaii. Actually, that was a good little soap.
Speaker 3:Uh-huh, I mean, you know that's a big question You're asking me like fuck man, yeah, definitely extra needles because the needles can break.
Speaker 2:Okay. Okay, the X-Records, that's a good one. I like to bring a lot of stuff because when I get to the shows, I like to throw some body to the show, Okay okay, okay, okay, that kind of stuff. You know another guy that I knew was DJ Scratch from EPMD, Uh-huh.
Speaker 1:EPMD boy Okay, he would take a duffle bag of clothes and every day he would use his shirt.
Speaker 2:He would be a boy, okay he duffel bag of clothes and every day he would use his shirt. He would have his dirty laundry. You throw it in audience. Who wants a shirt? Never go crazy. Yeah, we want a shirt, but it was just really his laundry that he was throwing out.
Speaker 1:It was amazing he was like a lot in my pack. Y'all, I'm fitting to throw my underwear and my socks out. Y'all Remember that.
Speaker 2:That was a great way to lighten the load as the tour went on.
Speaker 1:Oh, hell, yeah. So I've got this question because back in the day, dude, I used to have a lot of your posters and your T-shirts, right, dj Esco? What happened to that? If you don't, dj Esco, what happened to that? If you don't mind me asking what happened to that brand, because I still have that shirt, I still have, you know, my giant colored shirt, and I had this blue one of you on it too. It said DJ Esco, what happened to that brand? Because I can't find it anywhere.
Speaker 2:Or people can't find it. We looked at thousands and thousands of brands. What to that brand? Because I can't find it anywhere or people can't find it thousands and thousands of brand.
Speaker 1:What happened to them? Yeah, I have fucking. I have no idea.
Speaker 2:Oh shit, okay, so you know, you have no idea either I just did the thing and I'm on to back to making music.
Speaker 1:So I don't know, I hope I made there's something yeah, okay, okay, well, shit rich dude From me to you, man. Thank you for coming on, bro man. I do appreciate you so, so much For like making my little dreams come true and for chopping it up with me, man.
Speaker 2:Thank you, bro, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Hey, no problem, do you have any shout outs or anything? Or you know where can these people Motherfucking find you at?
Speaker 2:Just go on djkubertcom. We have a lot of new products. Every week. We have almost every week. We have new stuff like those limited edition Slipmats. We have this new record that just came out. Speaking of the portable stuff, you know how. They're like seven-inch records. Yeah, have you ever tried stretching those little seven-inch records?
Speaker 1:Dude my, oh, yeah, yeah, I tried scratching those little 7-inch records. Dude my yeah yeah, I tried.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, they're so fucking small. So I was like, oh fuck, let's just give it an extra inch. So, like, going back to the beginning of the show, yes, every inch counts. So now we got this new record called the Super Seal 8-incher and it's fucking. It fucking feels good, because now you can put your whole fucking hand on it. Because you can only scratch with your fingertips. I'm like what the fuck? So now you can put your whole paw on it and it feels amazing. That shit sold out in like a week, and so I was like, oh man, so now, well, not oh man, I'm like, actually I'm so happy, but we made a part two. I said now it's a scratchy seal 8.2 incher.
Speaker 1:So it's a scratchy seal, 8.2 incher 8.2 incher.
Speaker 2:huh, I said about less than a month it should come out, so stay tuned to my Instagram. I can get people and all that. Youtube, youtubecom, slash bedromo, and yes, that will be coming out. I think we might even reprint the first one because it's super dope. Look out for that. Yes, hey, that'll be coming out.
Speaker 1:I think we might even repress the first one, because it's super dope. Look out for that. Yes, hey, that's what's up. Hopefully I catch you in Hawaii. Man, honolulu, I'm a mamero, hey. With that being said, man KO Studio, thank you for the lovely home. Rafi Byte, thank you for the lovely beat and with that, I'm Chris. It's your line, bro. I'm Q, I'm Rich, oh okay, what's up?
Speaker 2:I'm Qbert.
Speaker 1:This is my welcome pause and we out this bitch Peace.
